I must admit I had never read any of Pratchett’s work before watching Going Postal, but can absolutely assure you I will be after watching the film. I fell in love the Discworld almost immediately. The characters were outrageous and so full of life and charm you couldn’t help but appreciate the genius of the creator.
The world itself is unbelievably imaginative. When tied together with the storyline, screenplay, casting, make-up, and costume it is just amazing. I still can’t believe I had never seen one of the Mob Film Company and Sky One productions of Terry Pratchett’s before. This is actually the third novel they have picked up for TV film of Pratchett’s. Hogfather and The Colour of Magic are previous films aired.
Going Postal is one of the later novels in the Discworld series placed during the mid-Victorian England era. Moist van Lipwig, played by Richard Coyle, is our con man to hero lead striving to right his wrongs. He is given the choice to restore the decadent Ankh-Morpork post office or face sudden death. Being the savvy con man he is he opts to restore the post office and become the postmaster. The postmaster is immediately overwhelmed by the thousands of undelivered letters and plagued by their haunting words. He commissions the help of his rather small staff of odd misfits and begins his attempt at the impossible. Along the way he is faced with the challenge of unexpected love (Clair Foy), revenge, and stamps, lots and lots of stamps. Oh, did I mention he must do all of this while competing with the utterly foul Reacher Gilt (David Suchet), who will stop at absolutely nothing to crush his new bothersome competition?
I am honestly stumped to find anything wrong with this film. I loved it. I had absolutely no expectations of this film what so ever seeing as I have never even heard of it! What a crazy accusation in hindsight. Going Postal is nothing short of brilliant. I fell head over hills for the characters and story. The writing is incredibly witty and clever. The characters are all devious and charming. They captivate you from the very beginning. Lipwig was immediately someone you were drawn to. Richard Coyle was extremely captivating. He played the role to perfection. His chemistry with Claire Foy (Adora Dearheart) was electrifying. I fell in love with their love story! The entire cast has a chemistry that made the movie as great as it is. I just don’t feel it would have worked without them. The acting was all brilliant. The villain was absolutely atrocious and the heroes and heroine were deviously good. It all worked out perfectly.
The costumes also made the film captivating. The established part of the character making them immediately distinguishable as to who they were and the role they were to fill. The colors were bold and statement worthy. The colorations used throughout the film were beautiful and very pleasing to the eye. Thou not in blu-ray it was still very nice to watch. The darkness of the film in no way made contrast to the pleasantry of viewing it. It only added to the depth of the characters and the tasks they were up against.
I just loved this film! I was so surprised by it. These are the types of films that draw readers to the books. They are inspiring in the film world and the world of fantasy/sci-fi literature world. It really is drama at some of its best.
Bonus Features
It was hit or miss on the bonus features. Not all were captivating but some were interesting. The 5 min. introduction Terry Pratchett gives in Disc 1 is really interesting. It gives you a nice base for the film if you are unfamiliar with his work. It was great to see the excitement he showed toward the work put into the film. Knowing how pleased he was with the end product really gave me high hopes for the film as well, along with a bit of foresight.
The Interviews by the cast were by far my favorite. The passion the felt for their characters and their knowledge of them was exceptional. The make-up and costume crew were also interesting to watch. Their creativity and attention to detail was absolutely brilliant.
After watching the fan interviews and learning of their extra rolls I realized what a difference that made in the production. Their knowledge and passion of Terry Pratchett’s work really added a bit of depth and character to the scenes. They understood the story and detail of each scene they were to play out giving each a little extra life to it.
The Deleted Scenes were really nothing exciting. I can definitely see why they were not put into the film.
The Bloopers on the other hand are always enjoyable. The Image Gallery is just that, images of storyboards, set drawings and props used throughout the film. The props were interesting to look at. There is such attention to detail that you miss most of it. Not having read the book before hand, I feel I was unable to appreciate all the detail, but still understand the depth of it after looking through the props. Very interesting.
Disc 1-
Terry Pratchett’s Video Introduction
Director Jon Jones Audio Commentary
Featured Film Episodes 1&2
Disc 2-
Interviews with:
Terry Pratchett
Producer and Director
The Cast
The Fans
Make-up
Costumes
Deleted Scenes
-Dave Pins (Longer Version)
-Princess and Rogers Clacks Towers
-Lipwig Bribes Mr. Spools
-Gilt and Horsefry, Snake sheds His Skin
-Coach Has Been Attacked
-Lipwig finds Out about Lodgers
Image Galleries
-Storyboards
-Props
-Set Drawings
Bloopers