Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film starts off excitingly enough as Hornblower launches a successful surprise attack and captures the French supply ship La Reve.Captain Pellew orders Hornblower to sail La Reve with important papers that must not fall into enemy hands, accompanying them is the the widowed Duchess of Wharfedale (Cherie Lunghi) who has a common manner of talking.La Reve comes across the Spanish fleet and the crew despite their attempt to fool them are captured and imprisoned. The Duchess hides the dispatches and she also gets friendly with the Spanish commander of the garrison which gives Hornblower some privileges.Hornblower meets up with Midshipman Archie Kennedy who was set adrift in the first film of the series and thought to have perished. He is ill and Hornblower wants him to recover his health before attempting to escape. This upsets the hotheaded Midshipman Hunter who is forced to something impulsive while Kennedy has come across the Duchess once before.A fast moving opening segment which then slows down a lot unfortunately once the crew have been imprisoned. Hunter is portrayed rather two dimensional for my liking but the Duchess is fun and Hornblower is shown to be a sturdy, reliable and honourable sort of guy.

Hornblower(Gruffudd, showing a strong sense of honor) is escorting a Duchess(Lunghi, a woman who speaks her mind), when his luck seems to start running out - he and his men are captured and imprisoned. He maintains his composure, and plans an escape. But will his men keep trusting him to take care of the situation? Things are made no better by midshipman Hunter(Fulford, a man of short temper) second-guessing the acting lieutenant's decisions, and a surprise or two are revealed while our friends are captives.This goes into the application of force and a direct approach, vs. the use of wit and outsmarting the enemy, to solve conflicts. As in the film immediately prior to this, there is no "villain", it is merely a question of a difference of perspective, and, as usual, everyone is a fleshed out human being. Performances, production values, filming(very little reveals that it's made for TV), stunt work, realism(with small details that say so much without being obvious), all highly impressive.This takes risks by confining its cast, and thus the audience, to a single location, a jail, for the vast majority of the running time. While there are tense situations, and not everything looks bad, this does recreate the tedious nature of such an existence, and a palpable sense of hopelessness, of never being able to get out. Themes gone into include strength of character, duty, nobility, etc.There is disturbing, brutal and bloody violent content in this. I recommend this to any fan of drama. 8/10

This is a comment not only on the superb production as a whole, which is very authentic from a historical perspective, and gives the viewer a true sense of what life was like in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, but also to praise an excellent performance by Robert Lindsay, who plays Captain Sir Edward Pellew. As a student of military history, I was very pleased with this production as a whole, and Griffudds' Hornblower is well done. But Lindsay, as the redoubtable Sir Edward is priceless. Just the right blend of old navy correctness, upper-class haughtiness, and berely concealed pride in his young protegee. Hornblower, with whom he is careful not to appear overly fond, is most determined to do his job and please his captain, whom he worships. Pellew recognizes the seeds of greatness in the young man and sheperds him along with scant vocal praise but strong career-enhancing opportunities. Lindsay is very likaable and proper, and I want to see more o of his work. I hope to see more of the Hornblower series in the future, as Ioan Griffudd continues to grow and prosper.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Duchess", and in fact all of the Horatio Hornblower movies. They were well written, well filmed, and well acted, particularly in the cases of Ioan Gruffud and Jamie Barber (Horatio & Archie Kennedy) who also, I happen to think, are both very attractive. I like the fact that M'Man Kennedy was brought back into the story. Cherie L. was also very good as the "Duchess."