Where would English historical dramatists be without Henry VIII? He gave them such good material - and that's not counting the support characters around at the time, or his kids. This one takes in the early years of the King's reign, when he was young and spunky as well as spoilt - so you can understand Jonathan Rhys-Myers in the lead role. He does pretty good too - you believe him being in love with himself and his opinions, yet also attractive and dangerous. He's not as good as Sam Neil, who is excellent - smart, corrupt, sympathetic, ruthless, haunted. You really feel for him but know he's a prick at the same time. (Actually everyone is human in this version).
Since this is HBO there's plenty of swearing, tits, bums and violence - but it fits the take on it. For instance, it's great to see Thomas More (Jeremy Northam) watching the burning of a heretic, and Henry and his men banging away. The cast is uneven, but some are very good and there's lots of attractive people; Natalie Dormer's is a bit one-note as Ann Boleyn, for instance (surely the most successful prick tease in history) but she's got a great body, on frequent display, which helps.
There's been lots of condensing and some alteration of history (especially about Henry's sister played by Gabrielle Anwar) but a lot of the weirdest stuff is true. The plot that didn't work so much for me was that weird bisexual songwriter character and his pursuit of the sisters - was it revenge or something? The series goes up to the death of Cardinal Wolsey so you know there's lots more good story to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment