“Coriolanus”
Year: 2012
Director: Ralph Fiennes
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Gerald Butler, and Vanessa Redgrave
Studio: Anchor Bay Films
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 123 Mins.
When there is a new film based on a William Shakespeare play, it always seems to grab my interest and curiosity. Maybe it’s the fact that I always enjoy them. Whether it is Romeo and Juliet (1968), Richard III (1995) or Hamlet (1996), I’ve always been interested in the Shakespeare’s works. This leads to the latest adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus”.
The film marks the directorial debut from actor Ralph Fiennes. It takes place in the modern day, where Caius Martius Coriolanus (Fiennes) is a feared and vicious Roman general that finds himself in a lot of trouble. After rebelling against the wishes of his manipulative mother (Vanessa Redgrave) and inciting a riot on the streets of Rome, he is exiled from there. He then, hooks up with his sworn enemy Titus Aufidius (Gerald Butler) to reclaim Rome from him and Aufidius’ people. Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain and James Nesbitt also co-star in the film.
“Coriolanus” is one of those films, where you can’t understand why this didn’t find an audience with theatergoers. This film had an epic feel to it. Most of that had to with Ralph Fiennes’ direction. One of the things that made his direction very good was the way that he handles the action elements. The action scenes had that feel of an epic war film. It has very good firefight sequences and intense action that helps make the pace of the film move at a brisk pace for its two hour running time.
Also, I liked the way that Fiennes directs himself and his cast. The performances were very good. Fiennes does a very good job using his experiences as an actor to get his cast to make their performances to be on the level of a Shakespearian play. There were some very good performances here from Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave and Gerard Butler that help keep your interest through the Shakespearian dialogue.
John Logan, who also wrote the screenplays for “Gladiator” and “Hugo”, does a very good job with the way that he sets the film’s tone. He does that, by the way that he writes the dialogue. The dialogue felt like it came right out of a Shakespearian play. It helps set the tone that was going to be an epic film. Logan also does a very good job making the main character so engaging. Whether during that battle scenes or the scenes with the protestors, you very interested in the character and how he’s going to react. It’s those scenes that got me interested in the character.
If there was one thing that I didn’t like, we don’t see much of the Coriolanus/Aufidius dynamic. It would have been nice to have seen a couple of more scenes with the two characters just to give sense of the relationship between the two characters. Even without that, this is still a very good film.
This is one of those films that I truly hope will find an audience on DVD and Blu-Ray. With very solid acting and great direction from Ralph Fiennes, “Coriolanus” is one very entertaining film.
Review Rating: Five Stars.
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