Coriolanus

Excellent film
This is a tight, well-crafted script by John Logan. Cutting Shakespeare can be difficult and he did an excellent job, along with Ralph Fiennes of getting us the information we need to follow the story while still keeping us interested.

Fiennes is very, very good in this. His intensity blazes throughout, as a soldier's soldier and a man with little to connect him to the people outside of his comfort zone--aka the battlefield.

Vanessa Redgrave is, as always, compelling as Volumnia. She will definitely be up for some awards for this performance.

Just to comment on the first post made--

This movie is nothing at all like Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet. Luhrmann's film was Shakespeare on acid [i very much liked that film as well]. This is something completely different. Simply labeling it 'a grown up R&J' does a disservice to Coriolanus. Just because it's modernized doesn't make it similar, at all.

It is Shakespeare, so for the first few...

His pride, his fall
Shakespere's late military drama "Coriolanus" is rarely staged. Perhaps the most famous modern production was at Stratford-upon-Avon: during the run Olivier injured himself in his spectacular death scene and had to be replaced the next performance by a young Albert Finney, leaping into stardom. To my knowledge the new movie version is the first time the tragedy has been filmed, and a very impressive début it is. Ralph Fiennes, who seems to have made a career playing aloof patronising men (Eugene Onegin, et al), is making his own directorial début, guiding himself in a strong performance as the fatally disdainful patrician. He has placed the 5th Century BCE story in our own 21st Century with almost depressing relevance: the military invasion, the political back-stabbings, the bloody assassination are all alarmingly suitable. Most of the violence is presented in the opening sequence, as the Romans storm Carioli and Caius Marcius single-handedly defeats the citadel, earning...

Corruption, Oppression And Warfare: This Shakespearean Interpretation Seems Incredibly Modern And Relevant
NOTE: The dialogue in this film is NOT in contemporary English, but taken from actual Shakespearean text. DO NOT PURCHASE THE FILM UNLESS YOU KNOW THIS!

A lot of people have attempted modern, updated or anachronistic interpretations of Shakespeare's great works. While some have been fantastic, just as many have fallen short of their potential. It's really about finding the right contemporary setting in which to locate the piece. For my money, 1995's "Richard III" (headlined and scripted by Ian McKellen and set in war torn England during the second World War) is one of my all time favorites. Truthfully, I've read my share of Shakespeare but "Coriolanus" is not one of the plays I was familiar with--here it is adapted by three time Oscar nominated screenwriter John Logan. I think this probably serves Ralph Fiennes' interpretation quite well, it is not as overworked as other Shakespeare offerings. Fiennes takes the directorial reins and stars in "Coriolanus" and the result...

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