Downton Abbey – Fans will Love it
3.5 out of 5 Stars
By Joe
Spoiler Alert: the review below addresses several major plot twists
The movie Downton Abbey takes place two years after the enjoyable PBS series ended. The King and Queen announce they will visit Downton. The movie begins by tracking their announcement as it travels in the mail, finally arriving in the messenger bag of the postman as he pulls into the beautiful grounds of Downton on his motorbike. The Crawleys, Earl and Countess of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern), are not concerned. Primary responsibility falls to Lady Mary, who now manages the estate and must see to all the details of the royal visit. Quickly she sees that the new butler, Barrows (Rob James Collier) is not up to the monumental task. Lady Mary visits with the retired butler, Carson (Jim Carter), and asks him to return. He agrees, which angers Barrows.
The visit is to involve a parade, luncheon and formal dinner, and results in a tizzy of preparation. These three events also result in sumptuous eye and ear candy for serious fans of the series involving military uniforms, formal dress, jewels, motor cars, Art Deco furniture, manicured lawns and the plummy accents of British nobility. There are plot twists that include an attempted assassination that looks like it could involve Tom Branson (Allen Leech), the Crawley’s commoner son-in-law with Irish Republican sympathies. There is open war between the Downton Abbey downstairs staff and the royal staff as to who cooks for and serves the King. It takes locking the Royal Valet in his room and administering a double dose of sleeping draughts to the Royal cook, but the Downton staff prevails. We find that the Royal seamstress is stealing small valuable items but Lady Mary’s maid, Smith Bates (Joanne Froggatt) uses that knowledge to blackmail the seamstress into finishing a last-minute dress for Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay). Still angry, Barrows is caught up in a police raid of a gay nightclub but is released with no charges due to intervention by a member of the Royal staff who attracted to Barrows. There are numerous other subplots involved with the royal visit that primarily appear as an excuse to give one or another beloved character from the PBS series a small part to play.
An inheritance involving Lady Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton), the Queen’s lady-in-waiting and a cousin to the Earl of Grantham plays a larger role. There has been a family falling out with Lady Bagshaw and she now intends to leave her estate to her maid, Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton), who turns out to be her out of wedlock daughter. Dowager Countess Grantham (the great Maggie Smith) feels the estate should go to her son, the Earl, instead. The Countess finally backs off when she sees that Tom Branson and Lucy are strongly attracted to one another. If she can move them toward marriage in the future, it may serve her purposes just as well. She still shines as the mistress of the barb and put-down, noting at one point that “I never argue, I explain.”
The movie ends on a high note as Lady Mary decides on the future of Downton Abbey. Her maid, Smith Bates, is key in this decision, explaining to Lady Mary how important the estate is to the staff, to the town, and to the county. The Dowager Countess also motivates her by saying that Lady Mary is the future of Downton. Despite hard economic times and the need for a new roof, Lady Mary decides not to sell and move the family to a smaller manor but to continue at Downton Abbey. For Downton fans, this may give rise to hope that PBS could restart the series, focusing on the future of the manor with Lady Mary.
I saw this movie twice and enjoyed it even more the second time. Still, I could give this movie only 3.5 out of 5 stars. The problem lies with the large cast that writers tried to involve in the script. The result was a rather thin story line in spots and small roles for key series characters with large fan followings. Two characters that are favorites of Downton fans, Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), Earl Grantham’s ex-con valet, and Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode), Lady Mary’s second husband, barely have six lines apiece in the movie. The nearly 1.5 hours movie tended to gloss over details and character development that could be better addressed in several PBS episodes. It left the movie feeling a little rushed as well. Still, if you are a fan, you will enjoy this film. Finally, you do not necessarily have to be a devoted Downton fan to enjoy this movie. I and my wife talked afterwards with several movie goers from the showings we attended that hadn’t a clue about the PBS series but loved the film.
And that’s a wrap…