"Jude Law immediately joins the upper ranks of the great screen Henry VIIIs" with his "incendiary" performance in this period drama, said Kevin Maher in The Times. Adapted from Elizabeth Fremantle's 2012 novel "Queen's Gambit", the film "takes as its subject the closing, paranoid and increasingly incapacitated years of Henry's reign, and specifically his relationship with his sixth and final wife Katherine Parr (Alicia Vikander)".
We meet Henry in 1546, when he is "exhausted from the second invasion of France" and suffering from an ulcerated leg. "He seems a fiery beast initially, but one who is easily mollified by Katherine's attentiveness and her acquiescence in the brutal marital bedroom." Katherine, however, is depicted as close to, and possibly a former lover of, the radical Protestant reformer Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), a relationship which, if discovered, could cost her her head. "There are some silly 11th-hour shenanigans involving a MacGuffin necklace and a dose of historical wish fulfilment", but this is a "vividly constructed drama, expertly played".
"Firebrand" is "sumptuously photographed" and "magnificently costumed", and Law's performance is "so gloriously disgusting you can't take your eyes off him", said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. But be warned: the film "doesn't play fast and loose with the facts so much as throw them out of the window". And with its shots of oozing pus and maggoty flesh, it's not "for the medically squeamish".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As a historical thriller, "Firebrand" is "hampered by a pedestrian script and an improbable ending", said Phil de Semlyen on Time Out. Still, it "works pretty well as a political potboiler with the brooding undercurrents of 'Wolf Hall'", and it "catches fire" whenever Law is on screen.
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in votingCartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugsTalking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
Sudoku medium: August 24, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
The 5 best zombie movies of all timeThe Week Recommends Ghouls feasting on flesh have been a staple of cinema for more than 50 years
-
Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid: 'more than just a novelty'The Week Recommends Europe's first plug-in hybrid pickup is 'surprisingly agile'
-
6 lush homes in the treesFeature Featuring a glass house in Texas and a home built for a Broncos quarterback in Colorado
-
7 travel fragrances that let you smell good on the goThe Week Recommends Spritz away!
-
Brooklyn vs. the Beckhams: trouble in paradiseIn the Spotlight Scion of the Beckham clan and billionaire heiress wife Nicola Peltz staged an elaborate vow renewal – and none of his family were on the guest list
-
Alien: Earth – a 'bold' prequel to the space horror classicThe Week Recommends Set two years before Alien, new Disney show pays 'homage' to the original
-
Music reviews: Ethel Cain, Amaarae, and The Black KeysFeature "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You," "Black Star," and "No Rain, No Flowers"
-
Film reviews: Highest 2 Lowest and WeaponsFeature A kidnapping threatens a mogul's legacy and a town spins into madness after 17 children disappear
