MovieChat Forums > The Great Fire (2014) Discussion > In case you missed it....

In case you missed it....


Scene: A surprisingly clean and healthy looking 17th century London. Seems like they got over that mild plague stuff pretty quickly.

Tom: Oh Sarah, thanks for all your help in this bread making and stuff. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here for me...as my sister in law (stops to look yearnfully at her over some bread rolls). PS did I mention I baked things?
Sarah: Yeh, it's pretty annoying though that my husband is missing presumed dead isn't it?
Tom: Oh yeh, I forgot about that even though I see you every day. I suppose we better mention it again though in case someone decides to make a poor quality television programme about this moment. Otherwise the viewers wouldn't be able to get a useful summary of our relationship in just a few minutes!
Sarah: Good point-anyway, better go as its time for me to feel mildly threatened by Charles Dance. Byeeee!

Cut to King dancing with wenches
King: Phwoar
Wench: I admire you sire, but even I can see that I'm going to ignore your advances at least for a little while so that your lust overwhelms you.
King: Hmm, how frustrating

Cut to evil bickering:
Relation of some kind: Look you guys, please tell the king he's gone over he top with all this wig stuff. He looks like a poodle.
Random courtiers: We can't tell him that sire! We are merely random courtiers. We thought we should point that out early on.
Relation of some kind: Well I can't because I am a relation of some kind! I've got to save my misgivings for later in the series to build tension.

Cut to guy who turns out to be Samuel Pepys
Sam: Are you telling me it's 8.25? I'm late for school!....I mean my appointment with the king!
Sam's wife: Isn't it made pretty clear in your diaries that you're only middle class and probably wouldn't know the king on an intimate level?
Sam: How dare you! We're so close that I can insult him and best him at croquet without suffering the consequences. But luckily I am also of a level which means I can interact with the guy who runs that insignificant bakers shop, just in case we need to link all the stories up some how.
Sam's wife: That's nice dear, now let me look out this window so I can look properly forlorn.

Cut to Charles Dance lurking in an alleyway
Charles Dance: I wish I had some great dialogue to work with but instead I will just have to stand around looking evil.

Cut to bakers shop
Daughter 1: Dad, I'm old enough to help, let me start the ovens
Tom / Dad: No
Daughter: We'll I'm perfectly capable so I'll do it anyway
Tom / Dad: FIRE!
Daughter 1: Balls.

Fire ensues at last. People use a giant syringe to try to put it out. Not much else happens.

Cut to Charles Dance lurking in the alleyway again.

The End.


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I had great hopes for this and it was sad to see it sink under all the soap opera and contrived melodrama. Funny how in the middle of the Great Fire, the right people just happen to run into each other at the right moment. Once is OK, all movies have some of that, but here it seemed to happen every other scene. And that's just one of the failed elements. Sets and costumes were nice.

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