Sharpe

Something awesome to follow the leader of a small bataillon of men during Napoleonic war, Sharpie charismatic and physical lead representation by Sean Bean with a perfectly cast support that grow as each episode progress.

The soundtrack is well appropriate, the vilains are nasties, many outdoor scenes, it accomplished well under its budgets i presume.

I guess this is a series about valors, dramatic, some social classes and geographic commentaries. Advemtures and mortal dangers, outdoor locations, and decent soundtrack.

This and Horatio Hornblower are totally well cast and well preesented with good soundtrack and operatic at time sutuations.

Maybe more of a guy men type of series.

Amazing to go back and watch this after thirty years and see all the now famous actors at the start of their careers. Sean Bean, Daniel Craig, Brian Cox, Pete Poselthwaite, Emily Mortimer, Julian Fellowes, Mark Strong....... I could go on.

They episodes are a great watch and it is fun to follow the progress of Sharpe and his band of men through the Napoleonic War.

Has to be said that there are some problems. The scripts are quite hammy. Some of the plots are very samey. It becomes easy to see who the bad guys are, who the traitor is and guess when will Sharpe sleep with the damsel in distress in each episode whilst wondering how many times Sharpe will be injured and miraculously shrug off mortal wounds to save the day in the end.

A really great series. I've not read the books so this was my first introduction to Sharpe. Each episode is quite long but they're well paced and good fun. The villains are proper villains, treacherous, wicked and delighting in their misdeeds. Sharpe is introduced as a hard but decent man raised from the ranks, from humble beginnings, now commanding a company of loyal misfits with his right hand man ever at his side. The costumes and attention to detail are good, you can tell they filmed it abroad, most episodes are set in Spain and Portugal. The modern score works quite well, they took a brave risk including electric guitar but I was surprised how well it worked. Some of it is pretty low budget but some pretty ladies turn up luckily throughout the series for Sharpe to flirt with. A lot of the fighting is actually very brutal and real, not lots of slick acting and fast editing but generally much more realistic with men grappling, wrestling, grunting, going for a low blow. Towards the end it Sharpe starts to seem like he's blessed with nine lives. There's another interesting episode where the war is over and Sharpe is working for the local yeomanry, but his sympathies lie more with the common people than the mill owners he's paid to protect. I like this one because we get to see Sharpe out of his comfort zone while we explore the poverty of Yorkshire in the 1810s. There's also a running gap in the series about Sharpe often being mistaken for a common solider rather than an officer. Many people are astonished to discover this rough mannered low born man is in fact an officer. Many of these men though lack his battle readiness and skill. Not that Sharpe is perfect, he has a weakness for women, he sometimes struggles to control his temper and he can occasionally be quite blind about certain things.

The casting is spot on, especially Sean Bean. Themes of social class, army life and justice/injustice, betrayal, jealousy and loyalty run throughout the series.

Fantastic tale of a sgt rising through the ranks whilst being gritty and heart warming.

Sean Bean IS Richard Sharpe, the British rifleman whose career mirrors that of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington through the British campaigns in Europe against the French forces under Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Even though Bernard Cornell originally had his most famous character sporting black hair, I personally can't read Sharpe and not think of Sean Bean. That's how well he owned the role. Same with Daragh O'Malley as Sharpe's constant companion, the big Irishman Patrick Harper.

All but the last two instalments in this series were based on Cornwell's books, and even Sharpe's Challenge, the penultimate TV movie, was loosely based around Cornwall's trio of books where Sharpe is in India. I only wish these had been big screen productions, with a larger budget for extras and such. As good as the ITV production is - and it is very, very good - it could have been better with larger battle scenes.

That said, there is great Napoleonic action in each episode, and brilliant acting. Hugh Fraser is sensational as Wellington, and Pete Postlethwaite as Sharpe's sworn enemy Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill deserves special mention. A better villain, you will struggle to find. And lots of guest starring roles from famous British actors like Daniel Craig and Liz Hurley.