The Tudors: The Final Season
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Brophy, Henry Cavill, James Frain, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sarah BolgerBrand: Paramount
Writer: Michael Hirst
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 533 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2010-10-12
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Showtime / Paramount
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- AC-3; Box set; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of The Tudors: The Final Season
Movie Review: The best season of an extraordinary show
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't think I fully appreciated this show, or it's leading actor, as much the first two years it was on. I watched it from the beginning. I didn't expect to care for it, but it was compelling just enough to keep me going. As the show went on, Jonathan Rhys Meyers became more & more intense, focused & intriguing, until finally by this season I had to hail him as one of the finest in the lineup of thirty-something actors out there. My mother, twenty-five years older than I, felt equally mesmerized by this extraordinary young man's ability to portray Henry VIII so brilliantly at any age, from his early twenties through early fifties, the time close to the famous monarch's actual death. Even his voice "aged" so naturally, it left me spellbound by this actor's ability to utterly become one with his role. Now, I have to say that he is right up there with Michael C. Hall as one of my favorite actors of this age group, one of the greatest to come along since Olivier. A grandiose statement, but as anyone who watches this show almost certainly must conclude by now, his is THE definitive modern Henry VIII portrayal, physical likeness to the actual king being completely unimportant to me now.
A fine supporting cast rounds out this majestic season. The dashing & blindingly handsome Henry Cavill, who blossomed beautifully into his role as Henry's rather quiet right-hand man, becoming arguably the most sympathetic character of the entire series. The young but fantastic Sarah Bolger is a marvel. How a young woman still in her teens can effortlessly portray Henry's daughter Mary with nerves of steel & yet such delicate grace is unbelievable. Her ability to convince the viewer of the aging of the Princess (and all of the fears that accompanied being an unmarried royal so long in such a time), without wearing a speck more makeup or doing anything different physically is impressive, to say the least. She can make herself appear seventeen years old one episode, then with nary a change in dress, appear to be in her early thirties only a couple of shows later. Joely Richardson was simply superb as Henry's sixth & final wife. Her chemistry with Rhys Meyers was perhaps the most loving of all, though far more subtle than his previous "conquests". Their rather gentle, yet still occasionally heart-stopping marriage left me breathless. I believe Ms. Richardson is the best of all the actresses, all of whom were good, who played his marital partners. I enjoyed this season best of all, and a great part of that is due to her.
Many scenes only viewed once still stay with me til this day, and not just from the finale. There was less sex portrayed in this season, but what was done seemed not to be for shock value, but to actually enhance the story. This was a departure, in my opinion, from the first & second seasons, which was almost ridiculously sex-ridden for such a show. But be prepared, it was one of the most heart-wrenching of the entire series, with one episode so graphic in it's portrayal of torture used during those times that I literally had to take my eyes off the screen for a couple of minutes. The special-effects department & actors involved, while they must be a fine set of geniuses, made everything look so real it seemed there were no special effects involved at all. Truly horrifying in parts, I found myself literally starting to hate the Tower of London and all it represents in my real life. If that isn't a symbol of the power of a television program, I don't know what is.
While not always historically accurate, enough truth remains that the repression, intrigue and feelings of those long-dead comes to life again here. I would watch this & could literally feel the tremor coming forth from all who tiptoed around the king, which was anyone & everyone. This show made me grateful that I didn't live in that era, a feeling my mother & others who viewed this echoed, as well. Like stepping back in time, this gave me the most profound glimpse into the hearts & minds of the Tudors to date. This was one amazing series, and I was sorry to see it end.
Summary of The Tudors: The Final Season
The Tudors presents the rarely dramatized, tumultuous early years of King Henry VIII?s nearly 40 year, omnipotent reign (1509-1547). In addition to his famous female consorts and 20+ year marriage to Catherine of Aragon to the infamous dalliance with Anne Boleyn, the series delves in to Henry?s most notable political relationship and the deconstruction of the Roman Catholic Church in England.Henry VIII is not in a very good humor in the final season of The Tudors, despite the fact that much of England and Western Europe has been bent to his will. But that means only that this season of The Tudors is just as captivating and engrossing as the three preceding it. By this time, King Henry (the always excellent Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is restive, facing ongoing rebellion in the north of England, and fissures in his own family and among his own children. Well, that's what you get when you have multiple children from different wives, and new declarations of who's the rightful heir and who's banished to the Tower. Season four focuses on Henry's declining health--and while Rhys Meyers has been padded a bit in a nod to reality, he still looks handsome and fetching, nothing like the squat, obese martinet depicted in official royal portraits. This season of The Tudors also focuses on King Henry's final two wives, and the actors who play them are among the best thing in the entire season. Young vixen Catherine Howard (Tamzin Merchant) probably never stood a chance, and was outwitted in court and played like a pawn by the king's advisers. Ultimately, Howard pays the ultimate price for having had the indecency to have had a bit of a past well before she wed the king. Enter wife No. 6, Catherine Parr (the truly regal Joely Richardson), who is perhaps finally the king's match intellectually and politically. Twice widowed when she captured the eye of the king at age 31, Parr was originally asked to marry by Thomas Seymour (Andrew McNair), the brother of the king's earlier wife Jane Seymour. But when King Henry proposed, Parr agrees--and, because of her earnest intellectual curiosity and embracing of the new Church of England, sets in motion the final dramas of Henry's life. The conniving and plotting are never over for The Tudors, though King Henry, after a pretty good run, finally meets his end. The Tudors is so satisfying, however, that one wishes it would continue and follow the lives of Henry's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. There could be many more entrancing years of history writ large. The Tudors: The Final Season includes several episodes from other Showtime series, including United States of Tara, Dexter, and Episodes, but alas, no extras related specifically to The Tudors. --A.T. Hurley
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