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The State Within : Complete BBC Series [2006]
Reviewsexcellent Review date: 2007-09-28 Rating: 10 out of 10 I watched this when it was on television and found it gripping. The plot is intelligent and the characters are intense. There is so little quality drama on TV this was a real find. Intriguing Review date: 2007-09-11 Rating: 10 out of 10 If you can follow the plot and don't mind a slowish pace then this is well acted intelligent drama. There is action so I do not understand the accusations of it being dull. Maybe there are some plot holes but there usually are if you look hard enough. There are some great twists in this. The TV equivalent of an airport novel Review date: 2007-06-28 Rating: 4 out of 10 The State Within was apparently planned to be some kind of thoughtful thriller about the 'special relationship' between the UK and the USA. It is indeed about that, although it doesn't tell you anything that you couldn't have got from a decent in-depth newspaper article in a reasonably critical paper. However, it's not a John Pilger documentary. It's supposed to be entertainment, and in that respect it crashes almost as badly as the airliner that descends onto the Beltway in the opening five minutes of Episode 1 (that's the dramatic high point of the whole thing, by the way). It's not that the acting is bad, although some of the supporting players chew the scenery so much that the set dentist must have had his work cut out. Jason Isaacs is a brilliant actor when he's given something to work with; Ben Daniels was very good in the only other thing I saw him in (the HBO movie 'Conspiracy' about the Wannsee conference); Neil Pearson has a genius for comedy; Sharon Gless was the definitive Christine Cagney, for goodness sake. It's the writers' fault. The script is so efficient that it's boring; if a character has to tell another character that so-and-so has been found dead, they say "So-and-so has been found dead", and the other character looks a bit stunned. The script doesn't give anyone any character; you don't care who these people are, because no thriller cliché is left unuttered by them. "This has gone far enough!" "I'm on my way!" "I liked your father. He was a good man. But it had to be done." "I thought you loved me!" The writers manage to dripfeed enough tension into the thing to make you keep watching, but only in order to find out how it ended, not out of any hope of positive enjoyment. Also, there are holes in the plot through which you could taxi an Airbus 380. The most glaring one is when the bad guys hire a hooker to set up one of the good guys, an ex-diplomat. He and she are about to get it on in a dark alleyway when the bad guys appear out of nowhere and slit her throat, then they put his prints all over the knife, rub her blood all over his clothes and warn him that if he doesn't stop interfering, they'll send the knife to the cops. Gibbering with fear, he submits to this. But then, the bad guys spot a homeless guy in the shadows who's witnessed the murder. Do they put a bullet in the homeless guy's head? No! They give him a hundred bucks and tell him to keep his mouth shut!!! The mind reels. Even a fine young actress like Eva Birthistle can't do anything with the cardboard dialogue and clanking plot. The only actor who manages to inject any fun into her role is Marnie McPhail as a hard-pressed and slightly dishevelled FBI agent - never heard of her before, but she's great. This is wildly overrated and, like I said, depressingly unentertaining. Thrillers are supposed to thrill, not keep you watching out of sheer bloody-mindedness. Involving political thriller Review date: 2007-05-25 Rating: 8 out of 10 This certainly turned out to be a most satisfying alternative to the usual TV thrillers out there that rely on police procedure or crime solving. Here, the lynch pin of the story is Sir Mark Dryden, the British Ambassador to the US, played by Jason Isaacs. Frankly, this is probably the most effective role I have seen him in, and is certainly a world away from playing Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter movies. This is a truly British type of story, with dominantly British characters and with a complex plot. However, it is set in America, featuring all the landmarks we would expect to see in an American thriller.. the West Wing, Lincoln Memorial, etc. To add to the American mix, we even have a recognizable star of American TV - Sharon Gless, who completely casts aside her past in Cagney and Lacey here to embrace the role of Secretary of Defence with a real sense of grit. Perhaps the most British aspect of this series is the underlying criticism of certain aspects of government - not least The Patriot Act which comes under fire along the way. Certainly terrorism and its origins are at the very foreground of the action. To reveal too much about the plot would be unfair, but in a nutshell, Sir Mark is caught up in a web of deceit when a plane leaving for London is blown up, apparently by terrorists. Meantime, a Brit is on Death Row protesting his innocence. Could the two be connected...? Suffice to say many more plot strands arise, and interweave in a manner designed to satisfy and keep you glued to the end. A 6 part mini-series, one hour per episode, was the perfect format for this thriller - instead of a rushed movie, the characters have enough time to develop and breathe, while the plot never slacks pace. The only criticism to be made, is that they have followed the American model of TV making just a little too far with the ultra rapid editing and `24' style jump cuts. There is enough thrill on the screen from the plot and the acting without this rather incongruous attempt at accentuating the kinetics - without this minor quibble, this would be a 5 star gem. Product Details/SpecificationsActor(s): Jason Isaacs Neil Pearson Ben Daniels Sharon Gless Creators: Jason Isaacs (Primary Contributor) Sharon Gless (Primary Contributor) Director(s): Recording label: 2 Entertain Video Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video EAN: 5014503225025 Binding: DVD Number of items: 2 Format: Anamorphic, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, PAL, Subtitled, Release date: 2007-01-22 Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region code: 2 Running time: 351 minutes Theatrical release date: 2006 Language: English (Original Language)
Tech info, cast and quotes/trivia when available. Exclusions may apply with free delivery. Price and availabiltity subject to change |
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