Sharpe's Waterloo (2006)

Life seems to have settled down for British Officer Richard Sharpe as he enjoys a much-deserved rest at a French chateau with his new love, Lucille. However, the news of Napoleon's return from exile drives Sharpe back to the army. He is placed on the staff of the incompetent British ally, the Prince of Orange. Reunited with his Chosen Men, Sharpe abandons his inept commander and organizes the defense at the farm of La Haie Sainte. It is here he plays a key role in one of Britain's most famous victories, the Battle of Waterloo.

Good historical adventure!

The story is very true to the book, always a Good Thing to the readers who wish continuity. It would have been better with a "cast of thousands" for the actual battles, but budgets being what they are, ah well...
Amongst all the actors that could have been chosen, S.Bean does a magnificent job, even my wife likes the tales! I heartily recommend this title. April 20, 2008

Three-and-a-half stars for climactic "Waterloo"

Phew! The fourteen-episode Richard Sharpe series of BBC adaptations of Bernard Cornwell's novels is one heck of a production. Taken as a whole, this series deserves five stars without question. This is old-fashioned storytelling with a lean budget, and for the most part it works splendidly . . . except for "Sharpe's Gold," of course.

But "Sharpe's Waterloo" just doesn't quite work as well, and the problem is one of scope. Most of the other Sharpe episodes were severely scaled-down versions of Bernard Cornwell's novels. But it was more charming than jarring to see a handful of Riflemen and redcoats comprise the entire South Essex, and thanks to skillful camerawork the episodes were plenty thrilling.

But with Waterloo, things are different. Waterloo is not an invented Bernard Cornwell tale, but a real clash of 300,000 soldiers in a small area. Further, it is one of the defining battles of Western Civilization, and its echoes are still felt today. While the BBC has clearly given the filmmakers a larger budget, "Sharpe's Waterloo" nevertheless comes across as amateurish. Others have invoked Ted Turner's wonderful production of "Gettysburg" - "Sharpe's Waterloo" does not measure up in either story or grandeur, and the battle demands better.

The story opens with Sharpe comfortably living in Normandy with Lucille, but that idyll is soon shattered by Napoleon's escape from Elba. Sharpe promises Lucille that he will not fight, but everyone knows that is a lie. Soon, Sharpe is attached to the staff of William of Orange, a Dutch idiot who is about to get thousands of men killed. Sharpe and "Silly Billy" are even more at odds than oil and water, and this relationship gets ugly quickly.

Sharpe is rejoined in uniform by Hagman and Harris, but while Sergeant Major Harper has returned from Ireland, he has not reelisted. Instead, he makes the conscious decision to hang back even though he is often in harm's way - it's a jarring decision for the filmmakers, for those of us who are familiar with Harper from the novels have a hard time picturing him standing to one side while a battle rages five feet away. Both Hagman and Harris get small moments in the sun in their final Sharpe movie, and that's a well-deserved honor.

But even though the movie has a few captions trying to tell the audience what is going on, the battle is never really explained and one is left wondering just what happened. Again, Waterloo deserves better.

The one thing that "SW" gets right much better than any of the previous Sharpe BBC episodes is the human cost of war. While we have seen plenty of soldiers killed in this series, "SW" contains many more close-ups of mangled bodies, sobbing soldiers, and Sharpe shows much more emotion than he usually does when confronting the death of the anonymous rankers.

If you have watched the Sharpe series so far, there's no way you're going to avoid "Sharpe's Waterloo." With luck, you will enjoy it more than I did - I find it fine, but I wanted so much for it to be great. And that is a disappointment. April 23, 2007

Pretty Good, BUT

OK, this was a pretty good installment of the sharpe series. However, like all of them could have been better with a higher budget...Maybe one day it wouldnt be a bad idea to re-do this series as a two or 3 part feature film like lord of the rings---juice it up alot...ANYWAY, they did the best with what they had. Sean Bean was great- I loved his curse words...very original... Paul Bettany did a great job as the douche bag prince of orange...and the two gay guys did a great job portraying two gay lover/soldiers/tag team...It was really cute how they died holding eachothers hand. I was happy to see Sharpe finally got to see Boney and that he persevered through the prince of oranges antics. Worth Buying...or id recommend buying the whole collectors box February 11, 2007

The Finale of an Adventure Epic

I admit to being a die hard fan of the _Sharpe_ film series so I see this not as an individual movie but the last chapter, you might say, of a well loved video book. Without trying to spoil the plot for anyone who hasn't seen it, there is joy, resolution, and great sadness as many of the characters' stories, not just Sharpe's, come to a conclusion. January 5, 2007

A Poorly Done Conclusion to a Great Series

I've much appreciated and enjoyed the BBC's adaptations of Bernard Cornwell's 'Sharpe Saga.' Unfortunately, the last and most important of all from the original cycle, SHARPE'S WATERLOO, is nowhere near the quality of the previous ones. True, Sean Bean does a terrific job as usual. Same thing for Daragh O'Malley as Patrick Harper, who is now a civilian horse-trader. And guest star Paul Bettany is, needless to say, excellent as the pompous but inept Prince of Orange. Most of the rest of the cast, however, seem over-the-top and histrionics abound (yes, even for a Sharpe's tale). Furthermore, the battle scenes are poorly executed, men drop and die before bullets or cannon fire even reach them. In other scenes soldiers are being cut down with swords but there are no blood or slash marks showing anywhere on their uniforms! Worst of all was the way that the fates of Sergeants Dan Hagman and Harris (played by Brit folkie John Tams and Jason Salkey respectively) were treated. In my opinion, these two were some of the most interesting characters in the BBC's SHARPE series and never received the attention they deserved.

If you are unfamiliar with Cornwell's books and only a viewer of these DVD's, SHARPE'S WATERLOO will leave you with much unanswered. For example, is Jane Sharpe pregnant? Will Richard ever get back the money that she took from him? What becomes of he and Lucille? Although some of these questions are answered in the recent BBC production, SHARPE'S CHALLENGE, it will behoove you to start reading the novels.
August 31, 2006

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