Review of The King's Choice

Judging by the hype and praise this movie had received I was really looking forward to this release. The trailer was amazing and as a fan of war movies this seemed like something which would stand out from a pale series of attempts the last two years in the WW2 movie genre. However it was nothing short of a disappointment! The movie starts off with some excitement in the air. You are anxiously awaiting the invasion which is why you can handle the King playing around with his kids and pretending he knows nothing of anything whatsoever. Then the movie shift focus to dialogues about how ill prepared Norway really is for a possible invasion. This is when the movie tries to reel you into the 1940's era. This never happens. The German fleet (I count one ship) enters the fjords of Norway and a small fortress with approximately 7 Norwegian soldiers facing some action are all the invasion battle you will see. These scenes feature horribly made CGI (probably created on a boozy evening on a low resolution screen in the mid 90's). After the disappointing ''battle'' the Germans have control over Norway and this is where the movie becomes a clichéd joke. Somehow the director thought it was OK to make every German shout like Hitler (in almost every scene). There is even a scene where a German threatens a little boy with a gun while ferociously sneering like an SS office (see Schindler's list). The fact that the boy has life threatening injuries makes no difference to the Germans (historical accuracy under scrutiny). I'm not saying it did not happen but in the early stages of the war an army sergeant of the Wehrmacht is not likely to act like an SS officer. Jumping to the King is on the run, still acting like a confused old man not really sure of what to do. The plain boring scenes of the King in different small towns in Norway combined with the already non plausible acting of Germans and Norwegians alike, makes it look like a small town poorly constructed costume drama, combined with the occasional drop of terribly made CGI bombs from overhead ''blurry'' planes (maybe you can tell it is a German plan due to the shape?). Just to make it even more cliché they copied a scene from ''Saving Private Ryan'' where a grenade goes off and you get the continuously beep ear noise. If you were to go out and don't want to miss out on the ''action'' don't worry, the movie has the same music playing in ALL ''action'' scenes throughout. If you hear it once you know what I am talking about. The director probably got his inspiration from the movie Battleship where the same music appear when the creatures ascend from the ocean. The King's inevitable escape from Norway (something I had anxiously awaited to see) is not shown. Instead the movie cut to credits. Why would they leave out this part? After all he is surrounded on all flanks and the escape could have been an interesting watch. After the movie you will probably wonder where the King's ''NO'' actually came from.