Cheap Horatio Hornblower - The Adventure Continues (DVD) (Andrew Grieve) Price

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Customer Reviews of Horatio Hornblower - The Adventure Continues

Hornblower On Trial
This was one fantastic movie. Ioan Gruffund, Jamie Bamber, David Warner, Paul Copley, and all the other members of the cast did a superb job. No longer a boy, Horatio has grown into a man while maintaining an honorable character. This movie begins with Horatio, who is in prison with the charges of mutiny on his head, being paid a visit by the obviously ditraught Commodore Pellew who cannot believe that Horatio, of all people, would be in prison for mutiny. Horatio assures him that it was for the good of the service that he and those who were in agreement with him should take over the ship. He then launches his tale starting six months prior to his imprisonment. Horatio, along with Archie, Styles, and Matthews,is stationed on a British War Frigot known as the Renown that is captained by the aged war hero Captain Sawyer, who is out of his mind. Horatio and his friends for a long time must put up with their captains crulety and his strange antics, until when he endangers the ship and its entire crew, the men have him chained up and locked in his cabin. Fearing court marshall should they not do something quickly, the men attempt to take a Spanish fort. The second half of the movie is about their on land adventures and how Horatio must prove his innocence in court. This fantastic movie is filled with adventure and loyalty and honor just as much as the original four movies. Along the way, Horatio will lose friends and gain them as he fights for survival during the Napoleonic Wars.

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Minus One Star for Bad Directing
Judging from how poorly Andrew Grieves and his film editor handle scenes with the extras, I suspect that most of the wonderful performances from the principal actors in the Hornblower II series came from the actors' talents, not the director's. Mr. Grieves seems content to let his extras phone in their work; and he needs to understand that such wooden performances detract terribly from the whole piece. As for the editing, you can almost hear Grieves calling, "...and, action!" for most of scene-setting sequences. Ugh!

That said, the more character-driven script for Hornblower II gave Ioan Gruffudd a chance to exercise his considerable acting chops, which is always a pleasure to see. Jamie Bamber (Kennedy), Paul Copely (Matthews), Sean Gilder (Styles), and the ever-wonderful Robert Lindsay (Pellew) turned in strong supporting performances yet again. The addition of Paul McGann (Bush) strengthened the ensemble. Credit should especially go to Phillip Glenister (Hobbs) who took an unsympathetic character and showed us his evolution with subtlety and without sentimentality.

The first Hornblower series veered so far from the original C. S. Forrester's Midshipman Hornblower as to weaken the story. The screenplay for Hornblower II was a vast improvement over the first series. Even with the additional characters and changes in plot, Hornblower II screen adaptation remained true to Forrester's original tale in Lieutenant Hornblower. The next screenplay (and let's all hope there will be a Hornblower III)will pose a real challenge to develop the inner turmoil and melancholy of C. S. Forrester's Hornblower character as his naval career progresses. Ioan Gruffudd is up to the task, but I'm not sure Grieves is. Find a new director and a new editor; keep a close eye on the screen writer; bring back the principle characters (minus Kennedy, sadly); and Hornblower III will get five stars for sure. Judging from how poorly Andrew Grieves and his film editor handle scenes with the extras, I suspect that most of the wonderful performances from the principal actors in the Hornblower II series came from the actors' talents, not the director's. Mr. Grieves seems content to let his extras phone in their work; and he needs to understand that such wooden performances detract terribly from the whole piece. As for the editing, you can almost hear Grieves calling, "...and, action!" for most of scene-setting sequences. Ugh!

That said, the more character-driven script for Hornblower II gave Ioan Gruffudd a chance to exercise his considerable acting chops, which is always a pleasure to see. Jamie Bamber (Kennedy), Paul Copely (Matthews), Sean Gilder (Styles), and the ever-wonderful Robert Lindsay (Pellew) turned in strong supporting performances yet again. The addition of Paul McGann (Bush) strengthened the ensemble. Credit should especially go to Phillip Glenister (Hobbs) who took an unsympathetic character and showed us his evolution with subtlety and without sentimentality.

The first Hornblower series veered so far from the original C. S. Forrester's Midshipman Hornblower as to weaken the story. The screenplay for Hornblower II was a vast improvement over the first series. Even with the additional characters and changes in plot, Hornblower II screen adaptation remained true to Forrester's original tale in Lieutenant Hornblower. The next screenplay (and let's all hope there will be a Hornblower III) will pose a real challenge to develop the inner turmoil and melancholy of C. S. Forrester's Hornblower character as his naval career progresses. Ioan Gruffudd is up to the task, but I'm not sure Grieves is. Find a new director and a new editor; keep a close eye on the screen writer; bring back the principle characters (minus Kennedy, sadly); and Hornblower III will get five stars for sure.

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The best gets better
This follow on to the earlier efforts of A&E are actually an improvement where few thought that possible. The widescreen format and the quality of the filming are superb. Forrester's work is excellently adopted to the big screen. With a large screen televison and surround sound this ranks as an all time favorite.