Customer Reviews

House of Cards Trilogy, Vol. 3 - The Final Cut

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A thrilling end to the saga. It's all beginning to slip away from Francis Urquhart, but the 'star' of this one is, for me, the Lady Macbeth-like Elizabeth Urquhart played by the brilliant and beautiful Diane Fletcher. In many ways I'd wish there had been even more of her than there already is. She is so delightfully ruthless in her determination to protect her husband, whom she clearly worships, that even though she has colluded with him in the most fearful crimes, I could not help feeling a pang of sympathy for her, and of course, one does want to know what happens to her relationship with Corder. Her passion for Wagner only adds to her charm. There are some other fine performances in this work. Not least from two tiny cameo roles, Muriel Pavlow as an Age Concern Lady [compare this with her performance as Douglas Bader's wife in "Reach for the Sky"] and Bunny May as a clerk in the Public Records Office. Mr May was one of the first [if not the first] to play "Noddy" onstage under the supervision of Enid Blyton. [Now that's real trivia.]

I must be a dreadful person, beacuse I actually wanted the Urquharts to live happily ever after, and to see Francis Urquhart get away with it one last time. Age does not wither him nor custom stale his infinite variety. Yes, I know I may very well think that, but you couldn't possibly comment!

Fasten your seatbelts. This series is the most chilling political thriller I have ever seen. There is not a single misstep anywhere. Ian's Prime Minister is the most evil creature ever to walk the earth, and he just keeps knocking down the good guys without even breaking a sweat; they never know what hit them or even how. It's like watching a terrible accident happen in slow motion, knowing there's nothing you can do to stop it. Stellar performances, superb directing, this is just plain perfect. I just wish it was a happy movie...but then it wouldn't be The Final Cut.

The final days of our once loveable villain, FU, are, it would seem, rapidly approaching. He is quite prepared to foment an international incident to stay in power and to keep his not so little retirement nest egg intact. But time wounds all heels, and in the end even he cannot quite pull it off. His wife, though, the most cunnning of all the shrewd and political women that have surrounded him, finds a way to pull his chestnuts out of the fire, as it were - and what a surprising and most satisfactory ending it all makes. Top notch acting all round, especially by Richardson, and exciting and devious twists of plot make this (as well as the rest of the trilogy) an excellent performance and an enjoyable evening. See them all if you can.

I found that the last part of this brilliant series wansn't as good as the first two installments. To start with, Mr Urquhart (hence FU), seems to be less confiding to us as an audience and is seemingly not as devious as in the beginning of the series. He is more passive and less his brilliant, manipulative self, leading us to feel a slight pity that would have been unthinkable initially.

Another criticism would be the issue of the Cypriot graves in the "Final Cut". I thought it a bit silly that FU was having nightmares about his murdering of two young men, so long ago, when he was based as an officer on Cyprus. He never showed any sort of remorse before and then suddenly this is introduced. Further, I think that the young lady involved in investigating her uncles deaths gets far too big a role. She is nobody of any consequence and yet she gets complete access to the Prime Minister alone. Again, I found this silly and unbelievable and the whole story would have been better left out for the sake of more intelligent viewers.

Finally, the end wasn't particularly well wrapped up with the issue of the tape and the murder of the Cypriot father. What was that all about? Over all, I was not too impressed, although I conceed that the acting was up to its usual high standard - only the plot didn't live up to expectation.

... with "To Play the King".
While Mr. Dobbs was not amused to have part one changed to a happy end for evil - yes, with FU anything is possible! - he still wrote a sequel which was much better on screen than off.
Sadly, this is not the case with "The Final Cut". The book is full of info on Urquart's background and motives which are totally lacking in the film.
Plus, of course, Shakespearean references: Richard III baptised part one, Macbeth laid the foundation for part two, and part three echoes Julius Caesar... for which there is little evidence in the film. The book gives us FU's version of the funeral speech, spoken, as it were, -sic!- our own Caesar himself BEFORE his assassination. (Greetings to Garofano and his rather harebrained theory)
In the book FU is still up to the mark, not some tottering old fool as he is portrayed in the film. It hurt to see Richardson, the mature but springy scheemer reduced to such inefficiency.

In this, the third and final part of the series of The House of Cards, Ian Richardson as Prime Minister, Francis Urquhart, is almost bored as PM as he has achieved all that he set out to do, corrupting a large portion of the parliament and plunging the country into two distinct sides of "haves" and "have nots". Never before in Britain have there been streets filled with homeless and desperate people whom Francis percieves as being little more than animals. The limits to which this man will go are beginning to cause even his evil wife to question his sanity and the denouement is breathtaking in it's intensity...definitely a must see.

Made major changes from the novel, that is--and for my mind made it that much stronger a screenplay(sorry to novelist Michael Dobbs,who was supposedly royally ticked at this adaptation).Ian Richardson is again brilliant as the Shakespeare-quoting politician/murderer/con man whom you love to hate, and the underrated Dianne Fletcher is equally good as the scheming Mrs. Urquhart(a good example of the old saying that the female of the species is often more deadly!). In strong supporting roles, look for Isla Blair and Paul Freeman as an ambitious aide to FU and a would-be Prime Minister, respectively--this relationship has some parallels to the highly political union of the Urquharts.

The third and final chapter in the life and times of that charming psychopath, Prime Minister Francis Urquhart. The end of his career is drawing nigh, and he's haunted by ghosts (not only Mattie Storin who perished so sadly in the first installment, but also a pair of young Cypriot soldies during Francis' military service). But he musters his strength for one last battle for the leadership of the party. Can he solidify his place in British history? F.U. has proved that he can do whatever he sets his mind to.

One of the major plot lines is FU's need for a 'nest egg' which he seeks to acquire via a corrupt Turkish businessman. Which is all well and good, except Urquart's family 'came down South with James the 1st.' Why would he need any cash at all?

This one must have been less riveting than the two earlier series, because I spent a lot of time trying to get a better look at the diamond necklace Isla Blair was wearing. Since she was wearing little else in several scenes, I should be able to sketch it.

I won't say that the series was more unbelievable than the other two, because F.U. was so unbelievably evil in those, but it lacked the clever world-of-its-own logic that made the others brilliant. The first and second series had the light attitude of an evil Jeeves (or a Saki short story). This one lost that and tried to be a regular drama. Far too heavy a sea for a toy sailboat.

If anyone wants help me with the necklace, however...was it a bezel setting, or a slide?