While not quite as romantic as the previous feature film, SHARPE'S CHALLENGE, this action-packed adventure is a wonderful farewell to the bad boy English rifleman and his colorful friends and enemies. Personally, I would have ended the series at the end of SHARPE'S CHALLENGE, when Sharpe has the opportunity to marry a loyal, courageous, and truly stunning general's daughter and become a general himself in the famed East India Company. But instead, Sharpe is just trying to get home, and he is roped into escorting a spoiled French beauty through the Indian countryside, and villains are after her, and one thing just leads to another till pretty soon Sharpe is like Moses leading dozens of castaways in search of safety and a new beginning. Where CHALLENGE had the feeling of an Arabian Nights adventure, with most of the action among Indian palaces and Royalty, PERIL is more rugged and down to earth, with a virtual "wagon train" journeying through hostile territory like an old fashioned American Western. There are battles every ten minutes and sword fights every five minutes. Sharpe's followers include a lot of Western types familiar from movies like STAGECOACH and MAJOR DUNDEE. The useless missionary, the plucky pregnant woman, the loyal Indian companion, the drunken or lazy troopers, all have their parts to play. What lifts the story above Western territory, however, is the way in which Sharpe himself is forced to look for closure to his personal dramas. Some of his most deadly enemies reappear (or their sons do) and there are some unexpected discoveries on all sides. The most poignant scenes in the story all revolve around Sharpe coming to terms with past regrets and resolving conflicts. All of it was wonderful, even if Sharpe's French blonde love interest in PERIL isn't quite as demure or winning as English blonde love interest in CHALLENGE. But both movies are Sharpe classics, both great farewells to a true hero!

Sean Bean and Daragh O'Malley return as Richard Sharpe and Patrick Harper in another brilliant Sharpe movie! Although I do very much miss Hagman and Harris fighting alongside Sharpe and Harper, this adventure in India still has the essence of a good old Sharpe movie. We have a beautiful woman, the bad guy, an old 'friend' Simmerson and of course a good few twists and turns that keep us watching. Yes, some people may complain that Sharpe has too many lines in his face or Harper has a few too many gray hairs on his head, but I love it! It makes it feel like I'm following them throughout events in their whole lives, not just a chapter of it. Even though the years may be climbing on our beloved actors, I do hope they decide to make another few movies or at least one last movie to tie up loose ends such as finding Sharpe's daughter.Although it may not be the best of the Sharpe series, it's definitely another brilliant addition!

As usual I enjoyed every single minute of this Sharp adventure! So what if Sean Bean is a little older, it happens to us all and time has moved on since Waterloo!! Once again I gasped at his heroics, wished I was one of the buxom females he saves and cried when he and Harper glance back to the sound of 'Over the Hills and Far Away'.I do love every single Sharp but I do prefer the Napoleonic War Episodes (these would get a 10)as due to there being 14(?) episodes there is more time to attach yourself and enjoy the characters. Sharps Waterloo was my particular favourite but I did sob!! I feel it is time to dust down my Sharp Video collection and watch them all again with my two daughters , they are in for a treat, (though they have told me they don't want to)!!! Tough!!

They criticized this episode because Daragh O'Malley had got a bit fatter. And maybe Sean Bean had a few more lines on his face - well, how many wives has be tried to please - apparently without success!.But it's wonderful. Heroism, humanity, and fellow feeling are all there just as they are in the entire series. There's some closure for fellow aficionados; Hakeswill (in a sense) is laid to rest, and Simmerson ends the fool he always was.Bernard Cornwell is an excellent author, and Sean Bean / Daragh O'Malley and this entire cast has brought it all to wonderful viewing.Wanna be a soldier!