C+
One Night with the King
Rated PG; Directed by Michael O. Sajbel; Starring Tiffany Dupont, Luke Goss, John Rhys-Davies, Omar Sharif, Tommy “Tiny” Lister
Oh goody — a biblical epic on our local movie screen. It’s been too long. As someone who as a child faithfully watched all the classic bible-based movies when shown on TV, I was thrilled to see one back in the theater. I thrilled to the spectacle and adventure shown in movies like Quo Vadis, Samson and Delilah, and The Ten Commandments. This kind of movie has gone out of fashion and though One Night with the King tries to bring it back in style I doubt it is the start of a trend.
The story is right out of the bible, from the Book of Esther. Young Hadassah (Tiffany Dupont) lives with her uncle, Mordecai (John Rhys-Davies), a scribe at King Xerxes’ (Luke Goss) palace. When the king must find a new wife Hadassah is rounded up with many other young women to be a candidate for the position of queen. Afraid that being a Jew could harm her, Mordecai suggests she hide her religion and use the name of Esther. Eventually winning the king’s attention, Esther becomes the queen. As queen, Esther must face down the king’s scheming advisors and somehow convince the king to save the Jews from imminent slaughter.
There is a lot to enjoy in this movie. The costumes and sets are gorgeous. Unfortunately, the movie needs some tighter editing, a less klunky score, and a few script and cast changes wouldn’t hurt either. It is a shame as this is one of those movies that had lots of potential and there are moments when that potential is reached, but it fails more times than it succeeds.
DilettanteVille 
October 31, 2006 at 8:35 am
[…] I’ve posted my review of One Night with the King. Man, I wanted this movie to be great, but it had some problems. There were some good moments though. Too bad it didn’t work as I love me a good biblical epic. Face it, everything I learned about the Bible I learned from Hollywood. […]
February 25, 2007 at 4:21 pm
WOW! This was an Exquisite film for me. I watched it twice in one night and again first thing in the morning. Yes! The costumes were awesome, made you wish you were born in that period. The only problem I really had with the movie was the soundtrack. Either I am hard of hearing or else I had some difficulty hearing and understanding some of the characters. I also had to pull my bible out at some point because it appeared that the film lead from one chapter, skipping over two or so, only to backtrack into another chapter. So it appeared there was some rearranging of the story. But I was quite happy overall. The point was certainly made of “God’s Sovereign Provence” to save a nation of people who just so happen to be His own beloved.
October 8, 2009 at 7:30 am
I enjoyed this movie very very much. I have watched it several times. The costumes are beautiful and the actors also did a superb job. Luke Goss is wonderful in the movie.
I find that watching movies based on the Bible actually help me to realize that the people that lived then were real people just as we are today and that I can live my religion, not just read about it.
October 8, 2009 at 1:11 pm
This was the most frustrating movie I have EVER seen! I kept wishing the movie would become better as I watched it and later on I just wished the movie would end. Please don’t get me wrong, the actors were pretty good and the costumes and everything were done extremely well, but I just felt as if the screenwriters and the directors and everyone in the movie didn’t read the book. I read the book and it changed my spiritual life in a miraculous way. It gave me such an appreciation for certain things, and that’s why the movie was such a disappointment. The script was so far away from what really happened in the book that I struggled to sit through it. I really really really wanted to like this one… If you want to base a movie on a book, do it properly or write your own story…
I know the movies are usually not as good as the books are, but this one was just too bad. Can someone please re-do the movie, but please read the book and keep to the details as much as possible?
Read the book, it’s life changing. The writer is Tommy Tenny.