Horatio Hornblower - The Adventure Continues (2001)

Move over, Mr. Darcy, A&E has a new heartthrob. He's third lieutenant Horatio Hornblower (Ioan Gruffudd reprising his star-making role), C.S. Forester's swashbuckling hero of the high seas. Devotees of the original Emmy Award-winning miniseries will want to "have at" this boxed set containing two feature-length episodes in which the dashing Hornblower and crew engage in "foolhardy actions, rash judgments, and irresponsible adventures." "Mutiny" finds our young hero awaiting trial for "black bloody mutiny" against a once distinguished, but increasingly unhinged Captain Sawyer (David Warner). "It was for the good of the service," Hornblower insists to his mentor, Sir Edward Pellew (Robert Lindsay). "We were headed for disaster." Hornblower relates the events that led him to a Kingston, Jamaica, prison cell. In "Retribution," Hornblower's trial unfolds, and the events surrounding the mutiny are further revealed: Captain Sawyer is detained in a straitjacket, disgruntled crew members desert, dithering acting captain Butland assumes command, and Hornblower leads a surprise attack on a Spanish fort. Meanwhile, the judges look for a scapegoat "to take away the smell." Maritime buffs will have a merry time, with all the shipboard intrigue and skirmishes. Like the "hot shot" that disables an escaping enemy vessel, this boxed set will be "a palpable hit." --Donald Liebenson Amazon.com

It's Very good

No fancy schmancy reviews here. It is well worth the watch. It is weak in spots but so what ???? So are your television viewing habits.

November 22, 2008

Horatio Hornblower-The Adventure Continues

This is a follow-on of the earlier series and the excellence continues also. Fairly realistic set and gives an idea of the life aboard ship during that time period. October 3, 2008

Leadership and loyalty put to the test.

The Horatio Hornblower adventure continues indeed in this two DVD package that tells the long but fascinting story of Lt. Hornblower's struggles serving under Captain Sawyer, a once great hero who is now gradually losing his mind and has paranoid delusions. Thus the episode "Mutiny" and the episode "Retribution" tell one continuous story.

Captain Sawyer's dementia is soon spotted by all four of his leutenants. HOwever the first senior leutenant is an incompetent, indecisive, timid, careerist. This means that when control of the ship is assumed by the young officers, the new leader is just as problematic in his own way as was Captain Sawyer.

Underneath all the bravery and action is an important theme. This theme has to do with loyalty and the strength of loyalty. The old heroic Captain Sawyer has men who have fought for him for years and worship him. Thus, they are not inclined to recognize his growing dementia and are in fact familiar with his robust leadership style. They see the young bright leutenants as upstarts and mutineers. Thus the crisis in strong leadership leads to factions and divisions which weakens the entire enterprise. When Sawyer is replaced by an incompetent,the conflicts continue.

The first episode "Mutiny" is very engaging as you see the struggle between Hornblower and Sawyer. However the second episode "Retribution" has a terrific ending with the incredible loyalty of Lt. Archie Kennedy demonstrated for Lt. Hornblower.

It is the aspects of dominance, leadership, loyalty, judgement that lies behind these 2 episodes and these films explore these fascinating concepts very well. Of course we get all the daring do of Ioan Gruffudd playing the role of Horatio Hornblower somewhat as if he were an 18th century James Bond, but all the wild dramatics and action add to the underlying theme of loyalty that is the infrastructure of the entire plot. October 24, 2007

Couldn't stop watching!

We couldn't stop watching this continuation of Hornblower's adventures! It's every bit as good as the original series. Now that we own the DVD we can watch it again! If you saw the first series, you have to get this one! July 17, 2007

Dissapointed

A longtime Hornblower fan, I could not wait for the "Adventure Continues." But when I saw it I could not wait for the adventure to finish! This series is dull and lackluster by comparison to the first four episodes (The Duel, The Fireships, The Duchess and the Devil, The Wrong War.) "The Adventure Continues" dissapointed me so that I did not even bother to see the complete "The New Adventures" series. I will have to give "The New Adventures" another try. December 29, 2006

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