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Gooding gives a strong performance, but viewers might be better off seeking out the...documentary Brooklyn Castle, which focuses on the championship chess team at an inner-city New York middle school.
Though ostensibly based on a true story, the film feels like it has been finessed, exaggerated, and beaten into formulaic fiction. It's a twisted parody of high school and mentoring whose achievements are entirely accidental.
The result has a predictably wholesome and formulaic structure, yet is redeemed through solid performances from Gooding and the youngsters, and a heartfelt sincerity that rings true.
Unquestionably well-meaning, this tale of an ex-con who teaches some inner-city teens about discipline through chess treads incredibly familiar emotional terrain.
January 17, 2014
Village Voice
Even if the story is faithful to the way the events played out in real life - and the official description is that the picture is a "dramatic retelling" - Life of a King couldn't feel more formulaic.
A Sunday school-style parable which makes very effective use of chess mastery as a metaphor for negotiating the perilous gauntlet of possible ghetto pitfalls.