oscar-35
*Spoiler/plot- Horatio Hornblower 2003, Follows the exploits of a young midshipman to become ship's commander. The audience experiences the thrilling adventures of the ultimate high-seas hero in the British Navy at the outset of the French Napoleonic naval Wars.*Special Stars- Ioan Gruffudd as the series title's name character.*Theme- Accomplishing your best and being civil while doing that make will make you go far.*Trivia/location/goofs- Emmy winning TV series. TV movie. Shot mostly on the Black Sea on a Turkish sailing ship.*Emotion- An extremely well cast, acted, and produced historic film series from the Brits about Brit history. A 'must have' classic adventure series.*Based On- The famous book British Napoleonic war series of C.S. Forester.
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews
Horatio(portrayed well by Gruffudd, imbuing him with a strong sense of justice, and a smart, outside-of-the-box approach) will be taking the examination for lieutenant. Before that, however, he and the rest of the crew of the Indefatigable suffer under halved rations - the Spanish cease their neutrality in the British/French war, and supply ships are a favored target. When a situation already on the edge of survival sees its few resources disappearing, how will the men cope?The many dangers and risks of sea-faring continue to be explored, both those that come from the outside and the ones from the inside(not everyone can handle less food). All of the acting and character-writing is compelling, rendering everyone a human being, no one is a mere "type". This is impressive for how many are in the cast - of course not everyone gets equal time for development, but no one is presented as a caricature.The filming and editing is superb - perspective is used well and the level of detail, the way everything has both a setup and a payoff is impressive. This is highly realistic. It doesn't shy away from the nasty stuff. The themes are strong: human relationships, respect, inner strength, etc.There is disturbing, bloody, and brutally violent content in this. I recommend this to any fan of drama. 8/10
slaybelle_15
Slight, slight spoiler ahead.To some people I'm sure The Fire Ships is the best Hornblower movie. I think it was very good but lacked something. Archie. Yes I have soft spot for Blond sidekick. I want more Archie if I want anything from Hornblower. And this movie had no Archie.That isn't saying that this movie was bad overall. The diplomat is funny. Denis Lawson is okay. Horatio wears some very attractive clothes (namely the straw hat and the long pants.) The plot is action packed (but who actually thought that Horatio wouldn't solve all his problems.)
If you watched the first one watch this one. Mourn the lack of Archie and then watch the third one. You'll be happy.
annalisa-2
Although I am not anything like a history-buff, I must say that I loved watching Hornblower. Andrew Grieve did an amazing job. He turned, together with the writer, of course, C.S Forester's book into a completely understandable, exiting adventure. Ioan Gruffudd did a fantastic job playing Horatio Hornblower, but let's not forget the other cast members: Robert Lindsay, Sean Gilder, Colin MacLachlan and all the others were outstanding too. Together they made a wonderful story, which, although it happened about 300 years ago, is still incredibly up to date.
AD
