Your Highness [MA]

In a faraway land, straight out of Arthurian legend, there lies a kingdom wherein lives two princes, brothers. Fabious, the eldest, is to be king and spends his time embarking upon heroic quests and gaining love and glory. His brother Thadeous hangs around at home feeling bitter about his reputation for being a fuckup and jealous of his brother. But when Fabious brings home a maiden to whom he will be wed, Thadeous get a chance to prove himself, as Belladonna, Fabious’ bride, is taken by the evil warlock Leezar, who seeks to fulfil a terrible prophecy, and it falls to the brothers to embark upon a epic adventure to rescue her. 

I wasn’t really expecting much from this film, seeing as it comes from the people who made films like Pineapple Express and those other really crude American comedies. The only real reason I went to this film is because it had James Franco in it and I’m not going to lie, I have a bit of a thing for James Franco. I came out of the cinema just smiling to myself and content with my decision to go to the movies instead of sit at home doing nothing. Your Highness was actually quite a good film filled with mythical creatures, quests, heroes, evil, intended rape, action, romance, comedy, and the occasional bit of gore. I rather enjoyed it. 

In a faraway land, straight out of Arthurian legend, there lies a kingdom wherein lives two princes, brothers. Fabious, the eldest, is to be king and spends his time embarking upon heroic quests and gaining love and glory. His brother Thadeous, hangs around at home feeling bitter about his reputation for being a fuckup and jealous of his brother. But when Fabious brings home a maiden to whom he will be wed, Thadeous gets a chance to prove himself, as Belladonna, Fabious’ bride, is taken by the evil warlock Leezar, who seeks to fulfil a terrible prophecy that will cover the land in darkness. Together, the brothers embark upon an epic quest to rescue the fair and pure Belladonna. 

Your Highness was as crude and squirm-inducing as I imagined it to be, but what I rather liked about the movie was that was actually somewhat clever. It’s set in the times of Arthur and chivalry and brave knights and dragons and all that stuff, but it has rather a modern spin to it. This spin mainly came in the form of the script; the characters spoke in the ye-olde-come-and-love-thy-fair-maiden old English, but at the same time they cursed and made sexual references in a rather modern manner. It actually seemed like the script didn’t quite know which path to go on… so it went down both. And I actually found that rather clever and enjoyable. 

Danny McBride stars as Thadeous and he was very funny. He delivered a performance that was bitter, cynical, jealous, but at the same time fearless and competitive. He was great. 

James Franco stars as Fabious and, in truth, this was his film. Rather like his character I suppose. He was romantic, courageous, charming, overly heroic, wonderfully over the top and, this has to be said, he looked absolutely gorgeous. I fell in love with him instantly. 

Starring Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Toby Jones, Rasmus Hardiker, Justin Theroux, Damian Lewis, and Charles Dance, Your Highness was both a clever but crude comedy that was filled with mythical creatures, morbid prophecies, intended rape, romance, chivalry, action, and the occasional bit of gore. I was pleasantly surprised and I rather enjoyed it.