SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

WeeClaude Lieutenant Hornblower is a fun, fast-paced adventure novel -- not that you could tell that from watching this turgid, dreary TV adaptation that crawls along at a snail's pace.In addition to being boring, this adaptation misses the whole point of C.S. Forester's original story. In the book, Hornblower seizes the opportunity to fill a void in leadership when his captain is incapacitated, and the ship's first officer proves to be an incompetent replacement. By devising a series of brilliant tactical maneuvers, Hornblower salvages his ship's mission, saves the day, and proves that he deserves the command of his own vessel.This stupid version of the story totally ignores all that. For one thing, Hornblower is depicted here as nothing more than a brave, pleasant young man, with little resemblance to the neurotic genius from the books. (He's Sherlock Holmes at sea, not a swashbuckler!) Also, the emphasis is shifted from Hornblower proving himself, to a lot of clumsy melodrama about the mentally ill captain and the mutinous act of removing him from command. Cue 700 scenes of David Warner overacting as the wacky Captain Sawyer, endlessly terrorizing his crew and, by extension, the bored viewer who is tired of watching his shenanigans.There are other things I could complain about - the direction is flat, the dialogue is unrealistic (Royal Navy officers wouldn't be so openly critical of their captain), everything looks too clean, the music is annoying, Mr. Bush has too small a role, etc. It beats me how fans of the novels generally regard this series as a good adaptation; I think it lacks the psychological depth of the books and just plain stinks. My advice is, leave this corny relic of the early 2000s un-viewed and read the book instead.

pete36 Big budgeted Brit TV-series based on the books of C.S. Forester, set during the Napoleonic wars in the beginning of the 19th century. Hornblower starts of as a midshipman and the series follows him as he climbs up through the ranks.Only the British can make such a spectacular historical series. No costs or means have been spared to recreate life at sea in those times. Not much of CGI or whatvever, the ships and fight are all real. When Hornblower is trapped on a sinking ship, there is no money for some elaborater special effect so they just sink it for real. Plots are full of twists and turns and are never predictable. Series is very intelligently scripted, great charactarisation and humour is provided when needed.It seems this series was the inspiration for US movie "Master and Commander" with Russel Crowe. It's the same theme, same era and nearly same plot. If you are familiar with the Hornblower series , Master and commander is almost a kind of rip-off, although it is based on another bookseries. Master and Commander is an OK movie but it just pales in comparison with this simply brilliant series. I think this is again proof that TV is getting better then cinema.It is not the first adaptation of the CS Forester saga on Hornblower . In 1952 Hollywood made a very worthy effort with "Hornblower" by cramming three books into one movie. Starring Gregory Peck as Hornblower and Virginia Mayo as the love interest. Directed by actionspecialist Raoul Walsh, it's a real winner.

leba83 The Hornblower series are just as great as the books, great acting, nice scenes, and the series borders on the truth of that era. I hope they will continue with the Hornblower series. I like to say great job everybody but especially to Ioan Gruffod, Jamie Bamber, Robert Lindsay, Sean Gilder and Paul Copley.

Ron-181 I have now seen all six of the A&E Hornblower series and find it one of the best produced series TV has ever done. I will say five and six were slow paced and moved more like a soap opera but the writing has been outstanding the cast is professional and superior in every way. The first four episodes rated 8 & 9 's in my book but these last two dropped a little to a 7 because of the pacing. Excellent family fare and I am sure everyone will find them entertaining.