Sharpe's Eagle

In the lead-up to the Battle of Talavera, General Wellesley sends Major Hogan, Richard Sharpe, the chosen men and the South Essex Regiment to destroy a bridge behind enemy lines. The South Essex is commanded by Sir Henry Simmerson, a well-connected vain incompetent buffoon. There is immediately conflict between Sharpe and Sir Henry and some of his junior officers. Things get worse when, at the bridge, the French attack.

A good continuation of the Sharpe series. A decent central plot, some great action scenes and a continuation of the romantic sub-plot started in Sharpe's Rifles makes for a very entertaining adventure.

Not brilliant though. The plot and direction are a bit clumsy at times. The Sharpe vs the two Lieutenants sub-plot was drawn out and a bit cheesy.

On that note, one of the Lieutenants is played by a very-early-career Daniel Craig, hardly recognisable.

The episode also introduces us to "Over the hills and far away", the catchy tune that would become the Sharpe outro.

I've never read any of Bernard Cornwell's books but I can say the Sharpe film series is well worth watching.

In this episode Sharpe vows to restore the regiment's honour by capturing a French Imperial standard: the Eagle.

7/10

In his second outing Sharpe is promoted captain, but can he keep this new rank? With a solid storyline about an incompetent regiment, bigoted colonel, and the quest for the titular Eagle, Sharpe excels in everything that makes this series - namely playing it fast and loose with rules, regulations and, it has to be said, women. Even the romantic interest retains the plausibility of the first episode, before the advent of the disastrous Jane.

An excellent performance by Sean Bean, ably supported by the Rifles, in particular Daragh O'Malley and Assumpta Serna, this is definitely a must see for any Sharpe fan, or indeed anybody interested in the Napoleonic Wars.

The Sharpe series of TV movies, based on the books by Bernard Cornwell tell the continuing adventures of a British rifleman during the Napoleonic wars. Each is filled with terrific battles, dashing heroism, buxom bodice ripping women and blustering commanding officers behaving like idiots to the consternation of Sean Bean's titular character and the rest of the rank and file. Sharpe's Eagle, one of the earliest entries, is arguably one of the most enjoyable escapades our hero goes through. Additionally, it's also worth noting that years before Bean locked horns with Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye, he also came to blows with another Bond - in this case, Daniel Craig, who plays a villainous English officer with designs on an impoverished Spanish noblewoman.

Eagle gets its title from the French army's gold Eagle standards and this entry in the series shows Sharpe's attempts to restore the honour of his regiment by capturing one. Needless to say, this involves a lot of fighting and while the limits of the budget are all too apparent in this day and age, it lends the fights a more personal edge, zeroing in on one regiment in the midst of an epic clash between the armies and our view of the field is exactly the same as theirs would be; we see the immediate threat and little else, the rest of the army shrouded in smoke. The bruising clash between English and French cavalry near the start is just the prelude to the climactic battle for Talavera where Sharpe and the boys take on an entire French army in a hail of musket fire followed by some bloody close quarters fighting.

The violence aside, the other chief focus point is Sharpe himself, ably portrayed by Sean Bean. He may be better known to audiences nowadays for playing villainous roles, but he actually suits the rough and ready hero far better. He doesn't so much act as inhabit the character completely; this isn't Sean Bean playing Sharpe, he simply is Sharpe. Brian Cox meanwhile puts in a fine supporting role as Major Hogan and Daragh O'Malley as always is effortlessly charming and dangerous as Sergeant Harper, Sharpe's right hand man.

But a hero is only ever as good as his enemies are bad and Sharpe's Eagle has two of the most detestable oafs to ever crop up in the series. With the French army a distant threat, his main encounters come with authority figures and rival officers, in this case Michael Cochrane's inept Colonel Simmerson and Daniel Craig's Lt. Berry. Simmerson is a snarling, beast of a man, addicted to scarification and with a stubborn belief that flogging and corporal punishment will keep his men in line. Craig on the other hand is delightfully slimy as an upper class villain with a penchant for abusing women, a cool headed and calculating evil to Simmerson's over the top cad.

In short then, a highly enjoyable two hours of swashbuckling. It is a far more intimate portrayal of a colossal historical war than it would have been if it was made in Hollywood, but it is one that takes us right down onto the front line with the red and green jacketed troops. Sean Bean is so good its a bit of a shame that he has been relegated to playing the same evil English men that he comes to blows with here, but ultimately this is one of the most enjoyable transitions of a novel to screen I can name. And given that it deviates little from the (highly recommended) book, one of the most respectful ones too.

Sharpe's Eagle, especially for those historical buff's out there,is a good feature-length TV show, but that's all it is. If it was given the same sort of budget that, say Lord of The Rings was, then sure it would have had success parallel to that film. This is because the scripting, production and casting (especially with Sean Bean and Daragh O'Malley) are on an equal par with it.

The problem with a Sharpe series on TV was always going to be it's scale,and so it turned out. The short action sequences always seem crude, rushed and drastically under budgeted. For people that don't read very much, this is as good a historical drama you can get on TV. For those of us that do, and have read the books, the TV series pales sourly in th light of the book. The emotion, action and mostly scale involved in the Sharpe series can only be justified in the mind's eye.

A Sharpe book for the big screen? Now there's something...