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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As Good As It Gets

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Yes, I love Alan Rickman (how could I not?), but I happen to love the historical Rasputin even more. That said, Rickman's portrayal is the best ever! He brought Rasputin back to life! I finally saw "Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny" yesterday and it floored me. It was possibly his best on-screen performance! This is the most accurate depiction of Rasputin, hands down. There are some errors, mostly towards the end, but it showed who he really was. Tom Baker was also an excellent Rasputin in "Nicholas and Alexandra," but he sadly had limited screen time. I have yet to watch "Rasputin the Mad Monk" with Christopher Lee, but what I have seen of it shows him as the evil monster people assume he was. Lee definitely looks the most like Rasputin, and I would've loved to see him in a more factual version, alas! Alan Rickman has done a great service, bless his beautiful soul! Finally, we get to see Grigori Rasputin as a real person- he had his flaws, but was generally a good man. (Not to mention, the love scene was to die for!) Everyone involved with the production deserves accolades!

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin was a controversial figure, but there can be no doubt that he was also a remarkable one, even if one also regards him as a charlatan. For an uneducated peasant to have risen to be the close friend and confidant of one of the world's most powerful monarchs is no mean achievement. What, however, caused him to live in the popular imagination was his own bloody murder in 1916, followed by that of the Imperial Family two years later in the wake of the Russian Revolution. Had there been no Revolution, Rasputin would today be a minor figure, forgotten by all except specialists in the history of early twentieth century Russia.It is hardly surprising that there have been a number of films about him, the first- presumably an anti-Russian propaganda film- being made in Germany only a year after his death. "Rasputin and the Empress" from 1932 is remembered today less by film buffs than by it is lawyers, as it gave rise to a lawsuit which led to one of the leading cases in English libel law. Hammer's famously inaccurate "Rasputin the Mad Monk" from 1966 is essentially a horror film dressed up as a historical drama. (The inaccuracy starts with the title; Rasputin, a self-proclaimed "holy man", was never a monk). He appears in "Nicholas and Alexandra" from 1971, but only in a supporting role; as its title suggests that film deals primarily with the doomed Imperial couple.This film is probably the best filmed version of his life that I have seen, despite one or two historical inaccuracies. The main reason is the fine performance by Alan Rickman in the title role. The historical Rasputin seems to have had great charisma and a certain spirituality; his claim to possess abilities as a faith healer may have been genuine. Combined with these qualities, however, were his notorious moral weaknesses; he was both a drunkard and a womaniser. (His enemies seized gleefully on the similarity between his surname and the Russian adjective "rasputniy", meaning "debauched"). His influence over the Tsar was not always a beneficent one, although it is noteworthy that he opposed the fateful decision- to go to war with Germany in 1914- which was eventually to lead to the downfall of the Romanovs. Rickman, often good when portraying morally ambiguous figures like Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" films, brings out all these contradictory sides of his character, giving us a portrait of a strange, driven individual, both mystic and fanatic, holy man and sinner.Ian McKellen, whose portrayal owes something to Michael Jayston's in "Nicholas and Alexandra" is good as the Tsar, a hesitant, nervous autocrat, a kindly family man but despotic ruler. I did not, however, care for Greta Scacchi as Alexandra. (I much preferred Janet Suzman). Scacchi, previously better known for playing sexually provocative temptresses in films like "Heat and Dust", "White Mischief" and "Presumed Innocent", never seems either sufficiently regal or sufficiently commanding. Alexandra was the dominant partner in her marriage, and the influence of this German-born woman over the Tsar was resented by many Russians, especially after 1914). At least Scacchi gets to keep her clothes on in this film; it is a popularly held, although inaccurate, belief that Rasputin was (in the words of Boney M) "lover of the Russian Queen", but this canard is not repeated in the film.As a whole, the film is not quite as good as "Nicholas and Alexandra", lacking the earlier film's epic grandeur and visual splendour. It never, however, sets out to be a major epic of that sort, having been made for television rather than the cinema screen. As a made-for-TV historical drama it is very watchable. 7/10

HBO's "Rasputin" is an Emmy winning retelling of an old story around which swirls as much legend as fact. The film stretches the emotional and dramatic moments while condensing the history as it goes for the viscera with Rickman painting a sensationalized portrait of the enigmatic and shadowy title character. A stuttering drama dumbed down for prime time audiences, "Rasputin 1996" should be an entertaining watch for those who like a little history with their television dramas.

OK, you can look at this film in two ways - either as a good play, or as an historical drama. It works both ways, although my main quibble would be that one is left with little real idea of why the revolution took place and what Rasputin's role in this was. For that reason, it could have done with being a bit longer and more detailed. Rickman plays Rasputin with humour and humanity - not the one-dimensional monster of most other films about him, which is a good thing from both a dramatic and historical point of view. Ian McKellen as Nicholas II has sweetness and dignity although he is probably too old for the role, and the scenes where he almost loses his temper are (historically) highly improbable! I have no problems with Greta Scaachi's acting, but from a historical point of view her portrayal of the Empress is altogether too vulnerable and lacking in fight; and why the German accent in certain scenes!?I doubt there will ever be a film that pleases all of the various fans/critics of Nicholas and Alexandra, Rasputin and the Russian revolution; this one is better and less sensational than most.