Going Postal

2010 "A delightful Discworld delivery!"
7.7| 3h2m| PG| en
Details

Moist von Lipwig is a con-man with a particular talent-- he is utterly unremarkable. When his execution is stayed in Terry Pratchett's remarkable Discworld, he must work off his debt to society as the land's head Postman. Things are not always as they seem, and soon Lipwig is delivering mail for his very life!

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Tweekums From an early age Moist von Lipwig made a living by conning others out of theirs; ultimately he is caught in the city of Ankh-Morpork and sentenced to hang. He survives the hanging and finds himself being given a choice by Lord Vetinari, the city's patrician, he can either be executed again or take over the running of the city's failing post office. Not surprisingly he chooses the latter. When he gets to the Post Office he soon thinks he has been given an impossible task; there are years' worth of letters stacked everywhere and all recent post masters have met with untimely deaths. He is a quick thinker and soon starts to get the service working again… much to the annoyance of Reacher Gilt, the owner of the 'Clacks'; a system of sending messages via semaphore, who doesn't want any rivals. It becomes apparent that Gilt isn't above murder eliminate the competition. Moist von Lipwig will have to be particularly clever and get the help of Adora Belle Dearheart, whose family invented the clacks but were conned out of its ownership, if he is to keep the post office open and avoid being hanged again.I enjoyed this adaption of Terry Pratchett's book; I haven't read it yet but have read others featuring many of the characters including 'Making Money' which is also centred on Moist von Lipwig. I thought Richard Coyle did a really good job bringing the character to life. Charles Dance was suitably imposing as Lord Vetinari and Claire Foy impressed as Adora. I was less sure about David Suchet's performance as Gilt; it had a bit too much of the pantomime villain for my tastes. Ankh-Morpork was portrayed well enough although I imagined it to be more threatening with narrower streets and intimidating characters lurking in the shadows. There were plenty of things to enjoy about the production; I liked how the Clacks where depicted and the appearance of various characters who have small parts here but are more important in other Disc World novels; notably Sergeant Angua, the werewolf in the Watch. Overall I rather enjoyed this and would recommend it to people who have enjoyed the Disc World books.
itamarscomix Going Postal may be, as many people seem to think, the most accurate of the three live-action Discworld adaptations done so far - but what does it matter, when the book it's adapted from is one of the weakest in the series? Going Postal is, by any measure, a well-made and watchable TV movie - it has some good jokes, solid pacing, a few good performances (always great to see Andrew Sachs in action again) - but nothing about it has the unique flair and insanity of the Discworld novels. A couple of characters familiar to fans make an appearance - like Angua and Mustrum Ridcully - but they have none of the depth and personality of their book counterparts. Lord Vetinari is the only possible exception - Charles Dance is a natural choice for the part, and he does fantastically well.Going Postal, like so many Discworld novels, is about the Discworld equivalent of a real-world phenomena, this time - mail. But that same basic premise had been used in many other Discworld novels to funnier results - I'd much rather see a TV adaptation of Moving Pictures or The Truth. Even more than that, I'd rather have Sky stick to the earlier classics in the series, to the dry nonsensical humor that made them classics, and to beloved characters who made the series great, back when it was a fantasy series. Going Postal is watchable, but anybody who doesn't know anything about Discworld probably won't get what the fuss is all about, and I'd much sooner recommend Hogfather as a starting point.
Death-of-Rats I begin this review wondering if 2/10 might be a little too generous. As quite a hardcore Pratchett fan for over 12 years, I don't know why I put myself through this kind of experience, I really don't. This TV movie was just excruciating to sit through, as I watched characters that I have know and loved for many years be desecrated, dumbed down, sexed up or just downright murdered. Sacrilege. I think everyone understands that one cannot transcribe a book word for word, action for action onto the big or small screen. Obviously it takes a lot of work and effort trying to achieve a film adaptation of a great piece of literature. But seriously? There is no excuse for such lack of attention to detail, to the storyline, to the attitudes, appearances and mannerisms of the characters, to the general hubbub that makes Ankh- Morpork Ankh-Morpork. Some of this has been mentioned already by other reviewers so perhaps I shouldn't dwell, but a blond Vetinari? A chubby and snide Drumknott? Rubber-like homogeneous golems? a fawning Adora Belle Dearheart? And where is the life and hustle and bustle of the city? The interactive crowds, not to mention the lack of species diversity?I should try and balance this with something positive, right? It was a spirited attempt at Moist von Lipwig, I admit, and you can't fault an actor for a poor script or a pants director. Sargeant Angua looked awesome, for 2 seconds before she changed into a werewolf in a crowded bar, which obviously, is completely out of character. Stanley was almost spot on! and some of the visual effects were't half bad.But the thing about Pratchett, and it's far too important to overlook when adapting his books, is that he crafts such amazing, intricate characters, beautiful running narratives and delicate witticisms that one is awed by his magic, and the life that his books take on inside ones head. Anything short of complete dedication to his intent is simply an insult. This adaptation was lazy, unspirited, rushed and complacent to obviously commercial interests. This makes me very sad. I felt largely the same way about the previous two adaptations - I really can't understand any Pratchett fan being happy with the Hogfather or the Colour of Magic, and certainly not this. It is a shame that those of us truly enamoured with Pratchett's work should be sold out for a wider (dare I say less sophisticated?) audience.Until Tim Burton directs a discworld movie, and all the actors, screenwriters, make-up artists and costume designers are contracted to read the entire discworld series at least three times over before daring to make an appearance on set, I think I'll be giving any screen adaptation of Pratchett a wide berth.
suza-lilli I've only come to the Discworld fairly recently and 'Going Postal' was the first book I read. I've found it one of the most enjoyable books in the series, and Moist Von Lipwig is by far and away my favourite character. So I had a vested interest in this, Sky's third adaptation of a Terry Pratchett novel.After the first episode aired, I was in raptures. It was well filmed, the script was good, it had remained fairly faithful to the plot and it appeared to be well cast (although all the way through I expected Richard Coyle to jump into the TARDIS as there's something very Doctor Who-ish about his performance. And I thought Adora Belle Dearheart wasn't written very well at all). The second episode, however, was very disappointing. It seemed that the writers had read half of 'Going Postal' and then left their copy on the bus so had to resort to making the end of the story up. I cannot understand why they would change it so drastically. There's artistic license, and then there's sheer stupidity.I guess we cannot expect any better from the writers. For a screenplay to be 100% true to the book, Pratchett would have to write it himself and now that's never going to happen. I would have liked to have seen them have a crack at 'Making Money' but their ending of 'Going Postal' hardly segues smoothly into the following book.I prefer 'Hogfather', but 'Going Postal' is still very entertaining. You just have to try to forget ever having read the book.

Similar Movies to Going Postal