Movie post. Series "Game of Thrones"
On April 17, the premiere of the first episode of "Game of Thrones" took place on HBO. And two days later, this episode was released on lostfilm.tv in Russian dubbing.
Why has no one written about this yet? I will be the first!
I have a deep affection for Martin's saga, but I'm not very fond of HBO's series, so I was cautious about the prospect of such an adaptation of "Game of Thrones." I didn't want to watch it – surely the series creators would ruin it, distort it, and mess it up. But I also couldn't avoid watching – after all, it's Martin.
Filled with doubt, I started the first episode. ECSTATIC.
I watched the second one – HYSTERICAL ECSTASY.
Technically, everything is done incredibly well, real epic fantasy, practically on par with Jackson's Lord of the Rings. A lot of money and labor is invested in every frame. Great attention to detail, like worn boots and dirt on faces. No model hairstyles or clean nails – pure medieval realism.
The screenwriter is extremely careful in following the book’s text, with almost no personal additions, and whatever there is fits well into the overall narrative. I fear that those who haven't read the book will find the first episode somewhat unclear (who are all these people? who was married to whose sister? who killed whose father?), but it seems the second episode clarifies everything.
The actors are perfectly chosen. Eddard, Bran, Arya, Robert Baratheon, Cersei, Jaime, Joffrey, Tyrion, Viserys – it’s just the ideal embodiment of their characters. Ned, played by Sean "why do I always die in the middle of the movie" Bean, is a true battle-hardened paladin, complete with wrinkles and a heavy northern gaze. The cinematic Catelyn surprises many because she looks older than we expected – but on the other hand, she's 35, has five children, lives in a northern climate, lacks vitamins and sunlight; what do you expect in such conditions – a model appearance?
Besides Catelyn's appearance, the public mainly nitpicks about several scenes that were depicted slightly differently than in the book. But as far as I can tell, this was done precisely to manage the limited screen time to convey as much as possible about the characters and their relationships.
If we don't count such nitpicks, there are only two real downsides in the film:
The Dothraki are very weak; they are supposed to be tough nomadic Mongols, but instead, they rounded up some pampered Hawaiian strippers fresh from the tanning salon, so Daenerys's storyline resembles cheap 80s movies about Hercules and Xena.
The opening credits are completely insane, as if drawn by drug addicts – they show something reminiscent of a Warhammer gaming table, where some landscape is built on the table, with toy houses, figurines, plastic rocks, and trees, and labels saying "this is King's Landing," "and this is Winterfell."
But these are, in fact, the only downsides over both episodes – everything else is done either very well or even brilliantly. Ten episodes, of course, is very little for such a lengthy book – it would have been better to shoot 15, ideally 20 episodes, but in principle, 10 should suffice.
And last but not least – the series is definitely not for children. There's a lot of nudity on screen, with breasts and buttocks on full display, and someone is regularly being roughly treated, depicted quite realistically, "doggy style," and all of this is shown up close, without much shyness. So for family viewing, "Game of Thrones" is absolutely unsuitable (by the way, I wouldn't recommend the book to children either).
Ned Stark
Catelyn Stark
Robb Stark
Sansa Stark
Arya Stark
Bran Stark
Jon Snow
Theon Greyjoy
Rodrik Cassel
Jory Cassel
Benjen Stark
Jeor Mormont and Maester Aemon
Tywin Lannister
Cersei Lannister
Jaime Lannister
Tyrion Lannister
Joffrey Baratheon
Robert Baratheon
Renly Baratheon
Petyr Baelish
Loras Tyrell
Bronn
Daenerys Targaryen
Viserys Targaryen
Drogo
Jorah Mormont
Attention! I kindly ask commentators not to spoil the story in plain text; there is a "spoiler" tag specifically for that.