Could have been so much better

Rating: 6/10 (1 March 2006)

Well I guess in the UK we all know Colin Firth as Darcy and unfortunately Macfadyen is simply not good enough - I guess that's the theme of this movie - simply not good enough. There were a few things that really annoyed me, including the 21st century look to the Bennet sisters and the fact that Keira Knightley, looked to me as if she had the benefit of a professional make-up artist, which I don't believe ladies of the 19th century would have had. Having said this there were some nice scenes, I liked the dance scene and the wild scene on the edge of the peak district outcrop, but having been spoilt by such masters of the art as Peter Greenaway and Roman Polanski I became frustrated by the poor use of lighting, especially indoors and the failure to capture the real feeling of 19th century England that comes from Austen's book.
I guess the reality is that I was expecting a lavish cinematic experience, and what I got was nothing more than a classy "chick-flik"