Reviews

I was looking forward to this. I've been watching far too many formulaic rubbishy B movies on Netflix lately. I hoped to learn something from a subject that doesn't make it to the screen often enough.

I didn't object to the gaps in the narrative that others have pointed out. Unless you are making a World At War length series there will always be compromises on content.

I really enjoyed the historical commentary by the professionls, the actual Historians and Archeologist. I could have watched them for hours, and would have welcomed more content from them. That's the 3* in this rating.

The dramatisation was, frankly poor. Some of the acting was appalling.

Alexander's route to the throne was glossed over, with his problems with his father and the dangers to his life from his dad's new marriage merely hinted at. It was a key driver to his life story. In the series Pausanias kills Philip in the wrong place, at the wrong event for no apparent reason and even appears to survive! The intrigues of court life shaped Alexander, especially with his mother's influence. But we are denied that discussion.

The uniforms are a joke. They look like hand-me downs from some Hobbity fantasy movie. And yes, all in black, of course, with weird shields. At least they didn't use stirrups on the horses.

The battle scenes were straight from a cheap History Channel off the-the-shelf style. Skirmish order combat, not close order; running at full pace to the enemy, not steady cohesive advances. No demonstration of Phalanx drills and discipline being core to Alexander's victories. Plenty of circus acrobatics in the fight scenes though. I won't call them battles, because this was mob vs mob, not army vs army.

This is really not how Ancient battles were fought.

As for the acting, Alexander was portrayed bereft of Energy, Confidence, Intelligence, Genius, and Driven Ambition.

This is arguably the greatest commander in History, exuding power from every pore, his gaze piercing to your soul. But here, he's basically a mid-afternoon soaps star. Bland & unconvincing. Alexander's complexity and wild extremes of behaviour are replaced with a 'family man' love interest.

Could this guy-next-door "Alex" tame an unmanageable Bucephalus?

I doubt it.

A plus though for the sets, and I undertand and empathise with the issue of small budgets delivering an epic tale with a cast of merely several.

So for my money, cut the drama - its a waste of time - use the space to put more actual history in.

Currently, this series is to the conquest of Persia what Westeros is to the Wars of the Roses.

This could have been such a great series, but it drops the ball big time.

I can excuse the cheap editing/filming devices if the budget is low - e.g. A study of Australian murders is full of 1970s stock footage of Sydney interspersed with stock video of the unfortunate presenter driving around BRITISH roads aimlessly.

But, unforgivably,the content is piss-poor, and five minutes worth of information is interminably dragged out to fill in the time. The same bit of gossip is repeated multiple times by multiple people, then repeated again after every ad break. There is very little guts to these "documentaries" and no educational or entertainment value at all.

Waste of time, and frustrating to try to watch.

I managed 40 minutes of this before I gave up in confusion and headed for the internet bios. The confusion comes from an obviously aging Catherine on the throne, and yet the script suggests a freshly crowned Empress full of lusty (and lustful) activity. It does not compute. Hot Tub Time Machine Tzarina?

I loved the lavish sets, the locations, the choice of subject of Catherine's fascinating life; but the opportunity to create an original masterpiece of historical drama was passed by. The BBC would have aced this. BBC this is not. Superficial. Unengaging. Flat, 2 dimensional character development. This is sky looking for a Spartacus/Game of Thrones/Knightfall moneyspinner, and crashing with formulaic scriptwriting in the process.

I know the series starts with a disclaimer that it's just a bit of fictional drama, but even so......

I've seen two episodes now, and it's very much of the ilk of Britannia, or a lesser version of series such as Vikings, and the Last Kingdom.

History? No. Not at all. This is a 'Politically Correct' A Team meets Ivanhoe. Or perhaps Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Speed.?

So yes, there are plenty of costumes around to adorn the cast of.... well, not thousands, but ceratinaly several. Watch it as a yarn, not a documentary and you will find much of it very entertaining. The fight scenes were very well done. The American drawl on the Castillian Ambassador perhaps not so much.

Don't expect Game of Thrones writing. I think A Team is about the right level to describe the plot depth.

The clichés fall thick and fast.

So there is the stereotypical Arch-Villain/Evil plotting Advisor dude, complete with the regulation Sheriff of Nottingham beard, causing underhand deeds to be attempted on our Heroic Templar Master. This latter is always clad in full Knightly garb of full mail armour, steel Spaulders with sword and surcoat. Doing the dishes must have been a real bugger.

The damsels are all the required "strong, independent, determined" type, not averse to telling the King she'll be choosing her own husband, thank you, nor to picking up a spear and kebabing a bad guy, saving Our Hero's life at a critical battle moment.

The Apprentice Hero is a suitably headstrong "youth" seeking wild Revenge against the bad guys for doing in his fiancée. And yes, obviously he will become the squire and sidekick to our hero.

The dateline seems very flexible, but it is very understanding and modern of our 14th Century French King that he is not in the least bit curious nor surprised that he has somehow sired a mixed race daughter. Happened all the time in Medieval marriages....

Mind you, if the Pope can be a Yorkshireman then anything is possible.

I won't bore you with more details, just to say that the script is very formulaic and predictable. Your kids will love it. History buffs or those used to decent historical drama - not so much. At least there's no Blackadder in it.

Put it on when you get back from the pub and want something mindless to watch while you boozily nosh on your takeaway.

I'm not rushing to record the series. There is better to watch.

There are several great films about Stalingrad.

Unfortunately, this is not one of them.

Not really epically designed, It has a cast of several. And one big studio set for everything. In fact, I was wondering if they were recycling the Enemy at the Gates set? But on reflection it's a lot smaller.

The cast does the best it can with a terrible script which could have come right out of the 1940s or 1950s war movie library. The dramatic death scenes of the various heroes and anti-heroes are just appalling. So contrived, predictable and unconvincing.

The real name for this should have been "Stalingrad? : The Love Story". I couldn't help but think "Of all the Gin joints in all the Volga ruined buildings, you girls have to come into mine. Shoot em again, Sam. "

The dialogue is corny, twee, pointless and overlong. It does not engage the viewer.

The fight scenes have their moments, but other WW2 films do it better.

So apart from the script, the ridiculous set piece heroic death scenes, the stereotype Nazi general and honourable German hero (oh no, Sir, no murdering SS around here, all good honest soldiers Sir) , the corny clichés of defiance, pathetic attempts at wit,..... bah ! why continue.

Don't waste your money here. I'm being generous with a 5*.

There has been a long fascination with Elizabeth I - possibly England's greatest Queen. Consequently there have been a number of films made about her life, along with numerous documentaries, and drama series.

This is a drama-documentary, and as such I think we are entitled to expect a little more emphasis on the history side of things and accurate stuff at that.

And that is pretty much how it transpires - dramatic reconstructions of well known historical events, linked by two eminent historian presenters.

Not so much an epic, nor a cast of thousands; more a cast of several, and creative use of theatrical effects to hide the limitations of the budget. Such as the three or four guys who play the English army at Tilbury.....

Overall the cast did a good job, especially Felicity Dean as Elizabeth in her later years.

Where I was disappointed was in the historical content. It was very, very superficial, and did little to get beyond a cursory narrative of events.

For example one minute the Spanish Armada are cruising up the Channel, the next minute, literally the next minute, it is announced that the Armada had been defeated, had been blown North and 60 out of 130 ships sunk. How that was accomplished is left a mystery to us. One of the most important events of her reign was done scant justice. And we had no insight to Elizabeth or Drake as to their personalities or motivations at this time. Lord Howard of Effingham, who was in charge of the English fleet didn't even get mentioned.

A dry script.

At least we don't have Cate Blanchette delivering her Tilbury address from the back of an energetic horse.....

The costumes are very well done, but otherwise there is no spectacle. With the lack of adequate historical depth this falls far short of the expected - hoped for - standard. I doubt it will hold the interest of anyone but the most novice student of her reign. I wonder what a Dan Snow or Lucy Worsley would have made of this opportunity....

If you want to see a better historical drama on the subject the Cate Blanchette film is well worth a look, but for me the best Elizabeth I documentary-drama is still Glenda Jackson in the early 1980s BBC series "Elizabeth R", which I heartily recommend.

This is SOOOOO 1960s. Stark monochrome, visually crafted; intelligent, suspenseful dialogue, a modestly paced intense build up of the characters and plot, clever musical accents; the psychological twists, the interaction of the characters - the dark sociopath, the compliant and ineffective hen-pecked husband accomplice. Marvellous.

This is a modest budget film, yet very intense, very sinister with all sorts of taboos explored in the medium (pardon the pun) of a séance.

No CGI, no mega explosions every five minutes, no car chases or corny catch phrases, and definitely no expensive sets. Just a house in Wimbledon, a seedy lounge set and a penurious David Attenborough reduced to running a motorbike and sidecar for their mastermind crime..... complete with old duffer motorbike helmet and gauntlets

Great performances. These characters are the stuff that serial killers are made of, and they scared the sh*t out of me!

I've seen this 3 times. Each time I got something new out of it.

The first viewing I thought it was an OK movie which depended on the 3D special effects to get it some viewings. And the 3D stuff WAS amazing. In fact visually it was truly beautiful.

On further viewings I got to appreciate that both of the cast of two (!) were excellent at commanding engagement and attention for the full duration of the film.

Deeper reflection afterwards had me thinking of several layers that this movie reached for me. The fragility of the human animal, and yet the drive to survive bringing forth an inner strength that is hidden when not under stress. The isolation (and freedom) of space; the need for our species to work with others to achieve success in the human existence; co-operation at various levels between nations, by remote support teams, the questioning and futility of national differences on this tiny blue planet.

Who ya gonna call when it all goes pear shaped?

All deep stuff.

The role of The Hero and his leadership. It's the good guys who always die first. And in this case he sacrifices himself for the possible safety of Bullock without even a second thought. (Discuss! :) )

Then there is the welcoming safety of Mother Earth. When Bullock eventually lands the colour saturation of sea and land is intense, the life giving light from the sun now contrasting with the empty deadlines of space. Is the message here "value our planet, there is nothing else"?

The setting of space gives a macro view of our puny human existence, and puts it into it's true fragile context, despite egos on earth which claim to the contrary.

A movie that makes you think. And that's rare enough these days.