Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

SnoopyStyle In the 18th century, latitude is readily observable but longitude is nearly impossible. The inability to find longitude is the difference between life and death. After one particularly devastating loss, the government offers £20k for a practical solution. The solution lies in a marine chronometer that can work on the rolling seas. Clockmaker John Harrison (Michael Gambon) creates such a clock as he struggles to prove his invention's accuracy. In post-WWII, Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) becomes obsessed with finding Harrison's clocks and restoring them to their working conditions.It's an eye opening slice of scientific and exploration history. It seems like such an unsexy slice of history but it's such an important one. Surprisingly, this movie makes it compelling. It's a great way to see into another era. Harrison is the quintessential underdog and Michael Gambon does a great job making him a socially awkward man. There is a compelling competition with the scientific old guard. Jeremy Irons' modern story isn't quite as compelling. Overall, this is very enlightening history lesson and a well-made one at that.

JD-007 Longitude is an absolutle classic of its type. Every aspect of the production is supurb whilst what could have been a boring story if told in an interesting and moving manner. After you have seen this film, I doubt that you will every forget the contribution that John Harrision made to sailors throughout the world.

lllama This film was absolutely stunning, and after watching it we were amazed at how quickly the time flew. Though the entire movie (DVD) was 200 minutes long, we felt as though it had taken less than an hour. The sets and costumes were beautiful, the acting was superb, the meshing together of the two different times worked extremely well, the "timing" was impeccable, the tension built wonderfully, and the climax was powerful. We never dreamed we would feel so strongly about a movie depicting what we originally thought would be a mundane, boring subject. We are grateful to the makers of this film for the attention to detail and the feeling they put into this movie. It came alive for us, and we now feel more appreciative toward those geniuses of former times who persevered against all odds to improve the human condition. Kudos to Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons for their exquisite performances of complex characters, and for the depth of feeling they both portrayed.

chip98 Long, but worth it! A blessed antidote to MTV's Tom Green and the rest of the scumbag-chic that passes for culture these days. Based on the brilliant history of the same name by Dava Sobel.In the days when ships measured themselves by yardage of sail and bank of cannon, knowing your north-south latitude was easy. Finding your east-west longitude however (and keeping your ship off the reefs) was hit-and-miss. That could get you killed. The cure was to know the time in London, precisely, but keeping time accurate on a rolling ship was tougher than keeping milk fresh; pendulum clocks need stable ground, and pendulum clocks were all they had.Queen Anne (Br., 1665-1714) had another idea: a 20,000 pound-sterling prize to anyone who had a solution. Problem was, no one expected a country carpenter cum-clockmaker to do it. John Harrison (Michael Gambon) was that carpenter, and it became *his* problem--a three-decades-long problem. It would also pose one for Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) two centuries later, as a marriage-busting, sanity-breaking obsession over restoring Harrison's neglected prototypes: clocks that could keep time at sea better than the quartz-timed digital you might be wearing now."Longitude" weaves seamlessly--almost--between the two eras, tracking the exertions and miseries of John Harrison and Rupert Gould with the same kind of synchronicity Harrison spent half his life pitching to astronomers who had scarce respect for the tinkerings of a hayseed. Michael Gambon's passionate performance as John Harrison is truly Oscar-calibre, eclipsing Irons--but only because the tunnel-visioned Rupert Gould is hardly a vehicle for the memorable. Too bad this was "only" a TV mini-series. As a theatrical release it would have lent due reknown to a scarce-remembered true epic of genius.Watch this when you get the chance. Then go punch Tom Green in the nose.