Rent The Lost King (2022)

Disappointing - The Lost King review by PD

As someone with an interest in Richard III, and one who followed the car park discovery with great interest, I felt I had to see this despite the lukewarm reviews it got in the press. Unfortunately, the reviews were right and this terribly slight piece does neither Richard nor grave-hunter Philippa Langley any justice at all. The film doesn’t ever find its tone, always ricocheting between attempts at the solemn and the downright sentimental (a horribly intrusive portentous score doesn't help). Whatever historical interest it might have had is subsumed in a trite soap-opera involving Langley's relationship with her husband (a really irritating Steve Coogan) and two sons (also unbearable - you want to chuck them in the river). And whilst the battle between Langley and the academics at Leicester University (who, this says, tried to steal all the glory for themselves) is quite a potentially interesting subject, reducing the latter to little more than pantomime villains means that, whatever the truth of it, it's very hard to take seriously, particularly given an annoying tendency to gender stereotype throughout. Meanwhile, the conceit of having Richard himself appear at various turns might have worked, but sadly the writers simply don't have the skill or inclination to make him much more than a brooding presence, and his get up is so cheap it looks straight out of one of those 'Horrible histories' things. Sally Hawkins does quite a lot with a painfully thin script, playing Philippa as prickly and stubborn but also someone who is somehow in search of herself, but on the whole it's very disappointing indeed, I'm afraid.

Very disappointing film, with a flimsy twee plot - watch a documentary on this story instead - The Lost King review by PV

I was ;looking forward to watching this film, which I had not realised existed - after watching a superb TV documentary about this discovery of the bones of Richard III, I was delighted to find out there was a film about it too.

I needn't have bothered. It is truly awful. I could not stand it any more and turned off halfway through - did not make it to the end of the battle (a bit like King Richard III at Bosworth then eh?)

I am not a fan of Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan can be uber-irritating. BUT they are not the problem here/ The woeful script is - it misfires all the way.

1 star

Somewhat Ridiculous Underdog Story - The Lost King review by GI

A typical British underdog story that bears similarities to The Dig (2021), a much better told story, where an amateur battles with the establishment. Based on real events although with some controversy as the actual persons involved have criticised the way events have been portrayed here. This is the story of amateur historian Philippa Langley's (Sally Hawkins) dogged determination to find the remains of Richard III, eventually uncovered in a Leicester car park. Into this story we are given the family drama of Langley and her collapsing marriage to husband, John (Steve Coogan, who also wrote the screenplay) and her battles with mental illness. These are used as devices to highlight her struggles to get a search organised by the University of Leicester and the established archaeological and historical academics. Where the film takes on a thread of ridiculousness is in it's putting front and centre that Langley is driven by feelings and hunches rather than research and these feelings are given to her by her hallucinating that Richard III (Harry Lloyd) is visiting her and giving her clues. I suspect this is where Coogan has attempted to give the story a vague comedic slant. Whatever the reasons it makes the film seem daft and despite the solid central performance by Hawkins I'm left with the view this story would have been better served by a more serious script. Additionally the clichéd characterisations of some of the establishment, for instance Lee Ingleby's University representative as a misogynstic, condescending individual, is unnecessary when showing the scepticism that Langley no doubt faced. A film that is a bit of a let down.