I was frankly not expecting much because my exposure to Ioan Gruffudd has been exclusively the dismal Fantastic Four movies. I was stunned to learn that he can actually act -- or could once, anyway -- and his performance completely carries this film. The rest of the cast, for the most part unfamiliar to me as an American viewer, do a fine job as well. I would make something of an exception for Dorian Healy, but I fault him less for his performance than the script for giving him so little to work with other than moustache-twirling villainy. That's a minor nitpick, though. The acting is solid across the board, with a great supporting performance by Robert Lindsay. In general, the action moves along briskly, the characters are well-defined, and the overall production values are surprisingly high. There are a few weak special effects where the budget shows a bit, but for the most part this is a really well-mounted production. The sets and costumes are top-notch, and a lot of attention seems to have been paid to period detail. It would be easy to believe this was a big-screen theatrical production if not for the periodic commercial fade-outs (which, by the way, were uniformly ignored on the telecast I watched -- is it really that difficult, Ovation?) Oh, and for other American viewers, the reason Kennedy looks so familiar but you can't quite place him is because he buried his natural accent so successfully on Battlestar Galactica.At any rate, I highly recommend this film and now look forward to seeing the others in the series. I can only marvel at whatever happened to Horatio Hornblower to turn him into such a lackluster Reed Richards. Perhaps a lifetime of attempting to spell "Ioan Gruffudd" has just worn him down.

I certainly had my doubts when I rented the first volume of this series - apparently called "The Duel" here in the United States and "The Even Chance" in its native Britain. A rose by any other name...It is really good. The main character Horatio is played immaculately by Ioan Gruffudd (I would really like to hear how that is pronounced.) It is hard not to compare it to the movie Master and Commander. I found that movie very entertaining, and also very worthy in its own right, but I have read the books by Patrick O'Brian, and how can a movie do justice to that? I mean, really.I have not read the Forester books, so I cannot comment on the adaptation. I CAN compare the overall experience of seeing the Hornblower films to, well, everything else I have seen about similar subjects, and it fares well indeed. In fact, there has been nothing better overall. I enjoyed everything they did with it. I have to say, I thought it looked a little cheap at first - but I hesitated to even mention that because it was more than made up for in authenticity and raw acting.I only mention it now so that if anyone reading this sees that, they are forewarned - it isn't special effects heavy, it's more genuine. And the scope and range of it is far deeper than anything else yet (about the same subject.) OK, now that Hornblower's praises have been sung again, rightfully, I just want to mention a highly under-read series that I hope some of you will pick up on, by the name of Flashman. I don't really compare Hornblower to Flashman directly, but they are both historical fiction (and I suppose military.) And I have to say, George MacDonald Fraser has given us something special in Flashman, in that his main character has serious and admitted flaws, unlike Horatio. As far as I know, no movies have been made from that series, but anyone who likes the Hornblower adventures as much as I do might like these too.

SPOILERS Based on the novels of C.S. Forester, the television adaptations of the life of Horatio Hornblower are well loved and well watched. With superb, albeit far from perfect, set designs, the series thrives due to it's excellent scripting, acting and realism. In this first encounter with the legendary Hornblower, we are given a perfect introduction to the lives of the man and his shipmates.As a young midshipman, Horatio Hornblower (Ioan Gruffudd) is hardly the most likely of heroes. Serving under Captain Keene (Michael Byrne), he is constantly sea sick and bullied by the sadistic Jack Simpson (Dorian Healy). When war is declared against the French however, Horatio is transfered to the command of the inspirational Captain Pellew (Robert Lindsay). There, getting used to the sea and free from his tormentor, he begins to flourish into a man of strength and intelligence.The amazing thing about the series in general is the way that Gruffudd's Hornblower meta-morphs from a young boy into an amazing Gentleman. In this first episode, he is superb as an inept boy who, when given the chance to flourish, succeeds with ease.Gruffudd is also helped by some brilliant casting including Lindsay, Healy, Paul Copley, Sean Gilder and Jamie Bamber. All these actors become regulars in the series and they all perform admirably throughout.Realism is another crucial part in the beauty of the Hornblower series. For a series to be based almost completely on a ship, it requires large amounts of effort to deal with the water vibrations. This series knows this and manages to capture the experience perfectly. Whilst not possessing the funding of recent Hollywood blockbuster "Master And Commander" (2003), it might not benefit from the ability to show two ships side by side without even slightly having a green screen effect, but it does manage to capture events on the boat perfectly, and for that it deserves praise.Ultimately for the Hornblower series, all credit should go to Russell Lewis' superb scripting. Based on the books, Lewis brings to Hornblower to a new audience and manages to catch our interest with ease. Desperate to watch the next episode straight after it's predecessor, audiences fall in love with the nautical adventures and are hooked.As a first episode, the Hornblower series could not have had a better production than "The Even Chance". Introducing the young and quiet Hornblower, it manages to catch the audiences interest and by the end of the episode we're obsessed. Warning, watching this first episode will cause you to spend large quantities of time watching the entire series. Brilliant!

If America only knew how good this was,it would be the highest rated Made-For-TV movie series of all time(hard to believe there are more people out there that would rather watch "The Columbo Mysteries" than Horatio Hornblower- that just goes to show the power of major network name-brand advertising.The Hornblower movie series has been television at its finest. I have seen all 6 of the A&E Horatio Hornblower movies,"The Duchess and the Devil" is my favorite of the 6 films. However I tune in to A&E everytime they air a new Hornblower movie. So far all 6 movies have been based on the Horatio Hornblower adventure novels written by C.S. Forester(the same author who wrote African Queen). Each Movie chronicles the on-going adventures of Horatio Hornblower who is a Brittish Lt. in the Brittish Navy during the late 1790's-to early 1800's during the Napoleonic era in Europe. I sincerly believe that each one of these 6 Films has been good enough to have shown at the movie theaters,if the producers had wanted to. Unlike other Made-For-TV films,The Hornblower films do not have that Made-For-TV feeling to them,like most television movies have.A common misconception that people who havent seen these movies have is that all 6 of these films go to gether as a mini-series- that is not true. The Hornblower movies are not a mini-series,all 6 of these films are individual movies about the same charactor- with all the same actors playing the same roles in each film(EXAMPLE:think of the James Bond films-They are not sequels, but they are all about the adventures of James Bond- that same principle applies to the Hornblower movies) I give the entire Horatio Hornblower movie series 5 out of 5 stars. Its Perfect entertainment- but you cant please everyone, so for those of you dont like epic battleship battles,historic style drama,high stakes adventure, and danger on the high seas,if you dont like stuff like that-there is always Columbo re-run for you to watch.