Sharpe's Battle (1995) (TV)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Tom Clegg

Writers:

Bernard Cornwell (novel)
Russell Lewis (writer)

Release Date:

8 July 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | History | War

Plot:

When Sharpe is ordered to whip the King of Spain's Irish Royal Brigade into shape, he faces dissent from the men who believe the British are slaughtering their relatives in Ireland and a spy from within. |

Plot Keywords:

Fictional Biography | Military | Sequel | Napoleonic Wars | Based On Novel

Cast

Sean Bean	...	Major Richard Sharpe
Daragh O'Malley	...	Sgt. Patrick Harper
Hugh Fraser	...	Lord Wellington
Hugh Ross	...	Major Mungo Munro
John Tams	...	Rifleman Hagman
Jason Salkey	...	Rifleman Harris
Lyndon Davies	...	Rifleman Perkins
Jason Durr	...	Lord Kiely
Allie Byrne	...	Lady Kiely
Ian McNeice	...	Colonel Runciman
Oliver Cotton	...	Brig. General Loup
Siri Neal	...	Juanita
Liam Carney	...	O'Rourke
Phelim Drew	...	Donaju
Diana Perez	...	Ramona

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-13

Filming Locations:

Crimea, Ukraine

Company:

Carlton Films

Trivia:

The book upon which this is based is dedicated to Sean Bean, the actor who plays Richard Sharpe.

Quotes:

Loup: You have two of my men?
Richard Sharpe: Not for long.
Loup: Might I remind you, Major, of the rules of war?
Richard Sharpe: Raping women? Killing babies and young children? What you did here isn't war!
Loup: I police these mountains, Major, to protect our supply lines from guerillas. The chief weapon of the guerilla, Major, is horror. Horror! So, I make sure that I am more horrible than my enemy.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Sharpe's Sword (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Bonny Black Hare

OK, fine, a comment actually about the film and not about Sean Bean...

I'm feeling guilty now. The comment I posted about Sharpe's Battle before wasn't objective. It was tainted by lust. I don't want to get a bad rep, so here's an OBJECTIVE comment, in context, for people who care about the quality of what they watch rather than just about the actor's looks.

Sharpe's Battle does have a lot of strengths. For one thing, the dialogue's good. In other Sharpe films, such as Sharpe's Sword, there's something a bit fake about the interaction between the characters, but in Battle its much more convincing. There's also some really gritty fighting, particularly in the town towards the end. Sharpe's fight with Loup is excellent, although I do agree with another review I read somewhere here in that the expressions of the characters when they hate each other has echoes of lust as well. Perhaps we could draw a lot into this about how love hurts. Being over forty years old and still not knowing that much about love in the true sense of the word, I will refrain from stereotyping what I don't understand.

The problem with Battle, in my opinion, is Loup himself. He's not a villain on the same scale as some of the ones we see around. Sure, he tries to be evil, but he just ends up being vaguely annoying. Oh, and why doesn't he attack Sharpe sooner? Surely he realises that he has him by the balls most of the time?

My score of 8 out of 10 stands, but hopefully I've explained it a bit better now.