Having discovered Sharpe only recently and watched them all in one go, I have to say Sharpe's Siege stands out quite brilliantly out of the 16 stories (they're all good, but this one leaves more impression than the rest, with maybe the exception of Waterloo, which definitely is worthy of repeat watching).
I'm impressed for lots of reasons.
First, Sharpe's badass-ness, made even more pronounced by the contrast of the cowardly and reckless Colonel Bampfylde, who, among other things, ordered his men to certain death. We also get to see Sharpe being more of an officer than a soldier in this one--when he and his Chosen Men, under his command, tricked their way into the castle and subsequently held the castle (and later, when towards the end he knows instantly about Wellington's plan was to use them as bait all along, showing that at this point Sharpe knows as much strategies of war as he knows about soldiering). Sharpe, despite being someone who's risen from the rank and who has always been looked down upon by other officers for being not a proper gentleman, is more of a gentleman than the previously mentioned gullible Bampfylde (and many of the others, in the rest of the series, it's a bit of a recurring theme--jabs at the so-called nobles), who's supposed to be born a gentleman--Sharpe, out of respect and honour, allowed the French major he defeated to keep his sword, while Bampfylde berated Sharpe for even letting the French walk around freely (also a lack of foresight on his part, as they're short of men and therefore couldn't possibly keep prisoners).
Secondly, espionage theme, aka, the plot. The plot is not as straightforward as the rest, though it cannot compare to the intricacy of modern espionage novels and so on, this movie has just enough twists to keep you interested throughout the whole movie. Sharpe also made a good speech about being a spy in this one: (to Compte de Maquerre )"The problem with you is that you want it every way, you wanted to be a spy for years, then you want to come back home, you want everybody to gather round and say what a big hero you've been. The world's not like that Maquerre, you made your bed with Bonaparte, well, maybe he'll give you a medal, maybe not " In that same speech Sharpe also said "I can walk into the officers' mess but I don't expect them to be happy about it. I don't expect a round of applause. The same goes for my time with the lads. I can sit and drink tea, but I'm not one of them anymore."—which just shows how much Sharpe's grown (for the lack of better word) since Sharpe's Rifles, when he wasn't at all comfortable with his own skin yet; it also shows, with other scenes in the movie, Sharpe's the silent and observant type, and definitely smart, not at all what he seems at first sight (this is shown in some movies, especially in Rifles, but this aspect of Sharpe somehow got lost in some other ones, more's the pity).
Finally, nothing is superfluous. Every scene has its use. At the beginning of the movie, Sharpe bluffed to save General Ross, which is echoed at the end of the movie, when Sharpe used the same trick to scare off General Calvet's men; Harper's toothache becomes part of the strategy for getting into the much-guarded castle later on; the death of Reilly prepared us for the spy story, and made Sharpe's fellow riflemen's will to fight till death more credible; at the beginning Ross and Jane fell to fever, in the middle Sharpe's ambush put some quinine—the cure—into his possession, when trying to hold the castle, out of compassion Sharpe gave the quinine to Catherine to save her mother instead of saving them for Jane, as a result Sharpe had Catherine's help and got more chance to defeat General Calvet'e men; when Sharpe made it into the castle Catherine accused Sharpe for stooping this low and had to use trickery to win while Napoléon would never do the same when all along her brother was the living proof that Napoleon is not above 'trickery' after all (also backed up emotionally Catherine's disillusion and change of side) All of them are connected. These scenes together make this movie more fluent and credible. The tension reliefs are also very well-placed and well-written.
All in all, this movie is some brilliant writing. If you like Sharpe series, you wouldn't want to miss it. If you haven't started on the series, this one will probably get you hooked. Highly recommended.
I'm impressed for lots of reasons.
First, Sharpe's badass-ness, made even more pronounced by the contrast of the cowardly and reckless Colonel Bampfylde, who, among other things, ordered his men to certain death. We also get to see Sharpe being more of an officer than a soldier in this one--when he and his Chosen Men, under his command, tricked their way into the castle and subsequently held the castle (and later, when towards the end he knows instantly about Wellington's plan was to use them as bait all along, showing that at this point Sharpe knows as much strategies of war as he knows about soldiering). Sharpe, despite being someone who's risen from the rank and who has always been looked down upon by other officers for being not a proper gentleman, is more of a gentleman than the previously mentioned gullible Bampfylde (and many of the others, in the rest of the series, it's a bit of a recurring theme--jabs at the so-called nobles), who's supposed to be born a gentleman--Sharpe, out of respect and honour, allowed the French major he defeated to keep his sword, while Bampfylde berated Sharpe for even letting the French walk around freely (also a lack of foresight on his part, as they're short of men and therefore couldn't possibly keep prisoners).
Secondly, espionage theme, aka, the plot. The plot is not as straightforward as the rest, though it cannot compare to the intricacy of modern espionage novels and so on, this movie has just enough twists to keep you interested throughout the whole movie. Sharpe also made a good speech about being a spy in this one: (to Compte de Maquerre )"The problem with you is that you want it every way, you wanted to be a spy for years, then you want to come back home, you want everybody to gather round and say what a big hero you've been. The world's not like that Maquerre, you made your bed with Bonaparte, well, maybe he'll give you a medal, maybe not " In that same speech Sharpe also said "I can walk into the officers' mess but I don't expect them to be happy about it. I don't expect a round of applause. The same goes for my time with the lads. I can sit and drink tea, but I'm not one of them anymore."—which just shows how much Sharpe's grown (for the lack of better word) since Sharpe's Rifles, when he wasn't at all comfortable with his own skin yet; it also shows, with other scenes in the movie, Sharpe's the silent and observant type, and definitely smart, not at all what he seems at first sight (this is shown in some movies, especially in Rifles, but this aspect of Sharpe somehow got lost in some other ones, more's the pity).
Finally, nothing is superfluous. Every scene has its use. At the beginning of the movie, Sharpe bluffed to save General Ross, which is echoed at the end of the movie, when Sharpe used the same trick to scare off General Calvet's men; Harper's toothache becomes part of the strategy for getting into the much-guarded castle later on; the death of Reilly prepared us for the spy story, and made Sharpe's fellow riflemen's will to fight till death more credible; at the beginning Ross and Jane fell to fever, in the middle Sharpe's ambush put some quinine—the cure—into his possession, when trying to hold the castle, out of compassion Sharpe gave the quinine to Catherine to save her mother instead of saving them for Jane, as a result Sharpe had Catherine's help and got more chance to defeat General Calvet'e men; when Sharpe made it into the castle Catherine accused Sharpe for stooping this low and had to use trickery to win while Napoléon would never do the same when all along her brother was the living proof that Napoleon is not above 'trickery' after all (also backed up emotionally Catherine's disillusion and change of side) All of them are connected. These scenes together make this movie more fluent and credible. The tension reliefs are also very well-placed and well-written.
All in all, this movie is some brilliant writing. If you like Sharpe series, you wouldn't want to miss it. If you haven't started on the series, this one will probably get you hooked. Highly recommended.