King David Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

King David Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 17, 2024

King David stands as one of the most prominent figures in Israel's history and one of the preeminent figures in the Bible. His clash with the Philistine giant Goliath is the stuff of biblical legend and amongst its most treasured stories alongside Noah, Daniel, Jonah, and Jesus. With the Bible epic such a prominent genre within the history of Hollywood -- looking at films like The Ten Commandments and The Robe -- it's no surprise to find David's story, which occupies much of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel in the Bible, making the transition to the silver screen. While not necessarily an "epic" as are those other films for budget and splendor, the story is certainly every bit as epic. Its screen translation stars a young Richard Gere as the title character. Directed by Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Double Jeopardy), King David stands as an imperfect but certainly necessary telling of one of the Bible's great stories.

It is 1,000 years before Christ. Israel, the nation of God’s chosen people, desperately wanted a king to rule it. The prophet Samuel (Denis Quilley) warned against it, because it was the Lord who ruled over the nation, but the people demanded a physical, tangible king that could be seen and heard. Saul (Edward Woodward) was the chosen king: handsome and standing a head taller than any other man in the land. But Saul has not proven himself a worthy king, and the Lord, Samuel prophecies, will rip the kingdom from Saul and give it to another, “a man after His own heart.” That man is David (Ian Sears), a young shepherd boy who proves his mettle when he trusts God, stares down the Philistine champion Goliath (George Eastman), and kills him, restoring honor to Israel.

Ten years later, David (Richard Gere) is hailed as a hero of the people and not only the heir apparent to the throne, but the one anointed to the throne by Samuel himself. “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” is the people’s refrain. This angers Saul, who, despite now being David’s father-in-law, makes it his mission to slay David rather than rejoice in the throne passing to a man worthy of it. David finds himself on the run, aided by Saul’s son Jonathan (Jack Klaff), fleeing from Saul while chasing his divine destiny.

What King David does well is to paint a fairly straightforward picture of the high point narrative elements of the biblical story, but what the film does not do quite as well as it should is find the social, religious, and historical connections that really set the tale apart. It's rightly treated as a story, but the translation loses a good bit of the necessary depth and nuance that is found in the Bible. It works as a film, but it's only adequate as a biblical retelling. There are some mild to moderate changes, whether for dramatic yield or pacing, but the film does offer a technically sound journey through the story that may lack compelling resonance but that does make for a nice enough companion piece to scripture.

The Bible describes David as "ruddy [with]...beautiful eyes and...handsome." It's an iconic description, but so too are God's words to Samuel: "do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." It's an interesting dichotomy but certainly one that sets David apart from Saul, who was known in large measure for his height and looks. The Bible reads of him, "there was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people." The film doesn't really play on this concept as much as some might think, and casting a young Richard Gere -- dirtying him up a little and seeing a few frays around the edges while maintaining the naturally good looks -- seems to nail David for the biblical descriptor. Gere plays the part rather well, perhaps surprisingly, finding a sincere depth of emotion as, first, the newly chosen king and, later, in reverence to God and His calling on his life, in his battles with Saul, in his friendship with Jonathan, and in his romantic relationships and the sins that would come to define key moments of his life. Yet he remained a man "after God's own heart," and Gere appears to channel that descriptor quite well, maintaining a sense of humanity but also an unyielding desire to ultimately please God in his actions. He may not be perfectly cast -- can anyone be perfectly cast in a role such as this? -- but he plays the part surprisingly richly and well.

King David Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Paramount's 1080p Blu-ray presentation of King David offers a generally effective image, though it is certainly lacking that high end filmic polish. The picture offers adequate detailing for the 1080p resolution, never really finding that higher gear of film excellence, settling for midlevel definition to faces and terrain, which is a shame considering the preponderance of earthy elements like grasses, trees, and caves, not to mention wooden and stone structures. Frayed clothes and bearded faces lack razor definition, too. The color palette feels fairly depressed. Certainly a little of that can be attributed to the source, but there is not a significant sense of vibrance to the image. Blacks are fairly thin, too, and white balance could stand some more brilliance. Skin tones are merely OK. At least there are no serious encode artifacts or print flaws (though a healthier grain structure would have been welcome). This is a watchable image, but not much more can be said of it. It's somewhere better than DVD but nowhere near so good as a higher end Blu-ray.

King David Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount brings King David to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The elements are not the best, sounding a little muddled (especially the opening title music) and lacking the sort of fine-point finesse found in superior modern day tracks. But spacing is good even if clarity is a bit wanting, and there is a decent enough body to the track, even apart from a dedicated subwoofer channel at work. There is some nice reverb when the Philistine calls out the Israelites to send out a warrior to face Goliath. However, there are some sloppy effects as well, like cheering throngs around the 64-minute mark that come across as garbled and tinny rather than distinct and lifelike. Overall, the track is effective at a baseline level, but listeners should not expect to be dazzled by what is on hand. The track does offer suitably clear dialogue, which is adequately prioritized and centered well enough. There are a few obvious lip sync problems at the 1:12 and 7:28 marks as well as a couple of other times throughout the film.

King David Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, this Blu-ray release of King David contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen offers no music and only a static, still image from the film. The only menu screen options are for "Play Movie" and "Subtitles." No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover. This is nearly as bare bones as it gets.

King David Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

King David is not a kingly film, but it's an effectively compelling presentation of one of the most cherished narratives in all of scripture. The film feels at least generally true to the biblical story, even if it does take some liberties for the purposes of pacing and the cinematic, rather than the literary, medium, but most Bible readers will find this to be, at the very least, an interesting companion to the Word of God. Paramount's Blu-ray is disappointingly featureless -- a commentary with a theologian, some behind-the-scenes material, and the like would have been most welcome -- and the technical presentation is nothing to write home about, either. The Blu-ray scrapes by as adequate, and that is the best that can be said of it. Worth a look.