MovieChat Forums > Reichenbach Falls (2007) Discussion > what a shame.

what a shame.

posted 17 years ago by mouse101
12 replies | jump to latest

What a frustating adaptation! This is another example of the poor BBC development process. A wonderful idea, an interesting concept and yet utterly banal. I suspect that the original story was a little more elegant.

The relationship between author and charachter was so under used: the sexual rivalary between the two men was hinted at but not properly explored. The figure of the woman in love with a literay hero is such a well known image, and it would have been such fun to see a the wife in love with her husband's creation. There was so much inter-textual play that was missed. The development process is supposed to enable the screenwriter to add layers of meaning.

BBC Scotland needs to try much, much harder.

[–] louandandy2 17 years ago

What the *beep* are you talking about?

This program is a supremely good spell-binding little gem that I am so glad got such a good write up from all the critics. I have just finished seeing it and although a little perplexed, I have been wowed by its brilliantly gritty performances, sincere soundtrack and beautiful scenery and backdrops. You have picked on tiny details that weren't at all necessary and if they had been more delevoped, would have just been unneeded distractions to the masterful and complex storytelling and would have made some of the scenes seem irrelevant.

If you have been disapointed with this, possibly the best drama on british television this year, then i find it hard to think that you would like much as you are obviously a nit picking perfectionist.

You are a retard.

I see dead people

[–] glasgowfilmfan 17 years ago

Was not keen on this at all. Looked cheap and nasty. The shakey camera was hugely annoying, it worked in This Life 10 years ago but its had its day.

1 / 10

[–] louandandy2 17 years ago

I thought that added to the brilliance of it, not just rigid and boring

I see dead people

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] louandandy2 17 years ago

I really hope i get a chance to see it again, it would probably clarify a lot of things! It was just such a twist that i don't think anyone could have predicted, there was no lead up to it. I think they successfully fooled you into thinking it was a murder mystery and then whoomph! its suddenly a science fiction. Brilliant!

I see dead people

[–] mouse101 17 years ago

I am glad they fooled somebody with the 'twist'. You didn't guess it was Conan Doyle with the deer stalker in three seconds?

This is why British TV is so average - the viewers demand so little.

It was good idea, and that was why the hokey performances, cliched script and endless shots of the 'hard drinking/ smoking cop' was so frustating. The story lines dangled and were not realised properly. For a structural point of view it was a mess. Not an intentional meta-fictional mess, just untidy and unskilled.

Bring back 'Edge of Darkness' or 'Adaptation' for interesting thrillers and smart meta fiction!

Calling someone a 'retard' for daring to disagree with you is rude. I value other people's opinions and stooping to insults is a little sad.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] louandandy2 17 years ago

en1291, I wasn't talking about the Conan Doyle bit, i could see that from ages off. Are you telling me that you could predict that it would suddenly reveal that buchan was a character in a book?
Ok, sorry about the retard bit, that was out of line.

I see dead people

[–] hawkeyes_girl 17 years ago

I figured out that Buchan was a fictional character quite early on. Jack Harvey's terrible Monkey disguise (the party shop wig) and the people on the tour looking up at Buchan's flat were dead givaways. Plus all the little Ian Rankin references to his own fiction: the use of Sinaed, one of his books on Buchan's shelf and the use of his own Jack Harvey pseudonym to name a few.

Saying that, I did enjoy it. It was a clever, though underdeveloped, twist on the crime genre.

[–] diayag 15 years ago

Thank you all for talking in some detail about it. I knew I must've seen it but I'm about to again. I am totally unfamiliar with Ian Rankin, except for recognizing the name. I now recall this vaguely. I remember it being confusing and unclear at the time, but figured that was the point. Reichenbach Falls would have been a Holmes clue in any case, as being where he and Moriarty perished together (albeit temporarily, as the popularity of the novels caused a miraculous resurrection of the character; commercialism has always been around). I wouldn't say it was good or bad but it didn't have any future, had it been intended as a pilot, and the fact it took reading all these comments to recollect, it certainly was not memorable.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Prismark10 10 years ago

I thought it was an enjoyable little tale.

Its that man again!!