| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Sean Bean | ... | ||
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Daragh O'Malley | ... | |
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John Tams | ... | |
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Jason Salkey | ... | |
| Emily Mortimer | ... |
Lass
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Patrick Fierry | ... |
Leroux
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| James Purefoy | ... |
Spears
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Stephen Moore | ... |
Berkeley
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| Hugh Ross | ... | ||
| Michael Cochrane | ... | ||
| John Kavanagh | ... |
Father Curtis
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| Vernon Dobtcheff | ... |
Don Felipe
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Diana Perez | ... | |
| Pat Laffan | ... |
Connelly
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Walter McMonagle | ... |
Father O'Sullivan
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Sharpe is tasked to protect the most important spy in Lord Wellington's network, but domestic issues, a traumatized young girl, and possible French spies all threaten his success.
Sharpe's Sword has three main faults.
1. The dialogue. Not as good as in some of the others. Unrealistic at times, even leaning towards slapstick. The scene where Sharpe is being briefed by Munro is funny, but not in line with the more strained relationship we see in Sharpe's Battle. Equally, Pat's relationship with Sharpe seems inconsistent.
2. The woman. OK, I've got used to a lot of other women lusting after Sean Bean by now, but this one is oh-so-annoying. The only time she's good is when she rejects Sir Henry Simmerson's disgusting offer so well, but other than that I find her infuriating. She just mopes around, whimpering, feeling sorry for herself and trying to get Sharpe to fall in love with her, which thankfully he does not.
3. The bad guy. By this I mean the Frenchie, not Sir Henry. You see a lot of him pretending to be good, but not much of him actually being bad; he's not a figure I ended up hating all that much. There was good swordplay in the last fight scene, and the injuries of both him and Sharpe added excitement and desperation, but it wasn't as intense as, say, the priest's encounter with Simmerson.
The good things were the priest (naturally), and Sean Bean's all-redeeming presence. Watch it, by all means, but it isn't the best. 7 out of 10. Ko, Izzy.