Bernard Cornwell's 'The Last Kingdom' episode 1 review

[Paul]

At least no-one carries a  sword strapped across thier....Oh....

[Captain Blood]

Just watched episode 1 on iPlayer...

SPOILER ALERT!

Things I liked...

- The kid playing young Uthred. Most child actors are shit (cf. Harry Potter movies). I thought this lad was spot on. Really quite believable (despite the hokey storyline).
- The muddy, washed-out, slightly gritty, grotty look to the whole thing. It looked like, well.. the North of England.
- The after-battle party. Rape, murder and pillage at its finest. No-holds barred. Slightly gratuitous but all good fun.
- That the girls were ordinary-looking - not super glamorous and slathered with make-up. Felt right.
- There were a few nice lines, where I thought 'ooh, that's neat'. But I can't remember what they were... So maybe not that good after all.

Things I didn't like...

- The Red Indian wailing on the theme tune. There seems to be quite a habit of conflating primitive north European cultures with aboriginal native American cultures (cf. 'The Eagle' with picts as Mohawks). It's nonsense and needs to be stopped.
- The silly-sing song accents affected by some of the Vikings. Clearly a shtick they have copied from, well.. 'Vikings'. (Interestingly though, two of the other leading Vikings seemed to be American. All a bit peculiar).
- Matthew MacFadyen, who played... Matthew MacFadyen. He plays exactly the same character in exactly the same way, with exactly the same voice and mannerisms, in every single thing I see him in. Thankfully, he was killed off halfway through.
- There were a few shit lines (Vikings greeting each other after a long voyage... 'How are you?', 'Good to see you', 'How have you been?' It sounded like Sunday morning at the golf club... Ludicrous... )

The shonky historical stuff pretty much passed me by, square shields and all.
Some of the helmets were a bit silly (but not as silly as the Anglo-Saxons in 'Vikings' wearing late C16th Elizabethan era burgonets.
Actually, the one thing that really jarred with me was the Saxon fort, which looked like a cross between a French & Indian Wars stronghold, and something vaguely 'Rus', that you might find halfway down the River Dnieper... And a bit obviously CGI'd in the long shots.

I'll certainly keep watching. Not unenjoyable - in a largely predictable, formulaic kind of way.

[Nord]

Oh dear, I can't decide which is worse, the wooden shields or the wooden acting.

[Atheling]

Oh dear, I can't decide which is worse, the wooden shields or the wooden acting.

Both as bad as one another 

Funny though, I'll still watch it, for now anyway 

Darrell.

[Atheling]

- The Red Indian wailing on the theme tune. There seems to be quite a habit of conflating primitive north European cultures with aboriginal native American cultures

There are quite a few Scandinavian artists who play traditional music that sound quite a lot like what you have described. I'm not at all sure how actually traditional the music is but there's quite a bit out there. My ex used to love it so I'm quite familiar with it

 (cf. 'The Eagle' with picts as Mohawks). It's nonsense and needs to be stopped.

- Matthew MacFadyen, who played... Matthew MacFadyen. [/quote]

Funnily enough he was cast brilliantly in Ripper Street bu one of my old school friends who directed the series and really gets into character in said series. He probably didn't get too much of an opportunity to get into character(?). Benefit of the doubt and all that 
[/quote]

Darrell.

[Silent Invader]

......the wooden acting.

Must admit I gave it less than 10 minutes. The acting didn't engage me.

Edit: btw, no probs with historical inaccuracies in programming that is intended to entertain rather than inform

[gamer Mac]

It wasn't X Factor or big brother so count me as impressed. I liked it and I also liked the books.
Unusual to get something watchable on normal primetime TV and not having to pay for it through Sky or Amazon ETC

[Littlearmies]

- There were a few shit lines (Vikings greeting each other after a long voyage... 'How are you?', 'Good to see you', 'How have you been?' It sounded like Sunday morning at the golf club... Ludicrous... )

I'll certainly keep watching. Not unenjoyable - in a largely predictable, formulaic kind of way.

In my mind's eye I now see a bunch of blokes called Ragnar and Harald Bluetooth discussing the merits of a nine iron or pitching wedge when playing the 14th hole....very Monty Pythonesque. But what do you actually imagine them talking about? It can't be all "been to any good gang rapes lately?" or "You missed a good massacre last week, claret everywhere"

I thought it was fine overall - Bebanburgh didn't fit in with what I'd created in my mind's eye, and the guy who is playing Uhtred is much too pretty - I see him him as a barely tolerated thug to be taken out of the cupboard in case of emergency not what we saw in the first episode. But then I had the same issue with Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven...

[Emir of Askaristan]

I quite enjoyed it.

The accents weren't that bad, the sing song element didn't bother me one bit, I'm just back from a week in Norway with work and am currently on Skye at the moment - both full of accents like that.

Helmets, costumes and armour and weapons - far better than The Vikings. Perhaps the look of the men from beddamburg looked more early medieval at times, but not too bad. Square shields, pah, minor point and means of easily recognising the two sides if you don't know your history I spose.

Overall I thought it was good, far better than a lot other of pseudo historical drama. I can see why it's on after 9 tho....

Good work...carry on!

[charla51]

In the case of Bebbenburg, do we really KNOW what palisaded Saxon forts looked like above archeological level?

[Captain Blood]

Matthew MacFadyen, who played... Matthew MacFadyen.

Funnily enough he was cast brilliantly in Ripper Street bu one of my old school friends who directed the series and really gets into character in said series. He probably didn't get too much of an opportunity to get into character(?). Benefit of the doubt and all that  

Hmm. 'Fraid not Darrell. My point was precisely that he was exactly the same character with exactly the same deadpan delivery as Inspector Reid i9n Ripper Street. His Northumbrian kinglet was identical to Edmund Reid except for the skirt and absence of a bowler hat.
All actors play to type to some extent, but this guy is so absolutely the same in every role he plays (or at least the half dozen that I've seen him in) that it's almost comical.

In my mind's eye I now see a bunch of blokes called Ragnar and Harald Bluetooth discussing the merits of a nine iron or pitching wedge when playing the 14th hole....very Monty Pythonesque. But what do you actually imagine them talking about? It can't be all "been to any good gang rapes lately?" or "You missed a good massacre last week, claret everywhere"

It was more the ever-so-modern casual turns of phrase, rather than the subject matter
It's a fine line for a scriptwriter to tread between irritatingly cod 'period-speak' dialogue and jarring modernisms. That little exchange just felt wrong to my ear. I was waiting for one of them to cry 'Wassup?!'  

[Paul]

Matthew MacFadyen, who played... Matthew MacFadyen. He plays exactly the same character in exactly the same way, with exactly the same voice and mannerisms, in every single thing I see him in. Thankfully, he was killed off halfway through.

As Prior Philip would have said, "there´s a Blessing"

[Captain Blood]

As Prior Philip would have said, "there´s a Blessing"

Yep. Exactly the same in that one too - swap the bowler for a tonsure... carry on.

[tyrionhalfman]

Could have been worse. "Mate, traffic was a nightmare, stuck behind some old fella rowing so bloody slow" or "my wife's gonna kill me, I'm not supposed to be out out, I was only supposed to go down the fjord for a couple with the lads but you know how it goes".  

[Silent Invader]

Could have been worse. "Mate, traffic was a nightmare, stuck behind some old fella rowing so bloody slow" or "my wife's gonna kill me, I'm not supposed to be out out, I was only supposed to go down the fjord for a couple with the lads but you know how it goes".  

Sounds like some reenactment events I've been to