You Knew I Just Had To: A Game of Thrones Review
It's been a long time since I was genuinely geeked out to see something. [A] Game of Thrones was just that thing.
I'm a fan of the books, I've even read the Dunk and Egg one-offs, and in many ways it's the epic fantasy I wish I was a good enough writer to have written myself. For one thing, the books are the kinds of books I want to read. Gritty, moralistically ambivalent, and very lean on the magic. These books are what years of reading Robert Jordan prepared you for, a decidedly adult world of three dimensional characters you love, hate, and everywhere in-between.
I've been following GRRM's LJ on how the show has been doing in production. For the most part, the cast seemed solid, if not comprised of a lot of actors who have not yet become celebrities. Most recognizable is Sean Bean, who most Lord of the Rings fans will remember as Boromir. He plays a more solemn and noble Boromir here, but in the books, Ned Stark was really the only one who ever lived up to any code of honor whatsoever. Bean plays Ned Stark very well, and though his talents have not roamed very far from bearded swordsmen or Russian thugs, he has gravitas with Stark. As with the books, Stark is a force of nature, a pillar of his family and later the kingdom, which is plagued with power-hungry assholes.
The second-most recognized face with be that of Lena Headley, who plays Cercei Lannister. I'm not a fan, but then again I thought she was one of the most repugnant characters in the books. (And compared to Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain Who Walks, that's saying something). I might have liked her better if they could have just matched the eyebrows to the wig. Tyrion Lannister is played by Peter Dinklage, a man who I already cast for the part in my mind when reading the books. Though he's a bit more of a fop in the series than he is in the books, he pulls it off well. His trysts in the Winterfell whorehouse was a little over the top, even for Tyrion. Homeskillet was just paying for sex in the books because nobody would touch him, not because he was Larry Flynt, people.
Jaime Lannister was dead-on, but I'm having a hard time suspending my disbelief that he and John Connor's Mom are twins. That last minute of the pilot episode was unbelievably complex, and I think captured Jaime better than that scene did even in the books.
Jon Snow, one of the pivotal characters in the books shows the potential for this in the series. He's a flat-out leader of the Stark children as well as their red-headed stepchild. Er, brown-headed. If they can keep that shitty scruff off his face, he'll look more the part too. Before, I thought he was trying for an ironic hipster beard. Until they shaved his face and cropped his hair, I thought he might been happy to have found an albino fixed gear bicycle instead of a direwolf. After that, he really came around. Robb (pronounced Rah-buh-buh because there are two b's) is as much a douche as he is in the books. Cannot wait for the Red Wedding in the second series. (which HBO just announced they would be shooting soon) Sansa is just as obnoxious as the books and Arya is her pixie-like badass self. I'm happy. And Bran...poor Bran. And Joffrey, Cersei's son, is very much the kid who needs a fist in his teeth.
The parts I found myself slogging through in the books were the scenes with Viserys and Daenerys in Pentos. Turns out that the series makes these scenes not only palatable, but beautiful to watch. The mood and tone of the relationship was nailed in these few scenes. Khal Drogo was imposing and hulking. The actress playing Daenerys captured her simultaneous attraction and repulsion to Drogo's way of life perfectly. Again though, eyebrows: dark. Hair: white. Other than that, HELL YEAH. Also, Daenerys has some junk in the trunk. You go, HBO!
Some of the details I missed were the faces on the weirwood trees. We get a nice shot of Eddard playing with his sword (snicker) and the calm and relaxed nature of the grove was night and day compared to his usual stoic self was a masterful juxtaposition. Catelyn looked like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs during that scene, while he was not only relaxed but smiling. Lots and lots of SHOW here, which is excellent after a rocky beginning of info-dumps and introductory dialog of "My brother/yes, my sister?" kinds of dialog, and "That's so-and-so!" as the players file into Winterfell. Though the sex scenes were a little gratuitous, I thought they were used effectively, if not just a little over the top. Tyrion's foursome was a little out of character, even for him.
Fans of epic fantasy might be disappointed to discover that [A] Game of Thrones probably has more in common with Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth than Robert Jordan's tomes of Mary-Sue Uses-balefire-to-Kill-the-Devil.
Anyway, that's the only episode I'll be watching until the DVD's come out in a year. We got a free weekend of HBO as a teaser and I was half-tempted to subscribe just to see the other nine episodes as they come. These hopes were dashed when HBO proceeded to show ET, Coming to America, and every other goddamned old movie that was on HBO when I moved out of my parents' house in the early 90's. I refuse to pay another $16 per month to watch old 80's movies on premium cable channels when I can't even stand them on VHS. Fuck you, HBO. I'll buy the DVD's when they come out. You can save your shitty, Arsenio-Loves-Eddie era movies for somebody else's hard-earned dollar.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised that the director didn't subscribe to HBO's typical method of showing no more than 13 seconds of any given scene to appeal to the erroding attention spans of HBO subscribers. This is a reason I don't really care for Weeds, Deadwood, the Sopranos, Sex in the City, Rome, or most other HBO series. The feel of Game of Thrones was cinematic and filled with enough action and character intrigue to hold my interest. It made me miss the days of Carnivale, back when direction included setting as character worlds and intelligent writing. It's gritty, brutal, and you won't be seeing any furry footed hobbits or snaggle-toothed Orcs in this series. The real monsters are often beautiful people on the outside, just like real life.
I'm a fan of the books, I've even read the Dunk and Egg one-offs, and in many ways it's the epic fantasy I wish I was a good enough writer to have written myself. For one thing, the books are the kinds of books I want to read. Gritty, moralistically ambivalent, and very lean on the magic. These books are what years of reading Robert Jordan prepared you for, a decidedly adult world of three dimensional characters you love, hate, and everywhere in-between.
I've been following GRRM's LJ on how the show has been doing in production. For the most part, the cast seemed solid, if not comprised of a lot of actors who have not yet become celebrities. Most recognizable is Sean Bean, who most Lord of the Rings fans will remember as Boromir. He plays a more solemn and noble Boromir here, but in the books, Ned Stark was really the only one who ever lived up to any code of honor whatsoever. Bean plays Ned Stark very well, and though his talents have not roamed very far from bearded swordsmen or Russian thugs, he has gravitas with Stark. As with the books, Stark is a force of nature, a pillar of his family and later the kingdom, which is plagued with power-hungry assholes.
The second-most recognized face with be that of Lena Headley, who plays Cercei Lannister. I'm not a fan, but then again I thought she was one of the most repugnant characters in the books. (And compared to Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain Who Walks, that's saying something). I might have liked her better if they could have just matched the eyebrows to the wig. Tyrion Lannister is played by Peter Dinklage, a man who I already cast for the part in my mind when reading the books. Though he's a bit more of a fop in the series than he is in the books, he pulls it off well. His trysts in the Winterfell whorehouse was a little over the top, even for Tyrion. Homeskillet was just paying for sex in the books because nobody would touch him, not because he was Larry Flynt, people.
Jaime Lannister was dead-on, but I'm having a hard time suspending my disbelief that he and John Connor's Mom are twins. That last minute of the pilot episode was unbelievably complex, and I think captured Jaime better than that scene did even in the books.
Jon Snow, one of the pivotal characters in the books shows the potential for this in the series. He's a flat-out leader of the Stark children as well as their red-headed stepchild. Er, brown-headed. If they can keep that shitty scruff off his face, he'll look more the part too. Before, I thought he was trying for an ironic hipster beard. Until they shaved his face and cropped his hair, I thought he might been happy to have found an albino fixed gear bicycle instead of a direwolf. After that, he really came around. Robb (pronounced Rah-buh-buh because there are two b's) is as much a douche as he is in the books. Cannot wait for the Red Wedding in the second series. (which HBO just announced they would be shooting soon) Sansa is just as obnoxious as the books and Arya is her pixie-like badass self. I'm happy. And Bran...poor Bran. And Joffrey, Cersei's son, is very much the kid who needs a fist in his teeth.
The parts I found myself slogging through in the books were the scenes with Viserys and Daenerys in Pentos. Turns out that the series makes these scenes not only palatable, but beautiful to watch. The mood and tone of the relationship was nailed in these few scenes. Khal Drogo was imposing and hulking. The actress playing Daenerys captured her simultaneous attraction and repulsion to Drogo's way of life perfectly. Again though, eyebrows: dark. Hair: white. Other than that, HELL YEAH. Also, Daenerys has some junk in the trunk. You go, HBO!
Some of the details I missed were the faces on the weirwood trees. We get a nice shot of Eddard playing with his sword (snicker) and the calm and relaxed nature of the grove was night and day compared to his usual stoic self was a masterful juxtaposition. Catelyn looked like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs during that scene, while he was not only relaxed but smiling. Lots and lots of SHOW here, which is excellent after a rocky beginning of info-dumps and introductory dialog of "My brother/yes, my sister?" kinds of dialog, and "That's so-and-so!" as the players file into Winterfell. Though the sex scenes were a little gratuitous, I thought they were used effectively, if not just a little over the top. Tyrion's foursome was a little out of character, even for him.
Fans of epic fantasy might be disappointed to discover that [A] Game of Thrones probably has more in common with Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth than Robert Jordan's tomes of Mary-Sue Uses-balefire-to-Kill-the-Devil.
Anyway, that's the only episode I'll be watching until the DVD's come out in a year. We got a free weekend of HBO as a teaser and I was half-tempted to subscribe just to see the other nine episodes as they come. These hopes were dashed when HBO proceeded to show ET, Coming to America, and every other goddamned old movie that was on HBO when I moved out of my parents' house in the early 90's. I refuse to pay another $16 per month to watch old 80's movies on premium cable channels when I can't even stand them on VHS. Fuck you, HBO. I'll buy the DVD's when they come out. You can save your shitty, Arsenio-Loves-Eddie era movies for somebody else's hard-earned dollar.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised that the director didn't subscribe to HBO's typical method of showing no more than 13 seconds of any given scene to appeal to the erroding attention spans of HBO subscribers. This is a reason I don't really care for Weeds, Deadwood, the Sopranos, Sex in the City, Rome, or most other HBO series. The feel of Game of Thrones was cinematic and filled with enough action and character intrigue to hold my interest. It made me miss the days of Carnivale, back when direction included setting as character worlds and intelligent writing. It's gritty, brutal, and you won't be seeing any furry footed hobbits or snaggle-toothed Orcs in this series. The real monsters are often beautiful people on the outside, just like real life.