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What was there to get? No Shakespeare; no Andrew Lloyd Webber; no Elton John; but a remarkably cheesy salute to Mr. Bean?!
Please don't take my criticism the wrong way; I'm from Atlanta which will likely forever be defending itself against the critics for staging what remains the largest and most successful peacetime event in the history of the world. I just really expected more out of London, arguably the greatest city on earth.
It was embarrassing, frankly.
After Beijing I was sceptical about what the UK was going to produce and honestly didn't expect much.
However lets not forget we are living in a world recession. It would have been futile and irresponsible to attempt to top what they did. However looking back now on Beijing you realise that the majority of the show was thousands of people all doing the exact same thing.
Personally I have never been prouder of being British. What the show captured for me is that the UK produces the greatest music in the world, the best TV, the best humour and some of the best writers, inventors and innovators. Not bad for a tiny little island eh?
If it were possible to include every single form of excellence the UK has ever produced, you would have had to make the show many times longer.
I'm not putting the US down, it has many positive qualities, but living in the US has made me appreciate what a great thing it is to be British.
The UK is not about how big and brash you can make it, it is about a celebration of what you have.
The first part - from the agrarian era through the industrial revolution was just plain rubbish. It was over thought and trying very hard to be a historical story but it was boring and uninspiring. It got better when it went through the decades of British music but not particularly creative. The lighting of the flame was good and the fireworks looked spectactular against London's backdrop. The Queen's part was cheesy and cheap. Rowan Atkinson reminded us all of just how bad British comedy can be - that part was downright irritating!
Overall, I think internally it was a nice step down memory lane and made us proud of British accomplishments but to the rest of the world it wasn't particularly entertaining and would have been hard to follow given how incoherent it was. 7/10.
What was there to get? No Shakespeare; no Andrew Lloyd Webber; no Elton John; but a remarkably cheesy salute to Mr. Bean?!
Please don't take my criticism the wrong way; I'm from Atlanta which will likely forever be defending itself against the critics for staging what remains the largest and most successful peacetime event in the history of the world. I just really expected more out of London, arguably the greatest city on earth.
It was embarrassing, frankly.
Yeah .... I heard the Atlanta games went off with a bang
Positives for me:
- Agrarian setting at beginning
- Chimneys
- Forging of ring
- Butterfly bicyclists
- Some of the songs
- Lighting of cauldron
- Fireworks
- March past of athletes
Negatives:
- Sick children and nurses dancing around (?)
- Multiple Mary Poppins
- Whatever the Industrial Revolution people were doing after the chimneys went up (break dance?)
- James Bond at Palace (strange taped sequence with dogs)
- Phone love story pretty disjointed
- Too little use of lighting/color
- Terrible broadcasting in the US (not London's fault)
I think I was a little disappointed. I didn't really understand the Kenneth Branagh bit. I was expecting a bit more representation of all the parts of the U.K. I would have liked to have seen pipers and drums. Maybe a ceilidh band. Welsh choirs or at least Tom Jones! There's such a wonderful history of traditional music it was a shame it wasn't used.
The fireworks were spectacular and I think Becks should be the new Bond as long as someone can dub in Sean Connery's voice.
Oh, and more Corgis!!!
All and all, not anything to be ashamed of, but not really all that memorable.
My favorite opening ceremonies have both been for winter Olympics. I loved Vancouver and felt it really encompassed the whole of Canada. And Albertville was just theatrical and awesome.
I liked the opening ceremony but i dont care for beckham. I esp liked paul mccartney & the timeless classic Hey Jude. Mister Bean was cool too. England is one of the most beautiful country in the world & the only reason im watching some of the olympics is for the sights. Todays bike race scenery is breath taking.
You Brits should know that over here in the states, everybody is laughing at how awful that show was. Maybe part of the blame lies in the US / NBC broadcast crew. But what we saw was NOT flattering. It was a mess: Disjointed, bizarre, weird. Atlanta put on a better show in 1996. Sorry but true.
Best wishes for the rest of the games, but tonight was NOT Britain's finest hour.
still bitter about how badly the Atlanta games are still perceived I take?
take it from this Yank that watched it twice, that the opening ceremonies were great and most of the reviews here reported the same. Your Queenie is a funny ol' bird...good luck with the rest of the games.
After reading some of the posts, it's obvious that the ceremony was a little bit too subtle for some Americans.
Not at all. The Olympics are a global event and shouldn't be solely about the host country. If international viewers 'don't get it' or don't enjoy it then that's a failure whatever the reason. What's obvious is that Brits cannot handle any criticism from outside. It's usually palmed off with "they don't understand", or "it's too subtle".. what a load of old twoddle!
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