Sharpe's Rifles

The first of 14 (!) episodes based on the character of Richard Sharpe, as immortalized in Bernard Cornwell's novels of the career trajectory of a British soldier promoted, unexpectedly, to the officer ranks. Cornwell is less well known than C.S. Forester (Horatio Hornblower) and Patrick O'Brian (Master and Commander). In each of the adaptations of these novels, however, the casting directors are hyper-attuned to both the female and male audience. They cast über-macho actors to appeal to the men and make sure, in addition, that they can smolder with the best of them. (In other words, ranking up there with Denzel and Colin. Last names superfluous, of course.) Case in point, Sean Bean. He usually plays a villain (the über-macho aspect), yet has that indefinable talent to make women drool. I first noticed him, as so many others on this continent, in Lord of the Rings: Fellowship as Boromir, the angst-ridden human desperate for the ring and unaware of its malevolence. I thought he was by far the best actor of the first movie (well, maybe that should rightly go to Ian McKellen). And handsome, but no more so than others in the film. Hence my incredulity when I see him as Sharpe -- younger, without beard, thrust in the middle of a ridiculous soap opera, and gluing everything together so adeptly as to make me hang on and watch instead of switching off after the first 10 minutes. Which I should have because now I'm hooked. And hooked on tripe! While the history lesson may be interesting, the episode contains a female love interest (how many female soldiers do you think there were in the Napoleonic wars?!) and plot set-ups to make you laugh out loud (the mutinous soldier left behind with the treasure?!). I giggled so much while watching this that my husband thought I was watching a comedy. Regardless, I will now watch each and every one of this series' episodes. And I am not ashamed to say in large part because of Bean. I think Antonia Quirke of the West End Extra puts it best: "Sean Bean...is super-attractive, thanks to his air of guarded self-consciousness, as though this being-an-actor business were a bit like sitting at the bar with one elbow on the counter, watching the people coming in and out from the corner of one eye."

year: 1993
length: 102 min.
rating: 2.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108108/combined