Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999)

What a waste of my time!!!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Basically if you consider watching this, it is probably not the first time you have come across Blackadder. I would rate the entire 33 minutes good, but not great. Sometimes the humor is spot-on, sometimes it is just childish and unfunny. These latter moments hurt the film even more as the whole air and appearance of Blackadder and this short film is fairly elitist, so it's a huge gap to bridge if they want to make humor on a character having sex with sheep credible. Anyway, the entire time traveling plot and what Blackadder did in these different periods was entertaining to watch. The ending when he returns back to his time could have been better and less self-indulgent. I am not the greatest fan of Blackadder, Mr. Bean or Rowan Atkinson's approach to comedy in general, but he was bearable in this one. And it also helped to see famous actors such as Hugh Laurie (wow he looks so young here), Colin Firth or Stephan Fry (a personal favorite) in many scenes here. All in all, I recommend this 15-year-old short movie by BAFTA nominee Paul Weiland.

As nice as it is to see a reunion of the entire cast of the Blackadder franchise, this is only so-so entertainment(and poor Byrne, getting such forgettable lines). It's interesting to see this as produced as something other than a sit-com, with well-done cinematography, special effects and editing. The plot isn't bad, and the concept allows for the writers to mock time periods that they hadn't before, and while this freedom puts the pressure on them to utilize it, they do so most of the time. The story does drive this one so much that little room is left for laughs, unfortunately. Pacing is solid. The production values are quite high. Everything looks great and we believe that we are where and when we are told to be visiting. Acting is all good. The "guests" are magnificent. Atkinson is marvelous as always as the cynical, greedy and self-righteous Edmund. The comedy is fair. Too much reliance on sight gags, and silly, occasionally violent, humor(even some of the gross-out material of the latest season, what gives?), though, and so little(though there is still a note-worthy amount) of the verbal comedy that we know and love this series for. As we are by now used to from these, the shortcomings throughout history is poked fun at through matter-of-factly stating in a satirical manner. This has some of the clever wit of previous productions, but not as much as we're used to. On the plus side, the excellent theme song returns, with a new, fitting text. The DVD comes with the Cavalier Years and Baldrick's Video Diary, that expands into a making-of featurette with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews(with every performer, very cool) and deleted scenes. It's fairly informative. A final goodbye to those that we've come to know and love, but could have been rather a bit better. I recommend this to all fans of the title character. Just don't expect the greatness as we've become used to from his side. 7/10

This movie is quite fun, as you see all the cast reunited (Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson). It was also great to see Rik Mayall and Patsy Burne make a return. However, I felt that there was something lacking, something that the TV series had that made it so special. The jokes (like the clotted cream one) seemed a bit forced at times to me.However, Blackadder Back and Forth wasn't bad. I really enjoyed both Darlings at the Battle of Waterloo; however I was really disappointed by the Duke of Wellington in this scene. Not a single BAAAH! out of him. (Dual and Duality is one of the funniest TV episodes I have ever seen.) I also liked how Baldrick's underpants wiped out the dinosaurs.The only bit of history that Blackadder and Baldrick didn't change!

I've come to this conclusion about Rowan Atkinson: Unless he is doing physical humor in roles like Mr Bean, he definately needs an audience to react to. Here I am assuming that the original Black Adder and Not the Nine O'Clock News series were filmed before an audience. There is something about his film roles which is a little too slick, his delivery and timing suffers.As such, "Black Adder Back and Forth," is not a success. Its done entirely on film, unlike the original Black Adder, and also unlike the original it has a much bigger budget -- or, I should say, it has a budget. When you see it, you are filled with frustration as lines which are funny, which should have been funny, are bulldozed through. Without having to wait for audience laughter, there's not enough pause to let the joke sink in. You basically just get this vague impression that something funny happened, "Oh yes, this is a joke, ha, ha." This is a pity, as the material is just as funny as usual.Also, you get the impression that they were trying to make a series out of it, but in the end, just settled on editting it all together for a movie, so in a lot of ways it feels rushed. Finally, in listening to the interviews with the writers about the material, you can't help but feeling the Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, now that they have moved on to bigger and better things, have nothing but contempt for the material that they were working with. As such, the whole movie seems a little bit nastier than the previous series.