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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015)
Simply Magical!
I've done it. I originally gave it a 9, but after tonight's penultimate episode, I HAD to give it a 10.
To put it simply, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is a MASTERPIECE.
Having never read the book, and primarily planning to watch it not only because of the trailers, but because I am a huge fan of Marc Warren, I came into the series knowing nothing about it at all. But that didn't matter. I was immediately swept away by the captivating visuals, characterisations filled with emotion and depth and the promise of a magical spectacle that has CERTAINLY been fulfilled!
I literally cannot express my love enough!
Bertie Carvel(Strange) and Eddie Marsan (Norrell) are both incredible actors and lead the drama flawlessly. I swiftly found myself rooting for Strange and against Norrell, becoming extraordinarily emotionally involved in their conflict and also in any tragedies that befall them. Carvel's portrayal of Strange's descent into madness is STUNNING.
Marc Warren is utterly PERFECT as the Gentleman-with-the-Thistledown-Hair; sinister, mischievous, sexy (although that's probably an acquired taste...) and absolutely EVERYTHING that you could want from a villain!
Enzo Cilenti, Charlotte Riley, Ariyon Bakare, Alice Englert, Paul Kaye, Edward Hogg and all of the other actors are fabulous. Just perfect! Special mentions also to Vincent Franklin and John Heffernan as Drawlight and Lascelles. Just some fine, fine work there!
The story is unique and thoroughly intriguing, the concept of faeries and magic in regency England (a time period that I love) creating such a wonderful aesthetic! The land of Lost-Hope is exquisitely designed! I have been also very impressed with the CGI- normally, the BBC aren't best known for their work in this field, but this was marvellous to watch (especially the sand horses and the hand reaching up from the mud at Waterloo)!
Ultimately, I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who loves period drama, or magic, or both! It is a perfect example of how television SHOULD be made- stirring and exciting, full of suspense, with absolutely nothing else like it!
If only there was a sequel to the book, so a second series could be made!
The Three Musketeers (2011)
Enjoyable... perhaps not always for the right reasons.
With the BBC's AMAZING Musketeers series having converted me to a Dumas addict, I decided to give this film a go, knowing full well that I would compare and contrast the two.
To summarise, this film was amusing and enjoyable, (to the point where I sacrificed sleep to stay up and watch it), but mostly not for the right reasons.
The trio themselves (Matthew Macfadyen as Athos, Ray Stevenson as Porthos and Luke Evans as Aramis) were so under-used that after I had finished watching, I almost found myself trying to remember what they did in it. Stevenson and Evans were enjoyable and engaging as their respective Musketeers, despite limited dialogue, and Macfadyen was quite good as Athos, (although Tom Burke's performance in BBC Musketeers is fairly definitive for me) but I felt I hardly saw them at all.
Not what I expected from a film entitled 'The Three Musketeers'.
In terms of the other cast members, Logan Lerman was not terrible, but far too 'all-American' to be d'Artagnan and his romance with Constance Bonacieux (played stiffly and uninspiringly by Gabriella Wilde) was underdeveloped and unbelievable. Freddie Fox and Juno Temple were watchable as the King and Queen. Christoph Waltz seemed to be simply there for the money. Orlando Bloom... well, if you enjoyed Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending (as I did, I will admit), I'm sure you will appreciate his entertainingly over the top Duke of Buckingham!
Rochefort is my favourite non-Musketeer (especially since Marc Warren played him so brilliantly) and I enjoyed Mikkelsen's performance, but again, he suffered from poor writing. Saying 'Your Eminence' over and over again does nothing for character development.
Milla Jovovich as Milady... just no. Far too much screen time, where she pouted and ran through explosions in slow motion. There was no sense of subtlety in her performance and, for a character who is supposed to be a spy, that probably would have improved it a great deal.
James Cordon as Planchet made me cringe every time he appeared. Clearly intended to be the comic relief, the film was already hilariously corny without his terrible jokes continually popping up. Just bad, BAD writing.
Costumes were really, really beautiful. Stunning use of German locations. CGI and green screen... not so much but it's bearable. Fight sequences were well choreographed. Fighting the Cardinal's Red Guards was particularly enjoyable. I didn't even REALLY mind the flying airships. Steampunk is a nice aesthetic and strangely didn't feel too out of place after a while.
A thought... Captain Treville was just...absent? Entirely?
The primary problem with this film was the lazy screen writing. "Your horse took a dump in the road", "Haven't you ever heard of feelings?", "You should have apologised to my horse" and "You must go... so you can come back.." being just some of the countless (slightly paraphrased) gems that lie buried behind layer after layer of CGI.
Not to mention the ENDLESS "Shut up Planchet"s like it was some sort of hilarious joke...? And another major problem was the lack of character development, due to lack of adequate screen time for... well, everyone.
Would I ever watch it again? Yes. I am determined to get my family to watch it and laugh with me. It truly is a ridiculous romp that I did actually enjoy. I certainly didn't hate it.
But I think I'll stick to the BBC adaptation.