Diagonaldi Very well executed

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

TxMike We were able to view this movie on Netflix streaming movies. It is based on the real life of a man who spent 17 years in prison and came out to help others follow a better path in life. Cuba Gooding Jr. is Eugene. While in prison he learned a bit about chess, enough to know that as a board game it can be a metaphor for life. In chess all the other pieces protect the King, and "Life of a King" can represent what each of us goes through. Jobs are hard to get for convicted felons but he manages to get a job at the neighborhood school in Washington, D.C. as a janitor. On a whim he is asked to watch a group of unruly students in detention after the usual teacher walked out in fear. He got them interested in chess but when it came to light that he had lied on his application, saying he had never been convicted of a felony, he had to be let go.But he found some property in disrepair that he could rent cheaply and formed the neighborhood chess club. It wasn't without significant obstacles and setbacks, but over the years it has been successful in giving disadvantaged students a better chance at life and has turned out a number of chess competition championships.Good movie and good job by Gooding, Jr.

Tony Heck "This is a king. This is your life. One mistake and it can be taken away." Eugene Brown (Gooding Jr.) is an ex-felon who is struggling to find a job and relate to his kids. After finding a job as a high school janitor he is asked to watch the detention kids one day until they can find a replacement. When he brings up the topic of chess he begins to change the lives of the "troubled kids" forever. I love movies based on true stories, but I was worried about seeing this going in. One one hand a true story with Cuba Gooding Jr, that is good. On the other hand though I thought how many times can they remake Lean On Me? After movies like that one and Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, Fame, etc... I wondered how different can this one be. While I have to admit it wasn't 100% different it was very very good and much much better then I was expecting. The best part about this movie is that it stayed just a step or two away from being way to cheesy to be enjoyed but it did a good job of changing things just enough to keep it feeling real while keeping the emotion that it needed. Different enough from the previous "helping inner city kids" movies to make it interesting and worth seeing. Overall, very good and never took the over-the-top cheesy way out that so many of these types of movies do. That is a good thing and because of that I highly recommend the movie. I give this an A-.

Peter Pluymers Apparently "Life of a King" is the true story of the ex-detainee Eugene Brown who founded a chess club in the slums of Washington, to keep teenagers of the streets and to teach the philosophical significance of a game of chess. I say "apparently" because I read on the internet that the real Eugene Brown only gave chess lessons at an elementary school, and certainly not at a high school. Also he would be too afraid to hang around with teenagers driving fast cars, waving with guns and trade drugs. So this movie is 95% fiction. The idea to establish a chess club for underprivileged children came from one Sergeant Michael Brown (no relation incidentally) who served in the fire department in Washington D.C.Whether it is a slightly modified version of the real facts, actually isn't relevant. I thought it was a fascinating and poignant film about underprivileged kids who escape reality every day and don't think a descent education is important. They flee into the criminal world and turn against the social values. "Life of a King" belongs in a list of films that have appeared over the years. The content is twofold. On the one hand we have the rebellious youth rejecting any form of authority except that of a local criminal. On the other hand, we have some good Samaritan who believes that these young people do have a future and tries to help them. The subject is nothing new and there are a whole series of movies with a similar theme. From "Boys Town" and "Blackboard Jungle" to "Class of 1984" and "Dangerous Minds" . In all these movies a figure emerges who has the will and patience to put the derailed youth back on track. The biggest cliché in all these films is the fact there needs to happen a tragic accident before everyone comes to their senses.Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a wonderful part. I'm not a big fan of Cuba, but I thought this was a magnificent performance. He always has such a somber and sad look on his face that perfectly fits this role. A broken man after a long imprisonment who realizes that his only purpose, just like a pawn in a chess game, is to protect an important person and at the end gets sacrificed. That's the message he tries to convey to the young kids. Clifton (Carlton Byrd) is the leading figure of the young ones who's dealing for a local drugs lord. He's the only one who doesn't believe in the chessgame of Eugene but immediately realizes that the latter is not quickly intimidated. Tahime (Malcolm Mays) is the timid boy with family problems and follows Clifton blindly until the end. Peanut (Kevin Hendricks) is the soft hearted of the classroom and gets handed the role of victim.The message Eugene wants to tell, is that life is like a chess game. Once you understand and apply that to daily life, there are opportunities to escape the downward spiral. At times I found it very moving. But you have to admit that this is just an average movie with the usual clichés and predictable situations. This movie will finally end up on some TV channel that broadcasts more of this moralizing, with life stories filled, movies.A beautiful rendition in a well known framework.More reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/

Jesse Boland Well you are never going to believe me, but this is the darnedest truth right here. I just watched a good movie staring Cuba Gooding Jr.. I am still a bit surprised but, let's get to the movie. Solid, well acted, and heart warming. In no way a new story, but a true one. It is most like Stand and Deliver, or Dangerous Minds, but in no way a copy of either, it will just make you think of those. Even a bit of The Principal in there, but just a bit. There is no shortage of heart, even if the rival gang does give up just a bit too easy. I can only guess that they saw the positive impact as better than easy money themselves eventually. I Enjoyed the really well developed relationships between all of the characters, and the fact that Cuba's hero is strong enough to be what people need. I recommend this one to anyone, the violence is quite muted, the main story is spent mostly around the chess boards, the language is mostly tame, and there are none but the best of values to be learned from here. Really should only be an 8 the way they have PG-13 the heck out of it, but I really think you will enjoy it to the nines.