Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Terrell-4 The war's been over for two years. Up-from-the-ranks retired colonel Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) is, more or less happily, making a living as a farmer. And then he's summoned to the Duke of Wellington's home in London. There, the Duke explains, a crisis is arising in India on the frontier between the British and the Mahratta princes. British agents have disappeared. Reports of armed rebellion have surfaced. The Duke wants Sharpe to find out what is happening and, if possible, put a stop to it. Sharpe responds as any experienced ex-soldier would when called back to the colors...he declines. Then he learns the last agent to go missing was his old comrade, Patrick Harper (Daragh O'Malley). When we next see Sharpe he's making his way through dusty Indian villages towards the encampment of a small British army not far from the fortress of the Rajah of Ferraghur. Happily, he encounters Harper, who had gone undercover in an attempt to gain information. From what we know and have seen, Sharpe's task will be extremely dangerous and fraught with risk. He will meet an enemy worthy of him, an English traitor named William Dodd (Toby Stephens), arrogant, vicious and supremely capable. A deserted lieutenant from the British-led Indian Army, Dodd is now styled a general who is leading the forces of the young Rajah. When Sharpe and Harper pretend to be deserters themselves in order to join the Rajah's army, Sharpe will also encounter the beautiful and deadly Madhuvanthi (Padma Lakshmi), regent and elder sister of the Rajah. The Rajah, the regent and Dodd all approve of the old ways when dealing with traitors, captured soldiers, thieves and other malefactors. They have nails hammered into the skulls of the unfortunate captives. Don't hit the fast-forward button or you'll regret it. This turns out to be one of Sharpe's best adventures. This also may be Sharpe's most challenging assignment, with the fate of the Empire, as well as the honor and life of a general's daughter, hanging in the balance. At 138 minutes it has plenty of time and a plentiful budget to set up the background and create many scenes with lots of action. There's a big cast of extras. And there's a great battle where hundreds of soldiers scramble to gain entrance to the rajah's fortress through a towering wall. Sharpe's adventures, based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell, began on television in 1993 with Sharpe's Rifles. The last was Sharpe's Waterloo in 1997. Sean Bean has aged well in the interim. If anything, he looks even tougher. Daragh O'Malley may be a bit heavier but he still looks capable of clearing out a bar on Friday night. From the casts of those old programs we have a brief moment with Hugh Frazier, again playing Wellington. Sharpe also encounters again that pompous, cowardly aristocrat, General Sir Henry Simmerson, still played with lip- smacking relish by Michael Cochrane. Simmerson thinks Sharpe is a jumped-up peasant who needs to be put in his place, and tries hard to do so. I still miss the late Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswell, leering and repellent, who liked to talk into his hat when not trying to shoot Sharpe in the back. He was played with verve by Pete Postlethwaite. His replacement in Sharpe's Challenge, played by Peter-Hugo Daly, is Sergeant Shadrach Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff is a mouth breather, a leering bully, a resentful opportunist, a man who probably last saw a bar of soap when he last brushed his rotting teeth. The prize for villainy, however, goes to Toby Stephens as Dodd. He's not so much unhinged as he is utterly logical when it comes to protecting his self-interest and justifying his resentments. Plus, of course, killing makes him feel good. He's a man to avoid, especially if he says he likes you. Stephens is a first-rate actor. He can do villains so well I hope he doesn't do too many more of them. He'll find himself typecast. For a much more subtle and complex take on villainy, watch him as Kim Philby in Cambridge Spies. Sharpe's Challenge is a first-rate rouser. It's a welcome addition to the Sharpe set. "Though kings and tyrants come and go / A soldier's life is all I know I'll live to fight another day / Over the hills and far away."

P_Cornelius So, I give Sharpe's Challenge a 7 out of 10, primarily because I liked the 14 earlier Sharpe movies so much. 'Challenge', however, is a bit disappointing. And it is so because the makers decided to go for an epic sweep in presenting their story. For me, what made the earlier Sharpe movies so wonderful was that epic story lines were taken and woven into an intimate scale.'Challenge', on the other hand, fell in love with its own imagery and widescreen panoramas. But, what worked for Lawrence of Arabia (remember Omar Sharif's Ali emerging as pinpoint on the horizon, until he finally rides up to Peter O'Toole's foregrounded Lawrence at the waterhole? Magnificent!) doesn't for Sharpe. Other than the wide shots of the fortress and the line of troops marching across the countryside, there is no need for the camera to linger in 'Challenge'. Alas, it continues to do so, however, and Sharpe and Harper become diminished and at times even lost in the process.Finally, a word about what else is missing. (Possible spoiler) Namely, the rest of Sharpe's riflemen. Inevitable, of course, after the way things played out in Sharpe's Waterloo. But still it's hard to forget all those memorable characters from the earlier movies, such as Hagman, Harris, and Frederickson, whose story lines were often as or more interesting than even Sharpe's.Oh, well. Maybe Sean Bean and Daragh O'Malley will be up for yet another installment of Sharpe's adventures. Already, they've contributed to one of the greatest adventure series of its type. And a special debt of thanks is due to Sean Bean for not outgrowing his britches, after a little Hollywood success, and coming back into the role of Sharpe with such energy and commitment.

astroian I've not read any of the books so this review is based purely on watching Sharpe's Challenge on TV.As far as TV fare goes I'd rate this as a middle rung production, the battle scenes are nicely done and attention to detail in costuming is above average, for example it's good to see soldiers and officers who are not pristine and clean. Locations are stunning and the actors put in good performances overall, I can't think of a dud performance in Sharpe's Challenge.On the down side the plot is pretty thin and reads like a typical boys own adventure book, lots of daring-do with the usual damsel in distress type scenario. It's definitely not brain fodder but is better than most of the dross on TV at present.

joestank15 This is basically just a rehash of the novel Sharpe's Tiger, with some minor recasting with Sergeant Hakeswill as Sergeant Bickerstaff, The Tippoo as Major Dodd, and Lieutenant Lawford as Harper. But in the book, the point of infiltrating the fortress was to rescue Colonel McCandless, who knew about that mine planted in the western walls. Because the new plot is to rescue some girl, It just doesn't hold up. And historically, there WERE no major uprisings in India after the Napoleonic war, so any historical accuracy is out the window. Sean Bean, Darugh O' Malley and Toby Stephens all did well, but any time one of the girls or that French guy opened their mouths I just thought "You probably should've done more than one take of that scene." I liked the flashback to Sharpe's Triumph when Sharpe was almost killed by Dodd, but the idea that Dodd would have been allowed to live for 14 years is just ridiculous. Equally as ridiculous is the idea that the french would help Sharpe not 3 years after Waterloo. The explosions were fabulous and the production values were the highest they've been for any Sharpe, but the story, script, and supporting actors were the weakest they've ever been. If only they'd done "Sharpe's Devil" instead. This gets a B/B-