This third volume of the acclaimed North and South saga is a major disappointment, so much so that I was unable to sit through the whole thing. It tries to go back to the plot of the original book, but confusingly so, because characters from the books who were not in the first 2 movies suddenly appear with no good explanation, and most of the returning characters act so out-of-character as to be unrecognizable, from either the books or the first two movies. It seems that the producers just assumed viewers would welcome this edition with open arms regardless of how twisted and convoluted the plot is, and how disjointed this all seems. It's an insult to the intelligence of anyone who enjoyed the first two series.
Some very unpleasant things happen which make very little dramatic sense. To a certain degree, that is the same as the book, but the book handled things much more appropriately for the time period and the characters' sensibilities, where the filmed version doesn't seem to care about that. It seems as if the producers really wanted another steamy soap opera, and they didn't seem to care if the story ended up making no logical sense in how it got there. The love stories all seem very rushed and sometimes downright illogical. This film repeatedly portrays the major players acting against their characters as portrayed in the first two parts, and several major characters are either re-cast or missing from this edition. Also, most of the returning actors don't seem to have their hearts in it anymore. It's like they're sleepwalking through this lackluster, sad production.
This installment has none of the energy and vitality of the first two installments, and the production values are sloppy at best. It's like watching one long, protracted funeral. It's downright depressing. I would advise fans of the first two series to avoid this one at all costs. The DVD set is well worth purchasing for the first two installments and the extras, but I would recommend that viewers just skip Book 3. It's too much of a letdown.
Some very unpleasant things happen which make very little dramatic sense. To a certain degree, that is the same as the book, but the book handled things much more appropriately for the time period and the characters' sensibilities, where the filmed version doesn't seem to care about that. It seems as if the producers really wanted another steamy soap opera, and they didn't seem to care if the story ended up making no logical sense in how it got there. The love stories all seem very rushed and sometimes downright illogical. This film repeatedly portrays the major players acting against their characters as portrayed in the first two parts, and several major characters are either re-cast or missing from this edition. Also, most of the returning actors don't seem to have their hearts in it anymore. It's like they're sleepwalking through this lackluster, sad production.
This installment has none of the energy and vitality of the first two installments, and the production values are sloppy at best. It's like watching one long, protracted funeral. It's downright depressing. I would advise fans of the first two series to avoid this one at all costs. The DVD set is well worth purchasing for the first two installments and the extras, but I would recommend that viewers just skip Book 3. It's too much of a letdown.