Name : Game of ThronesStatus : (currently airing)
Number of seasons/episodes : ( 2 seasons completed ( 10 episodes each ) , 3rd season currently in production )
Year : 2011 – present
Genre : Medieval fantasy
Creators: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Main Cast : Peter Dinklage , Lena Headey , Michelle Fairley , Emilia Clarke , Richard Madden , Sean Bean … and many more
Based on : book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R.. Martin
Warnings : might be addictive to some ; a lot of characters ; violence ; nude scenes ; you might start considering taking a wolf as a pet ....
I recommend it to : basically I think everyone should give it a try , but those who might like it more are people who like fantasy ( more “realistic” one ) or medieval stories ; young ( and old ) man ; those who like stories based more on characters than on action ;
I do NOT recommend it to : people who can’t stand violence or bloody scenes ( still you can just close your eyes and skip that ) ; people who like more action and less talking ; children ;
REVIEW
Warning ! this post might be very long and might contain spoilers . If you want you can skip to the end to see my ranking for the TV series.
I am very confused about my own opinion on this one.
Let’s make one thing clear from the beginning – I have not read the books, I do not know any extra facts about neither the story nor the characters. This is only bases on my impressions form the TV series.
I was told it is very addictive and that once I start to watch I won’t be able to stop. This actually prevent me for watching it earlier because I was very busy and I though that if I start it , it would ruin me ( I tend to get addicted to movies very easily ) .
But now that I have watched it ( both seasons ) I can say that Game of Thrones just didn’t turn out to be all that strong and addictive for me. That doesn’t mean it was bad, on the contrary - I liked it , I liked it a lot , but I simply cannot say I liked all of it . This is why I mentioned that I was confused about what to write - it is because there are many things I like about this movie but also many things I am not satisfied with.
I feel there is a great potential in the story that is never truly fulfilled. Yes, some episodes ended in a way I just couldn’t resist not to start watching the next one immediately, but there were also those moments I felt like the story is dragging a little.
I should clear up one more thing – I do like stories where characters are well developed, who evolve and about whom there are many things to discover . But as much as I like stories that focus on characters, I think there're too many characters in here. This is, however, not the main problem I have with the story. It is the way these characters interact, or do not interact with each other that I have some complains about . I will come to comment more about it later.
From now on, I will point out more clearly the things I like and the things I do not like about Game of Thrones
1 – I really like the atmosphere of the movies. It is realistic, but it has its hints of mysteriousness. There are many and various locations and as the story goes, more and more of this world is revealed to us. I think they have chosen the locations for filming this movie really well. In general the production is really good, made with a lot of care. (most of the issues I have are coming from the script )
2 – The cast is really amazing. I am a fan of Sean Bean from before (and he played the role of Ned Stark perfectly ) , but I also liked almost all other members of the cast. They make the characters believable and get you easily involved in their problems. The child actors are also very good !
3 - The characters are interesting. Most of them at least. I guess different people will like one of them more than the other and this is the good thing about the series – it can please different taste . Also I find it very intriguing how the actions of one character influence the life of others and I like to see how their ambitions, desires or background stories lead them to go against each other. But … here comes the “but-s” …
First - there is not enough interaction between the “main” characters. They do not confront each other directly. Maybe it is more realistic that way – they fight wars against each other even if they might have never met … but sometimes the story becomes too fragmented ( for my liking ) . Take the Stark children for example – each of them is in different place and has its own problems with minor characters around him/her. As the story goes it becomes more and more complicated but nothing is resolved. This is the main source of dissatisfaction for me. At the end of the second season, I was just not satisfied enough with what we get to see and known or with the slow pass certain stories took. Maybe each season should have more episodes to get us further into the story. I feel I have been given a crumb at the time.
If the story keeps “falling apart” into different sub stories, I fear that it will lose of its initial appeal … I want to see more of the characters I already like but their story is abandoned so that we can see a new character and so on and so on …
I feel like the author had too many ideas … maybe he could have saved some characters for other books or stories.
I repeat – I am the kind of person who likes many characters whose lives are tangled together in a complicated way , but in reality the relationship between the characters are not all that complicated as they seem to be , the characters themselves are not all so complex and deep as they might appear and the relationship in between them are not so intense as I wished them to be.
4 – About the dialog – there are great lines but there also boring ones ( or cliché ones ) . Sometimes I get bored of listening to this or that character telling some story of his past with his eyes “full of memories “ , stories that are supposed to reveal more about the characters … but some of those stories are instead banal . As the stories of King Robert – I understood already 10 times what he was and what he had become … I do not need to listen of more of his stories about killing or the glorious past ….I just prefer sometimes people would talk less about themselves as if in a theatrical monologue.
5 – I guess the budget of the movies is not that big so I won’t complain about it but I will only mention it – there are many battles we hear about but we never see . It leaves a little empty space here and there ...
6 – The North – probably is the place I like the most. I was really interested in those “zombie” things and in the fact that while all those “kings” in the south are fighting their wars , another threat is upon them . I like Jon Snow as a character also. But it took a lot to set things into motion there . I was very very curious about what lies beyond the wall until I actually saw the White Walkers in the last episode of season 2 .... Lets say they were much scarier before seeing their leader in the bright light. Anyway , I am still very interested in this storyline ( as "frozen" as it might be occasionally )
A side note - I am also very fond of Winterfell and the ruined castle - Harrenhal ( it is creepy and sad place but I liked it )... ok , I like all locations actually . Also I love the "wolves" ( they had another name ...direwolves ?) ! I wish I could have one , a white one .
7 – Boobs and Blood – to have plenty of both in a HBO production is nothing new. At times those elements really spice up the story but they could also be totally useless in other cases ( I guess most of the male audience loved them anyway ) . For example , in 50% of the time the naked women passing on the screen are for pure fan service. Their presence is to be enjoyed by whoever enjoys looking at naked women ;) .
But just to warn you - do not sit to eat dinner while watching ... a lot of heads are flying in the air (and legs and other parts …)
One last thing– no matter how many sex scenes there were , I couldn’t care less for a great number of them , cause there was no built up tension or anything to make me care .
8 – I also want to mention the characters I like the most and the least. ( the ones that are not mentioned are those who I like in general and I think they are ok for the story , but I am just not too fond of them )
On the top of my list are - Tyrion ( the “half-man”) – he really is a character , it is never boring with him around . Especially I liked when he became the Hand because he was actually smart enough to deal with those around him quite well . Ned Stark ( his dead was a blow for me ! ) because even he was following his principle too fiercely , even to the edge of stupidity , he was a cool character and had a strong presence . I also like Jon Snow ( I cannot single out a particular reason right now , lets say I like him in general - It is my personal preference , I guess ) and Arya – I like her spirit and her "boyish " manners.
Second Best – Daenerys Targaryen – she evolved a lot in the first season but in the second season she remained too stuck in her circumstances.
I also like Robb and Catelyn Stark but the first misses something to be really interesting … maybe he just rose to be a king of the North mostly by words ( there were some good scene with him convincing people to follow him , though ) but I never really saw him lead those battles so … something is missing there . As for Catelyn – she is a cool women , but sometimes makes very stupid and not well though decisions .
Can’t Stand them! – Joffrey . I really dislike him from the first moment. As the story goes I dislike him more and more .I wish something really heavy can drop on this head ... Also Viserys Targaryen – I was so glad that they killed him , honestly !
Boring – Stannis Baratheon . I don’t have particular reason for it but he and the people around him are a little boring for me . There is the “witch “ and all the black magic and so on … but even after he killed his brother , I still feel no particular interest in him .
Additional Note – Drogo had really a killer look . I think he can just look in his enemies' eyes and they can drop dead .
Ok , I can keep writing like this until tomorrow so I better try to stop now .
In conclusion I can say that Game of Thrones was so close to grab my total fan devotion … but it just walked past it . I will watch the next season for sure because even with all those complains I mentioned , I enjoyed watching it so far. Actually now that I am more aware of what to expect I may even like it more and stop expecting things to happened that will never happened ….until maybe season 10 ( if there is such ) .
As for the George R. R. Martin ‘s books - I do not intend to read them for the moment. My apologies to Martin but I do not want to get disappointed .
I read comments about the first 2-3 book being absolutely fantastic but also comments about the last one being not so good …. Maybe when one day all those books are finished I could give them a try . But if they do have such a good start and then decline in quality I will really feel bad . For the moment I will stick with the TV series .
I want to make one last compliment for Game of Thrones series – it made me write so much and discuss so much – it means that I am very interested in it.
RATINGS
Review by Vicky
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