Downton Abbey has jumped the shark
An erstwhile fan of the series, it is with chagrin that I report how bad the final movie was. The experience reminds me of visiting some beloved childhood place -- a store, a theater, a school, or a home -- and finding it utterly in disrepair and dirty. The director seems to have just phoned it in.
The previews hinted at it, as Hugh Bonneville stood out with a tanned face and hands that could only be explained if he had served a term of tour in India. It was distracting in every scene in which he appeared, completely inconsistent with his character and with English gentlemen in England. Field hands in the American South got less sun. It's baffling why this wasn't fixed with makeup. It was as much of an anachronism as a Walkman.
The filming was also lacking in the lighting that made the series an indulgence in nostalgia for an era that never was. It was too bright, and almost gritty. The difference stood out from the very first scenes.
Characters also lacked their depth so carefully developed over the series' long years. Script and plot and dynamics reduced them to little more than caricatures, almost to the point of tableaus.
Plot "twists" were not only not twists, but were trite, Broadway musicalesque developments that were more implausible than a pair of romantic dogs eating a spaghetti dinner in an Italian restaurant. I'm avoiding spoilers, but after seeing it, you'll have to agree that the outlandish events reduced the story rather than extending it.
Even casting was amiss. The mainstay of Downton has been to introduce new romances and dashing or beautiful interlopers, neither of which were correctly cast here. There was a subplot for an upstairs affair but the actor wasn't credible as a romantic foil for the woman he was paired with. The gay subplot was equally weak, without so much as a hug between presumed lovers-to-be. Unrequited love seems to have become replaced with unnecessary contact for the plot.
And, coming to IMDB, it is baffling to find the American release date almost a month after the rest of the world, which seems some kind of issue, especially in light of the complete lack of any American star or actor to bridge the large market here with the UK's. The series did not ignore that element.
The audience here was VERY slow to warm to the story this time, and never really reacted until a scene in which a downstairs character gives a plucky encouraging speech to one of the elite characters, which is very late in the story. Mind you, this was a room full of Downton fans.
This movie should be withdrawn from circulation. It is an unwelcome as Julie Andrews' topless scene in S. O. B., and undoes years of earned affection for the stories.
The previews hinted at it, as Hugh Bonneville stood out with a tanned face and hands that could only be explained if he had served a term of tour in India. It was distracting in every scene in which he appeared, completely inconsistent with his character and with English gentlemen in England. Field hands in the American South got less sun. It's baffling why this wasn't fixed with makeup. It was as much of an anachronism as a Walkman.
The filming was also lacking in the lighting that made the series an indulgence in nostalgia for an era that never was. It was too bright, and almost gritty. The difference stood out from the very first scenes.
Characters also lacked their depth so carefully developed over the series' long years. Script and plot and dynamics reduced them to little more than caricatures, almost to the point of tableaus.
Plot "twists" were not only not twists, but were trite, Broadway musicalesque developments that were more implausible than a pair of romantic dogs eating a spaghetti dinner in an Italian restaurant. I'm avoiding spoilers, but after seeing it, you'll have to agree that the outlandish events reduced the story rather than extending it.
Even casting was amiss. The mainstay of Downton has been to introduce new romances and dashing or beautiful interlopers, neither of which were correctly cast here. There was a subplot for an upstairs affair but the actor wasn't credible as a romantic foil for the woman he was paired with. The gay subplot was equally weak, without so much as a hug between presumed lovers-to-be. Unrequited love seems to have become replaced with unnecessary contact for the plot.
And, coming to IMDB, it is baffling to find the American release date almost a month after the rest of the world, which seems some kind of issue, especially in light of the complete lack of any American star or actor to bridge the large market here with the UK's. The series did not ignore that element.
The audience here was VERY slow to warm to the story this time, and never really reacted until a scene in which a downstairs character gives a plucky encouraging speech to one of the elite characters, which is very late in the story. Mind you, this was a room full of Downton fans.
This movie should be withdrawn from circulation. It is an unwelcome as Julie Andrews' topless scene in S. O. B., and undoes years of earned affection for the stories.
- WatchingInDarkness
- May 19, 2022