Wonderful Movie

best movie i've ever seen.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A black comedy about two 19th century grave robbers (Simong Pegg and Andy Serkis) who find a lucrative business providing cadavers for an Edinburgh medical school.There have been a few films about Burke and Hare, or inspired by the two ghouls. This, sadly, is not among the very best. With John Landis directing, you would expect more but I think he never really hits the mark. (I am glad to see him come back from his long hiatus, though.)Simon Pegg is toned down from the roles we are used to for him, and Andy Serkis never really comes into his own. Isla Fisher stands out somewhat, but only somewhat and nothing more. And then we have Tim Curry, who can make just about any film better just by showing up... and even he fails to excite me here.

The amazing Simon Pegg in this historical comedy based on the real life murderers Burke and Hare. Very funny all the way through, witty and with a star-studded cast of the English screen. Have wanted to see this since it was in the cinema and I can't believe it's taken me this long - well worth the wait! Some cringeworthy gross bits, but an all round a romp of a good film. So many laughs. Some at the expense of the accents.Reminiscent of Plunket and Macleane with dark bawdy humour and little colour, period pieces with lots of physical humour and style in keeping with how the times would have been, not too showy and "hollywood." Pegg and Serkis were brilliant together and Jessica Hynes is always a comedy genius. British film at it's best.

In recent times John Landis has somewhat been in the wilderness in delivering feature length films (as he has been sticking to TV shows or documentaries with his last film coming out in 1998), but the British produced "Burke and Wills" was a welcoming return to the comedy sub- genre. So another attempt at this infamous story of Edinburgh's most infamous murderers? Where Landis takes a horrific legendary tale of corpse snatching, mass murdering and scientific medicine to make a genuinely humorous and fruitful black comedy led by the animated performances of Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher and Tom Wilkinson as Dr Robert Knox. Edinburgh, 1825. Burke and Hare are two cohorts looking to make a quid, where they discover they're on a gold mine when they come about a dead body which one doctor Knox would pay very well for his work. To come across more the two arrange a series of deadly accidents, but while easy at first with the money coming in they begin to realise it's a lot harder to set in motion and soon a downward spiral begins. It's conventional in its laughs and very much has Landis signature touches throughout. From references to cameos and then the visual slap-stick gags. Period setting, costumes and set-designs are richly detailed. The at death's door story is sharp and characterised by it's punchy script, but it can languish in some wearing sub-plots that simply go round in circles and you feel it could gone a little more further in its approach of the material. Nonetheless it perfectly captures the inner struggle of right and wrong of one of its protagonist, the ironic chain of events that would follow and it's a fun enterprise with the perfectly nailed buddy combination between Pegg and Serkis. Watching these two together scheming were the best moments of the film. While their actions are appalling, you can't help but find them appealing. Also co-starring is Tim Curry, Jessica Hynes (who's enthusiasm stands-out), Michael Smiley, Ronnie Corbett and Bill Bailey contributing to the narration as the hangmen. Then you got the likes of Christopher Lee, Paul Whitehouse, Ray Harryhausen and Jenny Agutter in bit parts."This is thirsty work"

Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis play the infamous Burke and Hare--two horrible criminals who provided bodies to Edinburgh medical schools in the 1820s. Why was this so horrible? Because the folks they 'procured' weren't dead when the pair found them. Eventually the two were caught and the rest is history. This horrible series of crimes was the basis for many movies over the years--some of which changed the details and some of which stuck quite close to the actual events. I've already seen "The Body Snatcher", "Corridors of Blood" and "The Flesh and the Fiends"--and there are several other versions of the story out there to be seen. Of those I've seen, clearly "The Body Snatcher" (which is a fictionalized account that was written by Robert Louis Stevenson) is the best.In this 2010 film, the filmmakers have attempted to do something different--to make a comedy about the events. This is very problematic for two main reasons--it's hard to make a comedy about such grisly things and because the film just isn't very funny. If you are a fan of Pegg's looking for another "Hot Fuzz" or "Sean of the Dead"--keep looking. The problem is that the film just plays it all too straight and isn't wild or crazy enough to make the whole thing darkly funny (such as how they handled this sort of thing in "Sweeney Todd"). As a result, the characters are unlikable and flat.If you can ignore the fact that the film is not especially enjoyable, you can at least appreciate the look of the film. It looks very 1820s--except when they talk about photographing the corpses, as photography wasn't even invented until a decade LATER!!! Also, if you do watch, look for the least romantic sex scene ever filmed.