Luxurious spectacle has royal splendour Fan service aplenty in twee tale
To say I wasn’t an avid viewer of the Downton Abbey TV show would be an understatement.
Beyond catching snippets while my mum – a big fan – was glued to the screen, my knowledge of all things Crawley family was extremely limited.
Perhaps I’m not the ideal audience for this cinematic upgrade, then, but judging it on its own merits, this is a good watch.
Show creator Julian Fellowes’ story sees the titular location thrown into chaos when they receive word King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) are coming for a visit.
Michael Engler’s only previous movie directing experience was 2018’s The Chaperone, although he did helm four Downton episodes.
As a result, he’s well tuned in to what is expected of him; the fan service utilised rivals the Marvel team-up flicks.
Moving into the movie world allows for even more grandiose location work and the film looks fantastic; Engler whipping his camera around and using as wide a lens as possible to fill every frame with splendour.
It’s as twee as I expected and Fellowes would’ve benefited from sprinkling his screenplay with more bite as true drama and jeopardy take a back seat to charm and romance.
The closest thing we get to an antagonist is Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess; and how we could have done with more of her memorable cutting comments.
Old favourites like Hugh Bonneville (Robert), Michelle Dockery (Mary) and Jim Carter (Charles) embrace their characters’ transition to film and Matthew Goode (Henry) again proves he’s one of Britain’s suavest, most endearing actors.
Downton fans – and anyone who is a sucker for a Richard Curtis-like idealistic rosy portrait of Britain – will most likely lap up this luxurious spectacle.
But it doesn’t make me want to drop everything and spend two days and eight hours binge watching all six seasons of the show – even during lockdown!