[.ca] Sharpe: Sharpes Enemy

Excellent history, excellent story:
Bernard Cornwell's stories of Richard Sharpe do a fantastic job of bringing Napoleonic warfare to the screen. As a special unattached officer serving Wellington, this is one of Sharpe's most exciting adventures. He has to effect the rescue of two hostages, the wives of both an English and French officer, defeat a desperate band of deserters led by his nemesis, Hakeswill, then fight off a French reconaissance force. He does it in the usual style -- a little bluff, a little swashbuckling, and some brilliant tactics. One of the most enjoyable scenes is the one in which a French general explains to the wife of one of his officers how Napoleonic combined arms tactics work using peas on a plate -- then Sharpe promptly undoes his tactics. This is one of the most compelling and exciting films of the entire series.

Bad Movie? No Way!!!:
Let me just get to the point... Sharpe's Enemy is my favorite Sharpe movie in the series (and I have seen all of them).Quite frankly, I have no idea why the reviewer a couple reviews below could rate this series 1 star and say it has not a single good actor in it... Sean Bean is superb in the role of Richard Sharpe (and this holds true for all episodes). Pete Postlethwaite is my favorite villan as the monsterous Obediah Hakeswill and Daragh O'Malley is as steady as ever as Sharpe's dependable sergent. In short, Sharpe's Enemy has one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled!More importantly, the story, based on the superb Bernard Cornwell novel, is gripping and action packed. Quite frankly, TV does not get better than this... I have watched this TV movie tens of times and I still am thrilled every time.I highly recommend Sharpe's Enemy and the rest of the Sharpe's series. Also recommended if you like these kinds of movies is the Horatio Hornblower series. Very similar kinds of storylines (with equally good group acting), but at sea...

Worth watching:
If you've never seen any of the Sharpe films, you may want to view the previous chapters to avoid confusion. Sharpe runs into old enemies and new in this one. Obadiah Hakeswell,a name from Sharpe's past, (as portrayed by Pete Postlethwaite)almost steals the limelight from Sean Bean.(See SHARPE'S COMPANY for their first "reunion") Hakeswell kills Theresa, Sharpe's wife, near the end of the film, in a short but brutal scene. I for one would have liked to have seen Theresa give Hakeswell a royal arse kicking first, then have Obediah's treachery bring about her demise. (Maybe have Theresa poised for the kill, only to have Hakeswell blindside her) The plot is a tad silly at times, but it IS based on historical fact. Some of the characters come across a little hokey, but are patterned on real persona. And of course there is the menacing Major Duco, (admirably played by Feodore Atkins) who somehow is always foiled by Sharpe. If you like a little "skin" mixed with your swashbuckling, we have Elizabeth Hurley, (who plays a whore to a British Colonel) before she became Austin Power's love interest.

Major Sharpe Rules:
I hate to use a title like this, but Richard Sharpe rules. Yet again he has to prove that he is just as capable an officer as the bought officers. Again he rises to the challenge. This is probably the best of the 4 DVD's that are released so far. There certainly was more action in this one (not that other's are lacking in the action department). The DVD is really good. The picture quality is good for being from a TV show and the sound is really good too. Again, I'll say that it would have been better had it been done in Dolby 5.1, but oh well. I'll take a good story and acting over effects any day.

Bad Movie:
This is not a good movie !!!!!!!!! in fact, one of the worst movies I ever seen. I heard about this movie by a friend, thet sad it was a pretty good movie. But when I saw it , it was not good at all, not one good actor/actress I can't recomend anyone to see this movie.