Horatio Hornblower - The Adventure Continues

Horatio Hornblower - The Adventure Continues
by Andrew Grieve

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• Ioan Gruffudd (Titanic) returns to action as C.S. Forester's swashbuckling naval hero Horation Hornblower in these two brand-new lavishly produced films which continue A&E's Emmy Award-winning series. Following his rapid rise through the ranks of the King's Navy during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, Hornblower's latest adventures chart a course for unexpected peril as

DVD Reviews of Horatio Hornblower - The Adventure Continues

DVD Review: Minus One Star for Bad Directing
Summary: 4 Stars

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.

Description of Horatio Hornblower - The Adventure Continues