Rating: 
Summary: "You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment."
Review: Part Macbeth, part Richard III, and part Liva of I Claudius fame, Francis Urquhart burns a lasting image on the mind.Ian Richardson is masterful in bringing Michael Dobbs' rich charachter to life, using each aside to invite the viewer to come along for the ride as this political "backroom boy" makes his way towards 10 Downing Street as nimbly as Liva led Tiberious towards the throne. Dark and rich satire, with classic lines throughout. Not just worth watching, but worth owning for repeated views.
Rating:
Summary: High up on my top 5 list!
Review: Richardson et al give stellar performances in this brilliant movie about a politician obsessed with the sole goal of becoming the PM and working brilliantly and ruthlessly to achieve that goal. You will find yourself quoting Richarson's chilling lines all the time! The othere two movies in this series are also definitely worth seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: A luridly caustic black comedy of tremendous appeal.
Review: Richardson triumphs brilliantly in one of modern British film's singularly unforgettable characters. The mendaciously malevolent, yet curiously charming Francis Urquhart. Perhaps the most challenging experience for the viewer, is a pensive self examination of why the filmmakers succeed in generating your almost axiomatic sympathy for the reptilian scoundrel that is Urquhart. A kind of wicked grin tends to materialize on the lips of first time viewers of the film, as Urquhart advances ingeniously from victory to victory through subversion, deceit, the tacit betrayal and eventually murder. An evidence that the vindictive darkness of the pure Machiavellian Urquhart, inhabits many of us. The Jamesian complexity of plot tramples the contemporary propensity toward minimalism in British cinema and television, which has too often come to be associated with intensive character descriptions of uninteresting people and a kind of lamentable celebration of the banality of ordinariness, if you will. The film does pander to certain regrettable misapprehensions about representative democracy broadly, and the Conservative Party particularly which are pervasive on the Left. However, it does so cynically rather than propagandistically. Indeed, much of the dialogue conveys the sort of exasperation with British parliamentary politics that someone once described as "eloquently thoughtless." In sum the tale is far too expressive for the limitations of allegory and succeeds, in some ways despite itself, to transcend the mediocrity of a yet another veiled attack on Thatcherism. It inhabits its own fictively spectral world which is composed of elusively familiar places and institutions, yet is the exclusive sanction of the imagination. On the whole the film in entirely unsatisfying in the best possible sense, generating a desire to revisit the performance, and its erie shadowland of intrigue repeatedly. A capital addition to any video library.
Rating:
Summary: A combination of brilliant performances
Review: Richardson's Urquart is one of the most affably loathsome characters on screen. His occasional glances into the camera and side-comments to the viewer establish a delightfully grotesque camaraderie and implicate us in his crimes. You don't have to be an Anglomaniacal PBS-head to thrill to House of Cards.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: The great Ian Richardson plays Francis Urquhart in a dazzling and spellbinding performance: like Richard III, we find ourselves relishing watching him all the while we are amazed at his evil. His asides to the audience are both deliciously funny and profoundly chilling. He always keeps us guessing, and we cheer for him in spite of ourselves -- yet at the final climax, with its visceral shock, we see that the charm hides a terrifying ruthlessness. Truly disturbing. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: addictive and compelling
Review: The trilogy, House of Cards, To Play the King, and The Final Cut is so good it made me change my mind about throwing my television in the dumpster. Ian Richardson is remarkable, the casting is supurb and the story is engrossing. This is a must see production if contemporary British political intrigue is up your street.
Rating:
Summary: PBS at its best
Review: The trilogy, House of Cards, To Play the King, and The Final Cut is so good it made me change my mind about throwing my television in the dumpster. Ian Richardson is remarkable, the casting is supurb and the story is engrossing. This is a must see production if contemporary British political intrigue is up your street.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is high stakes political drama like nothing you've ever seen before. I can't wait to see the other discs in the series. Brilliant acting from Ian Richardson and the entire cast. Reminds me of Shakespeare's Richard The Third a great deal. A must see television show.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is high stakes political drama like nothing you've ever seen before. I can't wait to see the other discs in the series. Brilliant acting from Ian Richardson and the entire cast. Reminds me of Shakespeare's Richard The Third a great deal. A must see television show.
Rating:
Summary: Must see. Excellent acting and perfect script.
Review: This is something that should be seen by all who enjoy politics. Exceptional script and acting!!
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