How do we judge a 6-hour miniseries based on a book
that's over 1000 pages long? I'm going to say that
this is a very enjoyable miniseries. If you liked the book,
you may feel that they left too much out. If you're looking
for big, sweeping themes about War, you may not find it to
be as good as the original book, or previous TV or movie
adaptions.
I did read the book, back in high school. My dad paid me
to read it. He was into paying me to read, for a while, what
he felt were important books, so I read this for $10 (which
was a lot to me, back then). However, I have to admit that I
hated the parts about war and skimmed through them. I
remember thinking at the time, "If they only would take out
those boring war parts, they would have a really good
romance novel here." I guess I'm not the only one who
thought that because this miniseries puts way more effort
and time into the "peace" or romance part of the story.
Now, I'm not saying that the story is fluff. It's still
very good literature, but it's told very quickly in order to
fit it into the time frame. The acting is very good and has
many great performers such as Jim Broadbent, Gillian
Anderson, Stephen Rea, and the three young stars Paul Dano
("12 Years a Slave"), Lily James ("Downton Abbey") and James
Norton ("Grantchester").
The writing is very well done. It's tight, which is not
surprising given that it's by Andrew Davies, who wrote the
first two "Bridget Jones" movies as well as the Netflix
"House of Cards." They do a very good job with this.
The only flaws I've seen are that there are an awful lot
of characters to try to remember, very quickly, and that
everyone speaks with a British accent, even though they're
supposed to be Russian. Otherwise, I really liked it and
found it quite entertaining. Now, remember, though, that
this is based on a Russian novel. Don't expect a happy
ending.
Check it out this week. I think you'll enjoy it as much
as I did.
MORE INFORMATION:
Four-Week Limited Series Event, War & Peace,
Premieres January 18
On Lifetime, A&E and HISTORY
Simulcasting on Lifetime, A&E and HISTORY beginning
Monday, January 18, at
9pm ET/PT, the
epic War & Peace features an award-winning cast including
SAG Award® and Film Independent Spirit Award winner Paul
Dano (Love and Mercy), Lily
James (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), James
Norton (Happy Valley), Oscar®, Golden Globe and
BAFTA winner Jim Broadbent (Iris), Golden Globe®
winner Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and others.
War & Peace is a four-week event, airing Mondays,
9pm -
11pm ET/PT.
A
thrilling tale of love, war, and family, War and Peace
is widely considered the greatest novel ever written. Set
against in the backdrop of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia,
War & Peace is the ultimate story of passion and romance,
scandal and deceit, following the rise and fall of fortunes
of five aristocratic families - The Bezukhovs, Bolkonskys,
Rostovs, Kuragins, and Drubetskoys - all jockeying for top
position in the waning days of imperial Russia. The dashing
Andrei Bolkonsky (Norton) yearns for glory of war, but finds
only heartbreak and disillusionment, which may be cured by
the lovely young Natasha Rostov (James), who desperately
needs to marry well to save her family from financial ruin.
Meanwhile, Pierre Bezukhov (Dano)
suddenly finds himself in possession of great wealth at the
mercy of fortune hunters eager to take advantage of his
naiveté.
Produced by BBC Cymru Wales Drama, in partnership with The
Weinstein Company, BBC Worldwide/Lookout Point and Lifetime,
War & Peace was written by Emmy and BAFTA winner
Andrew Davies (House of Cards) and directed by BAFTA
nominee Tom Harper (Peaky Blinders). Principal
photography took place in Russia, Lithuania and Latvia.
War & Peace is Executive Produced by BBC Wales Head of
Drama Faith Penhale (A Poet In New York) and Bethan
Jones (Sherlock) for BBC Cymru Wales, Andrew Davies,
with Harvey Weinstein (Silver Linings Playbook) and
Robert Walak (Woman In Gold) for The Weinstein
Company, and Simon Vaughan (Parade’s End) for Lookout
Point. The Producer is Julia Stannard (The Great Train
Robbery).
The opinions in these articles are those of the writer and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of The TV MegaSite or its other volunteers.
We need more episode guide recap writers, article
writers, MS FrontPage and Web Expression users, graphics designers, and more, so
please email us
if you can help out! More volunteers
always needed!
Back to the Main Reviews Page
Page updated 1/18/16
Back to the Main Primetime TV Page
