Sharpe's Gold begins with a group of soldiers deserting during a battle. Wellington is short on men, so he agrees to make an exchange for captured deserters. The exchange is weapons for deserters. Sharpe is given the task of making the exchange. The mission is complicated when a relative of Wellington's, Mrs. Nugent, tags along with her daughter to find her missing husband.
I should start by saying that Sharpe's Gold is the biggest departure from any of the novels. In fact, it has very little to do with the novel. Sharpe's Gold is not very well liked among fans of the books. I have never read the book for Gold, so my opinion was open when I saw it. What I've come to realize is that the die-hard Sharpe fans don't dislike this movie because of changes made from the book, but more likely because it's flawed and not a terribly captivating story. There were a couple of movies later on that were original screenplays, not based on any books, but they were received a lot better. My opinion is that Tom Clegg and the producers just weren't ready to create a Sharpe story on their own yet. It was not just some dumb idea to ditch the book, there were legal issues dating back a few years that kept them from adapting the book properly. So I guess there's an excuse for some of the flaws.
When the movie started I was enjoying it. The plot is decent enough. The problem comes when they don't move the story forward. It starts with an interesting idea about an exchange for prisoners and a missing husband, but that's all that it ever amounts to, an interesting idea. There are very few twists. What was quite disappointing was the portrayal of Richard Sharpe. In the first 5 movies, we were given a slow progression of Sharpe's character. He changed from movie to movie. There is no character development at all for Sharpe here. Sean Bean of course is always great, but I felt like this was a flat portrayal of his character. By the time Ellie was kidnapped and taken into the caves to be sacrificed, I didn't really care anymore. That whole sacrifice scene was just cheesy. There was one powerful scene. SPOILER AHEAD...... DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT IT SPOILED............ The death scene of Mrs. Nugent. It was directed with class and it brought some much needed tragic emotion to a somewhat cheesy story. So while I do view this movie as being one small mistake in the series, there were still many elements that I enjoyed. It could have been a lot better, but it could have been a lot worse. After this movie, the series really gains momentum again.
