New BBC drama - The Last Kingdom

[MrSki]

Have ordered the first one already.

Worth borrowing from the library but worth making sure you have the next one on hand for when you finish one.

Slightly (completely) off thread but it pisses me off when the library does not have the first couple in a long series. I appreciate that the library cannot house all the books but the first one is handy to see if you like the series. They are very good at getting the missing ones from another branch in a couple of days but have to think ahead because the library hours do not fit with my working week.

You might not even have a library close to you so just ignore me or another good source is charity shops. Bernard Cornwell books are always popping up.

 

[Rebelda]

Any update on this?

Seven Kings Must Die is out on Netflix today, so I might watch that tonight. I probably need to check Wikipedia to remind myself of the plot of last few books first though

No update to give, book remains unread. I have watched the film.

Spoiler: My opinion, no plot spoilers

I didn't like it. Maybe it was my mood but meh. I did like the way it finished but still, hmph. I'll give it another go obvs

 

[neonwilderness]

Spoiler

I wasn't blown away by it either, although I was only half watching it so I should probably give it another go sometime

Also the modern day drone shot at the end kinda killed the mood a bit. I can see what they were trying to do with the outro, but it didn't really work for me.

 

[trabuquera]

Just watched Seven Kings Must Die and I have to confess, even without a white-hot ingot in the hand, that I haaaaaaated it (and I really enjoyed the TV-aired series and previous episodes). Sorry. Massive confusing mishmash of a plot, poor script, confused and disconnected acting, no characterisation or laying of the groundwork at all, not visually very impressive. Not a memorable line or image to be had anywhere. Just a lot of chaotic grappling in a muddy melee - that's the whole product, not just the battle scenes. How could it all be so un-exciting? Why did any of this matter - matter enough for people to kill and die for, once? Got the strong impression the production had just been done all in a massive rush and without anyone thinking it through. Bunch of arslings.

Spoiler: worst of all...

.... AND even Utred's talc-whitened hair (he's OLD now you know! Old! aged!) looked rubbish

 

[Chilli.s]

Just watched Seven Kings Must Die

Iv struggled to get to the end of episode 1, and it should so be my kind of viewing

 

[Rebelda]

Iv struggled to get to the end of episode 1, and it should so be my kind of viewing

If you're talking about episode one of the series then skim through it, it sets the scene but isn't all that. Picks up straight away.

trabuquera I agree about the film unimpressed. And I was so excited.

 

[trabuquera]

I take this one bit back:

Not a memorable line or image to be had anywhere....

As in fact there's a single solitary pretty good one-liner joke before one of the big (needlessly complex) set piece battles

Spoiler: ha ha ha

"well I'm not going to be calling myself ENGLISH am I?"

Very meta

 

[neonwilderness]

The first series was by the BBC and was fairly low budget. In the books there's a fairly big battle early on which takes place on York city walls, in the series it was couple of dozen people in a field Things get better once Netflix are involved, from series two.

I think maybe they tried to pack a bit too much into the film, so ended up being a bit all over the place. I think the plot of the film takes in the last two or three books (out of thirteen), so that's quite a lot to get in to an hour and a half.

Spoiler

And yes, Uhtred's old man hair was a bit ridiculous since they hadn't bothered to try and age him at any point before that