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Sharpe's EnemyRating:
Release Date: 25 July, 2000 Retail Price: $19.98 OUR Price: $17.99 You SAVE: $1.99! Cast: Complete Cast (7 total) |
Sharpe's Enemy Reviews
War And Romance With A Decidedly British Flair
Installment #4 in a series of 14 entertaining and historically accurate episodes made for British television based on the wartime exploits of Major Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) during the Napoleonic Wars. This is a great series, especially if you're into military history. Afterall how many films can you name that are based on the Napoleonic Wars? Me neither.
This is my favorite episode which is probably due to the fact that this particular installment features the very lovely Elizabeth Hurley as Lady Farthingdale, one of two women who have been kidnapped and held for ransom by a group of British deserters. The leader of this rebel band is Obadiah Hakeswell (Pete Postlethwaite), sworn enemy of Major Sharpe.
Great fun and adventure whether you're a history buff or not. See them all!
Sharpe makes it to major and Hakeswill meets his fate
Everyone who has seen the previous installment in the Sharpe series, "Sharpe's Company," knows that the title character of "Sharpe's Enemy" has to be Obadiah Hakeswill (Pete Postlethwaite). How Hakeswill managed to be alive at the end of that one was rather disconcerting to fans of the series because this man was just begging to be killed by Sharpe (Sean Bean) or Sgt. Harper (Daragh O'Malley), or anybody else in the British Army, its Spanish allies, or the French. The good news is that Hakeswill meets his fate in this 1994 movie, but he has more damage to do before the end and he will not even come close to suffering as much as he deserves to given all his dirty deeds.
The setting is still 1813 Portugal with the Duke of Wellington (Hugh Fraser) resting his army before again moving against Napoleon in Spain. But in the no man's land of northern Portugal an army of deserters from both sides is roving and raging. The leader of this ragged army is a former cook for the French (Tony Haygarth), but Hakeswill is his right-hand thug. One of their ways of making money is to hold women hostage for ransom and towards this end they have captured Lady Farthingdale (Elizabeth Hurley) and Sarah Dubreton (Helena Mithcell). The former is married to Sir Augustus Farthingdale (Jeremy Child), another one of those pompous British officers and the latter to a French Colonel (François Guétary), who is a man of honor. Our hero has to deal with both of them in this episode.
Having made it to captain in the last movie Sharpe is now trying to become a major and Farthingdale, who disapproves of raising an officer from the enlisted ranks, is forced to rely on Sharpe and his Chosen Men to rescue his wife. That is because Hakeswill, planning his revenge while going for the gold, has demanded that Sharpe bring the ransom. This is the beginning of the cat and mouse came that Hakeswill intends on playing with Sharpe.
My only problem with "Sharpe's Enemy" is that the last person I expect to do something stupid, Sharpe's wife, Teresa (Assumpta Serna), does something very stupid. That and the fact that Hakeswill gets off easy as far as I am concerned. I can appreciate Sharpe not wanting to crawl down into the gutter to deal with his enemy, but still, the payback should have been a much more fulfilling.
Otherwise we have the key elements that we are coming to appreciate in this series, which is how Sharpe has to deal with the contempt of his immediate superior while trying to pull off an impossible mission. The bond between Sharpe and his men is fully developed at this point and their disdain for the twits who try to get them to change their ways is palatable. One of the nice twists this time around is the detatchment of rocket troops, who have trouble hitting the broad side of a barn let alone anything else and whose officer (Nicholas Rowe) is clearly trying to earn Sharpe's respect. The rocketry is pretty much a joke at this point, but there are a few people who see the potential of the weapons and the story's climax comes up with a nice use of the tactic. Bernard Cornwell's novels might not be as stepped in the military science of the army as Patrick O'Brian's novels were with regards to the British navy, but these movies certainly have an aura of authenticity.
In the end "Sharpe's Enemy" comes down, as it should, to Sharpe and Hakeswill. Postlethwaite is not as over the top as he was in the previous chapter, and not just because he has lost his hat. After all, he no longer has to pretend to be a proper English solider any more and can now go for his target more directly. Maybe there is no way that Hakeswill could have received his just desserts, but I should would have liked to have seen Sharpe try.
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