The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom (2015) 

Destiny is all. It´s hard to find a better historic carnage, where intrigues of ruling class and relationship affairs does not serve only as an obvious excuse to draw a sword and subsequent gore bloodshed. Not that there wasn't much of it. It is. In addition, it's really dirty, magnificently choreographed and uncompromising. It is not to be overlooked that Bernard Cornwell is behind the original, who oversaw the constant development of properly ambivalent characters, the “Vláčil’s" atmosphere of the Middle Ages as well as matters of heart and political reasoning with a multi - layered plot of intrigues, so that each of these components works on its own and yet acts as an integral part of the whole. And the whole thing is purely genre, it really isn't (and shouldn't be!) A faithful picture of the time of Alfred the Great. It is to the credit of the authors that they dealt with all of the above-mentioned when adapting, without it seeming like a blatant abbreviated thesis, in which even the ignorant will soon realize that it´s based on a book. The centerpiece is the excellently developed (in) friendly “bromance of Uhtred and Alfred"; their mutual hostility, distrust, tension and mutual respect and need. The only significant weak point of the first two seasons is that they have eight episodes, but it is strictly true that every four parts represent an adaptation of one of the books. And the models are conceived in such a way that each has its beginning and end, i.e., in the series there are repeated anti-climate situations, when the first and second episodes build lines, the fourth episode offers climax and the fifth and sixth then build new storylines from scratch. The series also overcame clinical death, when the BBC stopped the series after the second season, but Netflix took on the role of savior. Concerns as to whether taking it under their wings would turn out to be odd, as on the contrary, it gave it wings, so that it would be the ultimate historical movie “with an overlap", not only in terms of script, but also of budget. A more obvious deviation from history towards mysticism will suit it. In other words, if you miss the genre companion of the Vikings, which would not lose quality with the increasing number of episodes, then there is no need to look any further, because the hot-blooded escapades offer everything one can desire within the genre; moreover, in the highest possible quality. | S1: 4/5 | S2: 5/5 | S3: 5/5 | S4: 4/5 | (22/12/2018)