Hornblower

Since the series of Hornblower began, I have waited quite anxiously for the next episode. The cast is excellent, the plot well thought out, and the battle scenes terrific. Ioan Grufford is excellent as the young Horatio Hornblower, and it's good to see a Derby actor such as Robert Lindsay back in a major role. Definitely worth watching this episode as it is one of the best for drama and action.

Pretty sure the Plimsoll Line wasn't invented until 1875, so I was pretty surprised to see it near the stem of the Indefatigable.!! Someone didn't have musch attention to detail

Gruffudd continues to give a tremendous performance as the titular hero and if nothing else the coming of age story is engaging. Likewise, the script continues to feel like the novels while expanding the segments in delightful ways. But I still find the production values to be detrimental in that they feel cheap. This film is better than The Duel (Even Chance) because the direction is more sure handed. The film feels like a second go at the cinematic language of this type of story by a director who learned from making the first film.

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.

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