Film

Henry V

Name: Henry V
Genre: War, Drama, History
Released: 1989
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, James Larkin, Paul Scofield

Other titles called Henry V: the 1944 film.

Western

Kenneth Branagh's directorial debut turns Shakespeare's war play into something muddy, bloody, and unexpectedly intimate — a deliberate corrective to earlier, prettier versions. The famous speeches still soar, but the film never lets you forget what a battlefield actually costs. Branagh plays Henry as a young man improvising his own legend in real time. Gorgeous, brutal, and surprisingly moving for something built entirely from fourteenth-century verse.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love Shakespeare's language spoken with muscle, and want a war film that trusts its verse and its speeches as much as its mud and armour.

Skip it if your idea of a war film is relentless action, since this stops often for long speeches and talk of crowns and claims, with a stage-bound feel.

What it asks of you: A little over two hours of dense, formal verse, with pace set by rhetoric more than plot, so it rewards patience and close listening.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Henry V1944

The original screen Henry V, filmed during WWII as morale-boosting propaganda — same speeches, wildly different mood, all painted backdrops and Technicolor pageantry instead of mud and blood.

But Its theatrical staging and clipped wartime patriotism can feel stiff and dated next to Branagh's grit.

Hamlet1996

Branagh again, same command of Shakespearean verse, but turned toward doubt instead of triumph — a lavish, fearless, uncut-text production that trusts every word.

But The full-text runtime is a genuine commitment; this is not a casual Tuesday-night watch.

Braveheart1995

Another underdog leader rallying outnumbered troops before a muddy medieval battle, with the same swell of speech-before-slaughter energy that made Agincourt sing.

But Mel Gibson's history is loose and the politics are broad; don't watch it expecting accuracy.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Henry V

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

In the Loop2009

Henry V is a masterclass in using language to make war sound noble; this is the same machine, filmed as farce, exposing the cynicism the poetry usually hides.

A pitch-black comedy about the spin doctors and functionaries who talk a country into war, all rhetoric and rousing speeches with none of the honour attached.

But Anyone hoping for grandeur will get sweary bureaucrats arguing in meeting rooms instead of a battlefield.

Saving Private Ryan1998

For anyone who left Henry V thinking about what battle actually costs — Spielberg's opening minutes remain the most unsentimental war filmmaking there is.

But Brutally graphic in ways Branagh's film only gestures toward; a much harder, colder watch.

Band of Brothers2001

Ten hours of the 'band of brothers' idea taken seriously and literally, following a company of paratroopers from training through combat with real weight given to the ones who don't make it.

But A significant time investment, and considerably grimmer and slower than a two-hour Shakespeare film.

The Lion King1994

A modern, muddier retelling of the same Henry V story, with the young king played as reluctant and uncertain rather than a natural-born leader.

But It strips out Shakespeare's language entirely, so the poetry that makes Branagh's version sing is simply gone.

A Man for All Seasons1966

Paul Scofield, so quietly devastating as Henry V's French King, carries this earlier film about conscience and power under a Tudor monarch who won't be argued with.

But It's a very talky, courtroom-adjacent drama — no battles, no spectacle, just superb argument.

Elizabeth1998

Another young monarch discovering, in real time, what the crown actually demands of a person — gorgeous, ruthless, and full of the same coronation-to-warrior arc.

But More palace intrigue than battlefield, and its politics are far more cynical than Henry V's sincerity.

Richard III1995

Ian McKellen's gleefully vicious take on another Shakespearean king, relocated to 1930s fascist England — proof the history plays can be endlessly reinvented.

But Its arch, campy tone is the opposite of Henry V's sincerity; some find it too knowing for its own good.

Napoleon1927

Same shape as Henry's arc — an unlikely young man willing himself into greatness on the battlefield — told six decades earlier in a wholly different cinematic language.

A silent, wildly inventive epic about a young man rising through sheer will and self-belief to conquer nations, with battle sequences of startling ambition for its era.

But It's silent, runs nearly four hours in some cuts, and demands patience a modern viewer might not expect to give it.

Ran1985

Same source material's obsession with crowns, war and conscience, filtered through an entirely different culture, language and visual grammar — proof these stories translate anywhere.

Kurosawa transplants Shakespearean kingship and warfare into feudal Japan, with battle sequences of horrifying, painterly beauty and a ruler undone by the throne he sought.

But It's King Lear, not Henry V, so the parallel is thematic rather than narrative — and it's considerably bleaker.