Director Tom Clegg
Starring Sean Bean, Assumpta Serna, Brian Cox
Rated M
Sharpe’s Rifles 4/6 & Sharpe’s Eagle Score 4.5/6

Sharpe’s Rifle’s: In the Peninsular War, a British sergeant is field promoted to a lieutenant in charge of a disrespectful rifle company.

Sharpe’s Eagle: Sharpe is a Captain saddled with the South Essex, a battalion run by incompetents, and filled with soldiers who have never been in battle. When the South Essex loses its colors (its regimental flag), Sharpe vows to save the honor of the regiment by capturing a French Imperial standard: an eagle.

For the purposes of this marathon of reviews we will be looking to the telemovies that screened from 1993 to 1997 and for those of you wondering yes, I have watched them before but its been a few years since I have last watched any of the movies. As I watch these over December I probably will not feature two movies in any one review.
Some people might be interested to know that Sean Bean was not the first to be cast as Sharpe but replaced Paul McGann after he got injured playing football.

It is good to see that with the Sharpe’s Franchise that there is Directorial Continuity in the form of Tom Clegg. I’m not overly familiar with his work, it’s good to see this with any franchise because it brings a comforting sense of familiarity with how the movies are put together.

There is something very formulaic about these movies yet in the same breath and are the exact kind of movie that you would watch on a Friday or Saturday night. With the exception of Sean Bean I’m not that familiar with the majority of actors cast throughout the franchise or at least it seems that way, though I suppose the Sharpe’s franchise could be considered an English acting trade school much in the same way Neighbours and Home and Away is for Australia a future James Bond Daniel Craig was cast in Sharpe’s Eagle as Lieutenant Berry (I did not realize that it was Craig until I looked up his filmography).
The only real stand out performances of the first two movies was Brian Cox (the Scottish Actor not the English physicist) as Major Hogan who is Sharpe’s Mentor it really was a shame that he was only cast in two of the Sharpe movies because he Hogan has some of the best lines in both Rifles and Eagle and then there is Michael Cochrane as the incompetent Sir Henry Simmerson who isn’t the most memorable villain but certainly is in the top five.