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- HBO
- Oct 3, 2019
- HBO
- Oct 3, 2019
- HBO
- Oct 3, 2019
- HBO
- Oct 3, 2019
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
61
44% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
56% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
61
44% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
56% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It helps to have Clarke, Roxburgh and Kinnear, three of the best going, around her, broad-shouldered men in this women’s world. If the dialogue is occasionally over-expository, that’s understandable, and on the whole the starry team makes cantering over all this historical turf look surprisingly intimate. Catherine’s not quite great, yet, but she’s very good.
The peccadilloes of royalty never go out of fashion, but Catherine -- with her tumultuous decades-long reign -- brings more intrigue to the party than most. Couple that with Mirren's presence, and "Catherine the Great" pretty well lives up to its name.
Mirren is great here. ... Catherine the Great falls into every trap that awaits a biographical miniseries cramming decades of the complex life of a ruler into a handful of hours. ... The best parts of the show are about the ways that her power enriches her love, and vice versa.
In short, there's a zesty story to be told here. But it mostly isn't in this miniseries.
Catherine The Great’s storytelling never manages to equal the grandeur of its richly detailed set design; as the series unfolds, those extravagant visuals become more and more like façades from the mythical Potemkin villages. ... Mirren and Clarke deliver compelling performances as a clever, iron-willed queen and a soldier turned high-ranking statesman, respectively.
“Catherine the Great” is a handsome and competent production that luxuriates in every regal Russian set it gets (albeit with an occasionally distracting green screen for more elaborate outdoor scenes). Mirren is as good as aforementioned, and Gina McKee especially pops as the Countess Praskovya Bruce. ... And yet: stepping back from the series’ four episodes reveals a disappointing lack of ambition in portraying such a titanic force’s final days.
Opulent if oddly constricted. ... [Mirren is] great, even when trapped in a romance novel. [14-27 Oct 2019, p.11]
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 14 User Ratings
5.5
29% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
57% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
14% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 14 User Ratings
5.5
29% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
57% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
14% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
