Production Year: 2006, 2004 - Action/Adventure, Documentaries & Biographies - Director: Tom Clegg, Antoine Fuqua - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, Exempt - Starring:Padma Lakshmi, Toby Stephens, Daragh O'Malley, Sean Bean, Ray Winstone, Keira Knightley, Ioan Gruffudd, Clive Owen more
Wellington sends Sharpe to India following the news of unrest in the country. Sharpe finds himself tasked with saving a general's daughter and keeping a beautiful scheming woman... more
Sean Bean is the dashing, captivating Harrison Ford of the adventure series--handsome, rugged, and charismatic. Bean, who proves here he's every bit the internatio...
Sean Bean is the dashing, captivating Harrison Ford of the adventure series--handsome, rugged, and charismatic. Bean, who proves here he's every bit the internatio...
Sharpe's Challenge DVD
The award-winning Sharpe starring Sean Bean as the adventurous swash-buckling hero ... more
returns to DVD in this special - shot entirely on location in India. Two years after the Duke of Wellington crushes Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo dispatches fro...
returns to DVD in this special - shot entirely on location in India. Two years after the Duke of Wellington crushes Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo dispatches fro...
Sharpe's Challenge
Sean Bean is back as the award-winning adventure hero, Sharpe.Two years after the Duke of ... more
Wellington crushes Napoleon at Waterloo, there is news from India of a local Maharaja, who is threatening British interests there. Wellington sends Sharpe to investigate on what turns out to be his most dangerous mission to date. When a beautiful general's daughter is kidnapped by the Indian warlord, the tension mounts, leaving Sharpe no option but to pursue the enemy right into his deadly lair. Deep in the heart of enemy territory he also has to keep at bay the beautiful scheming Regent, Madhuvanthi, who is out to seduce him.The fate of an Empire and the life of a General's daughter lie in one man's hands.....
India of a local Maharaja, who is threatening British interests there. Wellington sends Sharpe to investigate on what turns out to be his most dangerous mission to date. When a beautiful general's daughter is kidnapped by the Indian warlord, the tension mounts, leaving Sharpe no option but to pursue the enemy right into his deadly lair. Deep in the heart of enemy territory he also has to keep at bay the beautiful but scheming Regent, Madhuvanthi, who is out to seduce him. The fate of an Empire and the life of a General's daughter lie in one man's hands...
after the Duke of Wellington crushes Napoleon at Waterloo, there is news from India of a local Maharaja, who is threatening British interests there. Wellington sends Sharpe to investigate on what turns out to be his most dangerous mission to date. When a beautiful General's daughter is kidnapped by the Indian warlord, the tension mounts, leaving Sharpe no option but to pursue the enemy right into his deadly lair. Deep in the heart of enemy territory he also has to keep at bay the beautiful but scheming Regent, Madhuvanthi, who is out to seduce him. The fate of an Empire and the life of a General's daughter lie in one man's hands...Sharpe's PerilIt's India, 1818 and Lt Col Richard Sharpe and Sergeant Major Patrick Harper are travelling across India, escorting the beautiful Marie-Angelique Bonnet to meet her fianc. While in bandit-plagued badlands, they come across the very dregs of the Crown's troops: an ill disciplined, rag-tag unit led by boy soldier Beauclare. As Sharpe and company sit down to have dinner with their hosts, the camp comes under attack by the notorious bandit Chitu. When the dust settles, it becomes apparent there have been many casualties and Sharpe realises that he is the only person now capable of getting this wagon train to the safety of the next army garrison. Little does Sharpe know that the adventure has only just begun and that he has inadvertently stumbled across a massive opium trafficking ring...
Production Year: 2008 - Action/Adventure - Director: Christopher Nolan - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine
Production Year: 2005 - Action/Adventure - Director: Ridley Scott - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Marton Csokas
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
A review by sandemp on Sharpe's Challenge (DVD) July 17th, 2006
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Story
Satisfactory
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Outstanding
Soundtrack
Outstanding
Advantages:
Sean Bean in those trousers, reasonable storyline, lots of action
Disadvantages:
Poor editing, presentation doesn't match previous set
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I must admit I'm a bit of a romantic, I've read every one Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books, and already owned the Sharpe boxset on DVD. So when Sharpe's Challenge was advertised on the TV I was looking forward to watching it. Sadly, due to a family crisis, I only managed to catch the first half on the TV, so when I discovered that it would be available on DVD very shortly after, I jumped at the chance of buying it, for the extortionate price of £16.49.
--The Episode--
After the battle of Waterloo Colonel Richard Sharpe thought he'd left his life as a soldier behind him as he settled down to life as a farmer in France. The fairy tale ending was just not to be and an urgent message from Wellington summons him back to England for a new mission…..
What follows is standard Sharpe fare, albeit in a new setting as Sharpe travels to India to search for a friend, stop a rebellion, revenge some long dead comrades and save the lady in distress all whilst battling against the same old prejudices and dealing with an old enemy.
The actual storyline to Sharpe's Challenge is based on the first three books of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, that is Tiger, Triumph and Fortress. Fans of the books may be a little confused by the fact that ideas were taken from each of the books and the original timeline has been messed about with. Personally I enjoyed working out which scene came from which book but did find that the plot was perhaps not as coherent as it could have been.
Now while I readily admit that the whole programme is standard Sharpe fare, everything about Challenge is on a far bigger scale than previous episodes. Filmed on location in India, colours are bright, the atmosphere is perfect you can virtually taste the dust in your mouth. The atmosphere is added to by the use of a haunting mix of score, with traditional Indian music perfectly complemented by English folk (provided by John Tams and Dominic Muldowney). As far as the cast goes, there are very few of the original members remaining, Sean Bean seems to have settled back into the role that made him a star, and as ever I couldn't imagine anyone else in the role. The same goes for Daragh O'Malley as the indomitable Harper. Other than these two characters there is only one other returning character (whose identity I'm not going to reveal), there are however plenty of new characters with a new nemesis for Sharpe in the form of William Dodd, ably played by Toby Stephens.
All in all I would say the programme was very successful and I did enjoy watching it to the very end, all the elements that made the programme gripping to watch ten odd years ago were still there, but… There could have been improvements. I personally would have preferred for Sharpe's Devil to be adapted rather than trying to fit three books into one programme.
--Presentation--
To be perfectly honest I found myself very disappointed with the actual physical presentation. While the picture and audio quality were excellent the feature is unedited which results in the programme being split into two sections with the ending and opening credits being repeated at the halfway point. There are also a few points where it's obvious that the adverts have been poorly edited out. Added to this, while the case and disc are very nicely printed they don't actually match the previously released sets. Basically I believe I could have done if not as good a job of presentation, then very close.
As well as the feature there are a very small number of special features on the disc, these include a very lengthy and very informative making of. Although there is the standard lovey-dovey "how wonderful everybody is", does go into a lot of the difficulties and triumphs behind the scenes. Although the narrator is a little dry, we o get to hear the views of cast and crew including the extras and even the doctor. Definitely one of the better making-of features. Along with the making-of there is a small selection of cut scenes and outtakes, which I found a little tedious, along with a photo gallery. Personally while I felt the special features added something to the presentation, I don't think there were nearly enough to warrant the very high price that I paid.
--Technical Specs--
Rating : 15 Region : 2 (PAL) Running Time : 138 mins Video : 16:9 (Anamorphic) Audio : English Subtitles : English for the hard of hearing
Price : £14.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
--Final Words--
While I enjoyed watching Sharpe's Challenge and felt that it had been made bigger and better than those episodes (or mini-films) of ten odd years ago, there were points when I felt that the programme had perhaps lost a little of it's charm. Perhaps my problem was that I'd already read those books on which it was based and found it hard to reconcile the pictures those books had formed in my mind for those appearing on my TV screen. Still the programme itself was very watchable and there was the fact that Sean Bean was once more in those trousers. I was however more than a little disappointed in the actual DVD, the editing was poor (in my opinion), an the price was far to high for what I actually got.
So am I recommending this DVD? Well, I suppose, the answer is yes, but with a few provisos. The first of these is that you watched and enjoyed the original series, if you did then you know that the 15 rating is justified, there is blood, gore, killing and a little nudity. My second condition would be that you buy it for considerably cheaper than I did, as far as I'm concerned it is not worth the £16.49 I paid, £7.99 would be a far fairer price, otherwise wait for it to be repeated on TV and record it.
Advantages: Superbly shot, great casting Disadvantages: none really!
I have to admit, i was absolutely gutted when this came out. I'd just spent a small fortune on the boxset.
On the other hand, I was chuffed to bits, sharpe was back!
It'd been a long time since Sean Bean had donned that uniform, and it shows - though it fits in perfectly with the storyline.
The storyline is loosely based on the book "Sharpes Fortress" - the last of the Sharpe in India series. In Challenge, Sharpe returns to India as a retired ... ...gets himself involved with the Incompetent Simmerson (the most hated of sharpes enemies!) and ends up posing as a redcoat deserter, to rescue the ailing generals daughter and save the day - though things go terribly wrong when a captured sargeant gives Sharpe and Harper away - and as always with Sharpe, death, mass explosions and screaming charges ensue!
Despite the fact that over a decade had passed between waterloo and challenge, Sean Bean and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: another Sharpe film Disadvantages: very far fetched
...and the recent addition of Sharpe's exploits in India have breathed new life into this great series. The films too are great and the original series boxset still fetches a good price on Ebay, I know Ive been outbid often enough! So getting to the point Sharpes challenge, I have one question for sharpe fans to think about, did we really need it? The plotline is loosely based on the recent books tracing Sharpes beginnings in India, but it's set after ... ...find Harper, after finding him in India they set about infiltrating the Indian Fortress of Sarangpatan as Deserters, here Sharpe meets Dodds, his nemesis throughout the India Books, and lets say saves the day.
Sean Bean is great, Sharpe is Great, and the production is great, but I really dont think this works. I think that if they were going to cover the India campaigns they really needed a younger actor and set it where it should be, before Sharpes ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Plot: Wellington sends Sharpe to India following the news of unrest in the country. Sharpe finds himself tasked with saving a general's daughter and keeping a beautiful scheming woman at arms length., Explores the mythologies and facts surrounding the legend of King Arthur.
DVD Description
Wellington sends Sharpe to India following the news of unrest in the country. Sharpe finds himself tasked with saving a general's daughter and keeping a beautiful scheming woman at arms length.
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): 2 ENTERTAIN VIDEO; SONY DADC, WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINM, Castle Home Video; Pinnacle Vision
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