Hornblower: Duty

Bracegirdle(Coy, driven) and his ship have disappeared, mysteriously. Horatio(Gruffudd, with a strong sense of justice and honor) is sent out to find him, and learn of the circumstances. Along the way, he rescues a few foreigners, including a married couple - only, they may not be the best people to have aboard.

By the end of this, the final entry, everything is resolved, all loose ends tied up, in a satisfactory and not rushed manner. Hornblower's marriage is contrasted well to that of the aforementioned couple, and classic, age-old issues are explored - when the seaman is out, he misses land, and vice versa, and how can a husband put both his wife and his country before himself? "Duty" is indeed gone into, beyond those examples(in hierarchical relationships). Filming(barely showing that this was made for TV), editing, tension(you will be glued to the screen), action, story, pacing, acting, dialog, humor, all top-notch.

There is some disturbing, bloody, brutal and violent content in this. I recommend this to any fan of drama and swashbucklers. 8/10

I Video'd this and the other new Hornblower movie ("Loyalty") when they were shown on A&E in December 2003, but it wasn't until mid-February that I finally watched them. And then the following weekend, I finally saw the "Master and Commander" movie. It's too bad I watched the Hornblower movies first, because they really ruined "Master and Commander" for me. The acting is so much better in the Hornblower stories. In fact, I think about the only thing "Master and Commander" had over "Loyalty" and "Duty" were sound effects and lack of commercials. What I didn't realize is that these were just the latest (last?) two in a long series of Hornblower made-for-TV movies. Now I want to watch the whole series!

I was flipping threw the channels and came across this tv show and was blown away. It pulled me in and ever let go. This is the newest show in the series I watched it this week 12/02/2003, I had no idea they had made new ones. After reading some reviews I agree that the acting is better than any American made for tv movie, except "Lonesome Dove", Ioan Gruffudd is great, but he is no Robert Duval or Tommy Lee Jones.

The set and I use that word loosely, is a 19th century ship. Every aspect of the ship feels like it came out of the 19th century. It does feel tight and dark. Exactly what a ship back like then feels like.

The story is not really great, good is what i would say. You are able to determine what happens with in a few minutes. The acting is what I paid more attention to. Some of the action sections are ok. It's not movie quality but you don't really let it bother you. If "Master and Commander" and "Pirates of the Carribean" was not released I don't think the American viewers would watch this. I hope A&E will keep showing this series if i continues.

Over all I would recommend anyone this show who love the sea and watching acting, a great tv movie.

I watched this series years ago when i rented them from the video store. I remembered reading an interview with Gene Roddenberry wherein he explained how Horatio Hornblower was his basis for the character of James T. Kirk. That had me. The great story, well told immediately capitivated me. With HH, I could clearly see the parallel with JTK--The noble, trickster, swashbuckler. I would watch it all over again. This and Pride & Prejudice (Firth/Ehle) began my love affair and discover of BBC and anything, anyone from the UK. Great storytelling!

The final (to date) episode of the TV Hornblower saga is not one of it's strongest. I'm a great fan of the books, but despite some great performances, the scale of the effects budget along with some dreadful writing, sloppy editing and a few doubtful casting choices make this a good, but never a great series. All throughout, one can't help but compare Ioan Gruffudd's, Hornblower performance to Sean Bean's Sharpe, and sadly he never quite measures up, when this is coupled with some trite dialogue, you just wish some scenes had been edited out. I'm not even sure that, had the series been made a few years later with the benefit of CGI, it would have compensated for these moments. All that said, I hope we do see some further episodes, if only to explore the potential of one of the greatest set of adventure stories ever written.