Sadly Over-hyped

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This BBC two-parter tells the story of Henry VIII and casts Ray Winstone in the titular role. Winstone, a much-mocked actor, seems to have a legion of detractors but I found him perfect in this part, playing a surprisingly emotional and unstable monarch.Given Henry's status as England's most famous king, the story is very familiar but that doesn't stop HENRY VIII from being a highly entertaining interpretation of the story. Of course, the pacing is super-fast seeing as six wives and all manner of political turmoil is compressed into just three hours, but it still has time to get all the important stuff in there.The budget seems higher than the Hollywood version of THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (maybe because money wasn't blown on needless 'star' names) with close attention to detail both in set and costume. The cast is simply excellent - not just in the supporting male characters (Mark Strong and Danny Webb are great bad guys, Charles Dance and Sean Bean are brief and tragic figures, David Suchet makes Wolsey his own) but particularly in the actresses playing Henry's wives.Of course, Helena Bonham Carter bags the headlining role of Anne Boleyn, and very good she is too. But Emilia Fox (as Jane Seymour) and an impossibly young Emily Blunt (as Catherine Howard) also deserve plaudits for their acting skills. Is this better than the Keith Michell version? No, but I'd say it was equally as good and a fittingly violent interpretation for our times.

I love Ray Winstone, but I did not like this TV series/movie. For starters, historical dramas do not create a good atmosphere when the actors have modern haircuts.The producers were not able to tell this very intense story without relying on heavy handed TV show type of pyrotechnics. It is obvious that they take the audience for fools.Ray's coarse accent is usually a blessing. But not here.In fact, almost none of the actors were commanding and compelling to watch.I could not finish it.

I absolutely love Tudor history so I was naturally looking forward to this program. I was a little disappointed. The first thing that I noticed was that While Ray Winstone did resemble portraits of Henry VIII not one of the actresses playing his wives looked like the real person. One problem that has bothered me with almost every program about Henry VIII is that for some reason Catherine of Aragon is always portrayed with the stereotypical dark hair and dark eyes of a Spainish princess. According to extant historical records, Catherine in her youth had red gold hair, blue eyes and white and pink coloring. Another thing that puzzled me was the costuming. This program was set in the early to mid 1500's many of the costumes especially those of Anne Boleyn and Kathryn Howard did not seem to fit the era considering that both women were said to have preferred the fashionable French style of gowns with turned back cuffs. Also Jane Seymour nearly always wore the demure gable hood to further separate herself from her predecessor Anne Boleyn(who preferred the French Hood). I think that Henry was made to look like a bit of a barbarian. It must be remembered that he dealt with a lot of personal guilt for marrying his brothers widow. Also, while these days it is not acceptable to behead one's wife, Henry was King and he was making an example of his two unfortunate wives. In defense of this program, it really is impossible to compact Henry's entire life into basically 3 hours. I guess that's why Anne of Cleves was only shown once for about two minutes.

As an avid researcher of the Tudor age, I was looking forward to this series. I shouldn't have. Instead, I should have treated this as a drinking game - if I spotted an inaccuracy, I'd have a slug of beer. Or vodka, as I learned as the series run along.No need to list all the inaccuracies, just a few. Catherine of Aragon was in her later years very stocky, about 5ft tall, not so Assumpta Serna. Henry was well over 6ft tall, but when compared to his wives, the actor (although excellent) seems rather of an average height. Mary, Catherine's daughter, was not allowed to stay with her mother during Catherine's last years.Only Henry's marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves were public - that is to say, there would not have been early morning services with the bridal couples emerging from a chapel to a sprinkling of flower petals as was depicted in the cases of Katherine Howard and Jane Seymour.Henry was not riding trough woods to Jane Seymour when the cannons of the Tower were blasting after Anne Boleyn's execution, he was having lunch with Jane at nearby Strand.Thomas, Duke of Norfolk was not a hunky bald-headed doorman dressed in black leather, nor was Aske - there are plenty of portraits of them to prove otherwise (not that I object to seeing the yummy Sean Bean in dark leather ;)).Ho hum, whatever have I left unmentioned... never mind, this is a splendid series with gorgeous costumes, fine actors and really, a very classy depiction of the era. If only the details...Oh, and did I mention the fact that Henry most certainly would not have been aggressive towards his beloved Jane during her pregnancy.. but the sequence in the series seems to require some explanation to the delivery of Eddy and the death of Jane.Pls refer to the excellent biographies by Fraser, Weir et al :)