Sharpe's Company (1994)

How sad is this?

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Sean Bean returns as Napoleonic hero Richard Sharpe. This time the action takes place in 1812 around the historical Battle and siege at Badajoz.Sharpe has been demoted to no more than a quartermaster to make a place for an aristocratic fop who has bought Sharpe's captaincy of the light company at horseguards.Sharpe realises that there is only one act of bravery that will help him regain his captaincy and keep it, and that it to lead the the 'Forlorn Hope' the first company that will storm the walls of badajoz when the assault finally begins... in short a suicide mission.Sharpe also has personal reasons to get inside the city, and that is because his wife Teresa and his newborn daughter Antonia, are trapped inside and are in danger of being discovered by the French.Also to add to Sharpes worries, a demon from his past, Sergeant Obidiah Hakeswell has returned to the ranks and is determined to rape, pillage and flog as many people as possible.Pete Postlethwaite gives the performance of the movie as the evil, twitchy Obidiah, and the character of Patrick Harper is brought to the forefront a lot more and Daragh O' Malley really shines.Another great Swashbuckling Sharpe adventure

Sharpe's Company is arguably the best episode in the Sharpe series of movies and one of the few that can truly stand on their own regardless of whether you've seen the previous chapters or not. It achieves this largely because it ticks every box required to make a great Sharpe movie. Dastardly villains? Check. Dashing heroism? Check. Women in peril? Check. One almighty ruck at the ending in which hundreds of people die senselessly? Oh hell you'd better believe there's a check there.The story this time takes place not long after our hero captures the French Eagle at Talavera, a gap of several years in the books but mere months this time around. The English army are on the march and preparing for a full scale invasion of Spain, but before they can expand out of Portugal, they have to capture two French fortress cities on the border: Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Rodrigo is taken within the first five minutes and the rest of the running time largely concentrates on the siege of Badajoz with all the trials and tribulations the lads must endure before storming a breach in the walls for the pre-requisite big fight. And Sharpe is especially keen to get inside the city, because his wife Teresa is trapped inside with his eight month old daughter.From this premise, we get a gripping story of men at war. Cannon batteries rain shot after shot on the walls of Badajoz which slowly crumble over the days, while the soldiers sit around doing little but digging trenches and waiting for death to come. They face French excursions to steal their trenching equipment and boredom and while it does not dwell on the matter too much, there is a sense of frustrating tedium among them as the final assault approaches. Sharpe's desire to be first in the breach meanwhile and be promoted to captain does not get as much focus as it does in the novel and instead, the time between fights is concentrated mostly on his rivalry with Obadiah Hakeswill, the insane Sergeant who once had him flogged. Hakeswill is played by none other than Pete Postlethwaite, deviating from his usual father-figure casting by playing one of the most evil men Sharpe will ever meet. He is beset by facial twitches and has a rather perverse view on war and women, lusting after Teresa and tormenting the men in the ranks unless they let him rape their wives. Sharpe's abuse of Hakeswill could have seen him come across as a bit of a bully were it not for Postlethwaite's terrific performance and you can't help but wish he'd kick him around even more than he does, especially when Hakeswill engineers a situation that leads to Harper (Daragh O'Malley) being flogged.And then of course, there's Sean Bean. By this point, he was evidently very comfortable playing the title role and it's not surprising the series made him a star in England. He handles the action scenes like a pro but its in the quieter moments when he shines brightest, especially the elation that washes over him when he first learns of his daughter's existence.But when it comes down to it, what do we all want from the Sharpe series? That's right, battles. Great big ones where the Peninsular is turned into a charnel house filled with corpses and cannon smoke and Sharpe's Company delivers one of the biggest clashes that the South Essex ever gets involved in. With the fortress walls breached, hundreds of English soldiers charge in only to be torn apart by French muskets and cannon fire time and time again until only Sean Bean stands between victory and certain defeat? Can he save the day? Well...it's Sean Bean, what do you expect? In short then, in this humble writer's opinion the best entry in the series. It has everything you'd want from a Sharpe movie, blood, carnage, drama, romance, great big fights and good old Johnny Englishman giving the bally foreigners a damned good thrashing what? Oh and keep your eyes out for Marc "Been in Everything" Warren making a brief appearance as well.

**SPOILER**I like Pete Postlethwaite. Or at least, I liked Pete Postlethwaite until I saw him in Sharpe's Company. Now he scares me. Obediah was so devastatingly evil in the books that I couldn't imagine who could possibly play him in the film. Now I know that no one else could have done it quite like Pete did. The balance between seriously nutty insanity and murderous rage is almost poetic. And anyone else would have looked really silly on that donkey, but somehow, he pulled it off. Once again, Bean and company don't disappoint. It was particularly good to see Harry Price exactly as he should have been, although I was horrified that they (apparently) let Hakeswill murder him in Badajoz. The taking of the city was particularly well executed, the scenes of the soldiers running riot extremely disquieting. I think this could almost be my favourite Sharpe ever.

Third in the Sharpe series , Sharpe's Company introduces Sharpe's nemesis , Sergeant Obidiah Hakeswill ( Peter Postlethwaite ) .Hakeswill is a thoroughly nasty piece of work , having had Sharpe flogged when he was a young soldier , and starts with the same tricks again.This film gives some idea of the tribulations of the ordinary Redcoats , at the whim of sometimes hopeless Officers whose commissions were bought , and who wanted NCOs who kept order , and didn't mind how it was done.As with many of the Sharpe series , this is based around a historic battle . In this case it is the battle of Badajoz , where Hakeswill gets up to even more mischief .Another great Postlethwaite performance !