Pillars of the Earth

Ken Follett's 1989 historical novel had a resurgence in popularity as a 2007 Book Club selection, and should finally achieve world domination with this adaptation. Who knew the Middle Ages were so soap-operatically . . . dark?

This is one of those potboilers where the good guys (Madfadyen as a pious friar, Sewell as a master builder) are impossibly noble, suffering in a lawless time through the murderous machinations of the endlessly scheming villains (most notably McShane hamming it up as a cunningly ambitious church official).

Pillars does a surprisingly good job of maintaining story coherence. It also avoids what might be called the Fairytale-Princess Fallacy of costume dramas; the muck and brutality of the Middle Ages are on full display.

Admirers of the novel probably will be pleased. Average viewers who never read the novel (or any historic fiction) will be either confused or bored--possibly both.

With a little bit of effort on your part--The Pillars of the Earth is pretty good viewing. It's the sort of expansive miniseries that we never see on network television anymore.

All the court intrigue ends up somewhat more confusing than intriguing.

Nothing about the slipshod writing or frenetic direction makes these people compelling, and some of them come across as downright cartoonish.