I recently finished listening to the audiobook version of Pride and Prejudice on my commute so I was kind of in the right mood for a period piece. And for the most part it was pretty entertaining. I think my favorite parts were all the hoity toity speeches the stepson gave about what how much he fucking hated Barry.
Maybe I went in with the wrong mindset because I was actually expecting an epic where I come away with a newfound favorite character I really spent a lot of time with like Les Mis or The Count of Monte Cristo but there are a couple factors that prevent it from reaching that level for me.
The first issue I have is with the narrator. Its kind of strange that despite the three hour runtime, I never really FELT the growth or a type of attachment to the character in a similar way when I read a book. Theres a distance in the film that is maintained between the audience and its subject and the narration lends itself to that because the events that we see arent really experienced along with the character but rather conveyed by a third party and that creates the emotional distance and subsequent lack of attachment to characters. Of course, it should be stated that the main character is an asshole and not really a hero so maybe that is exactly what it was going for. Although in that case maybe I would have preferred to see more explicit stuff about what a piece of shit he was and all the underhanded shit he would resort to. So yeah, perhaps a wrongful expectation on my part that contributed to my overall enjoyment. Also, I did view this over multiple sittings so that probably had an effect as well.
I actually thought the first part was more interesting because we see the origins of the character and it introduces all this crazy shit and theres a lot of funny stuff. Like, the emphasis from Barrys cousin that No, we are NOT fucking because he is my COUSIN (paraphrased) and how theres all this talk about how the cousin is going to be set for life once she marries the general and then Barry just throws a fucking glass in his face and then just shoots him.
Random sidenote that in one of the first scenes, theres a long(?) shot of the cousins cleavage and my first thought was is that historically accurate? I kind of assumed that the clothing for women would be more conservative to the point where cleavage was almost nonexistent even in private settings. Also waaay later on theres another scene that opens with a shot of cleavage for like 10 seconds and then the camera pulls back and its actually Mrs. Barry lol.
Other sidenotes: I hated the kid. Maybe I would have enjoyed Barrys downfall more if I felt more of his journey as mentioned above. Hilarious scene where Lady Lyndon asks Barry not to smoke and he just blows it in her face.
Probably would benefit from a rewatch but not sure if that would ever happen. 7/10