Heroes and Villains

See Larger Image	List Price: £19.99 Our Price: £12.87 Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video Starring: Brian McCardie, Nadia Boussetta, Jamie Foreman, Kevin Eldon, Nicholas Boultan Directed By: Andrew Grieve, Nick Murphy, Nick Green, Tim Dunn, Gareth Edwards Average Customer Rating:


Audience Rating: To Be Announced Binding: DVD EAN: 5014503251321 Format: PAL Label: 2 Entertain Video Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: 2 Entertain Video Region Code: 2 Release Date: 2008-03-24 Running Time: 354 Studio: 2 Entertain Video
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: An Interesting but Uneven Series Comment: Heroes and Villains is the latest in a long line of historical drama documentaries by the BBC. It follows in the tradition of "Ancient Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire" in that the format is identical. The big difference with this series is that it takes a broader approach, covering the lives of some of history's most famous warriors and generals, from Spartacus to Napoleon. Each episode is directed by a different team, which makes the series a bit uneven. Therefore it's worth discussing each episode individually, in the order they appear on the discs: Spartacus: This episode covers the life of Spartacus, from his arrival at the Gladiator school of Capua, to his final battle against Crassus. The first episode is the weakest of the lot in my opinion. A poor script, bad directing, a re-hash of scenes from 'Ancient Rome', and the most historically inaccurate episode to boot. A bad introduction to the series. Attila: This episode covers the rise to power of Attila, and how he came to be defeated by a Roman-Barbarian coalition at the Battle of Chalons. This episode has some interesting scenes, including a well choreographed siege of Naissus by Attila's army. Some ropey CGI effects here and there, but very well done considering the budget. The script is ok, and the acting is generally good. It does contain quite a few inaccuracies, especially concerning Attila's murder of Bleda. The Shogun: This episode covers Tokugawa Ieyasu's attempt to become supreme ruler of Japan, and how this led to the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. This story makes a nice change from the other euro-centric episodes, and is very well made. The battle scenes in this episode are the most epic of the series, although the Japanese actors speaking in English is a bit distracting at first (I'm used to watching Japanese films). Generally a good episode. Richard the Lionheart: This episode covers the Third Crusade, and how Richard came to defeat Saladin's army at Jaffa. The opening moments of the episode are the best, although it begins to lose steam as the story progresses. The acting is generally good, although the script isn't up to much. The costumes are very well made though. Hernan Cortes: An interesting take on a often ignored but very important part of human history - the conquest of the Americas by the Europeans. This episode covers Cortes's attempts to subdue the Aztec Empire from 1519 to 1521. I have an interest in this period, so I found this a good episode. The reconstruction of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitaln was well made in my opinion, even if the CGI effects were a bit off here and there. Napoleon: They seem to have saved the best till last, as this was the best episode of the series in my opinion. It looks at the 24 year old Napoleon Bonaparte, when he was only an obscure captain during the siege of Toulon in 1793. This episode benefits from having the events taking place over a month, giving it a sharper focus (the other episodes take place over several years). The acting, script and directing for this episode are high above any of the others in the series. I was also less distracted by the historical inaccuracies as I don't really know much about 18th century France. Generally speaking this series is rather hit and miss. Some episodes don't work as drama, and the numerous deviations from the historical events keep them from being real documentaries. That said they do contain some great spectacles, mostly concerning the large scale battle scenes. As a matter of fact, the series is often at its weakest when it avoids the battles, as it's then that the weak scripts are at their most noticeable. Still, those with an interest in history will find this series interesting. Others might find it worth a watch too, and it might spur you on to find out more about these figures and their lives. DVD Info - No.of Disks: 2 (3 episodes on each disk) Audio: 5.1 Suuround and 2.0 Stereo Aspect Ratio: 16:9 English Subtitles No Special Features Length: 353 Minutes (6 hours Approx). Customer Rating: Summary: Patchy scripts but brilliant productions Comment: All the episodes are beautifully produced and, even with judicious use of CGI, must have cost a pretty penny. (The graphics were a little ropey in the "Cortes" episode, but not ruinously.) Performances are good to great - I particularly enjoyed Donald Sumpter as Lionheart's warrior-monk sidekick and Rob Brydon as a bureaucrat of the French Revolution. The scripts are sometimes sparse, not always offering a convincing central character, much less finding any moral drama in the story. I felt "Spartacus" was especially flat in this respect, and "Attila The Hun" a little arbitrary; but since these are the first episodes, it does mean the series improves as it goes along. The "Shogun", "Richard The Lionheart" and "Napoleon" episodes are great, but there is entertainment to be had from all of them. Customer Rating: Summary: Colourful docu-dramas Comment: Very high production values in a series that was woefully under-publicised. Some unusual choices of historical figure and a treat for the history or costume drama fan. Inexplicable scheduling by the BBC who seem to have turned their back on dramatised documentaries. A treat to see them on DVD. Customer Rating: Summary: Six great men of history Comment: This great drama documentary series for the BBC is made in a similar style to the previous series `Ancient Rome - The Rise & Fall of an Empire'. This series details important events from the lives of six famous figures in world history: the slave rebellion of Spartacus, Attila the Hun's conquests, Tokugawa Ieyasu rising to be the first Shogun of Japan, Richard the Lionheart's actions during the Crusades, Cortes' conquest of Mexico and the early career of Napoleon before he became Emperor. Each episode is brilliantly made with some great performances from the all-star cast and as far as I am aware all the information presented here is as historically accurate as possible. Of the six episodes of this series my favourite has to be the one detailing the rise to power of Tokugawa Ieyasu. I have a great interest in far eastern history and this episode was a great representation of the period with some surprisingly lavish battle scenes considering that it was made to a TV budget. I did find the Cortes episode slightly less interesting than all the rest but that is because I have little interest in that period of history. Heroes & Villains has been an excellent series, well researched and able to portray the various periods in a fascinating and entertaining manner. This series would be a worthy addition to the collection of any history buff but would be of particular interest to people studying the periods covered. Customer Rating: Summary: A strangely scheduled "series"...... Comment: .....which cannot have benefitted viewing figures, this infrequent BBC production tells some rousing tales assisted by the latest CG and is hugely enjoyable if not always 100% historically accurate. That said however this DVD would be worth buying even if it only featured one episode - the quite astonishing tour de force production of a period in Napoleon Bonaparte's life. Gripping from start to finish I was begging for more by the end and one can only hope that someday an extended version will be released as it's just short of feature length as it stands. Stretching a limited budget to put scenes on-screen that would shame most multi-million dollar movies, this polished jewel is one of the finest programmes the Beeb aired last year but was thrown away with very little fanfare and only one repeat in the sign-zone. I urge anyone with the slightest interest in history to seek this episode out and spread the word to your friends and colleagues. Television to be cherished. More Reviews