An average movie

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Ralph Fiennes, I was quite eager to check his directorial debut. Well, eventually, it turned out to be one of these modern adaptations of a Shakespeare play. However, even though it was taking place more or less nowadays, they still kept the original vintage dialogues, a gimmick which might have some merit but, to be honest, I never really cared for it. On top of that, even though the timeline was definitely contemporary, they kept all the Roman names for the characters and the cities involved, which made the whole thing even more confused and confusing. So, as you have probably guessed by now, I had a hard time to get into this flick. And, yet, I have to credit Ralph Fiennes as I was actually able to follow most of the dialogues without any trouble. Furthermore, it is understandable that the thespian would be attracted by such a project as he delivered such a powerful performance, probably one of his best. I can imagine that it was one of these cases when an actor is really willing to play a specific part but will be able to do it only if it takes care of the whole project himself. Concerning the rest of the cast, Vanesssa Redgrave was also pretty strong in this and it was interesting to see Jessica Chastain before she got her breakthrough, even if her role was not really developed. Gerard Butler was not bad either but, to be honest, it was rather difficult to take him seriously after seeing him in so many half-baked action flicks. Coming back to the story itself, I did like the combination of a realistic visual approach with the old-fashioned and sometimes rather over-the-top Shakespearean dialogues which resulted in something quite surreal. It’s too bad that the mid-section, during which Caius Martius tried to get some promotion, went for too long. Anyway, to conclude, even I believe it is an acquired taste, I still think it is worth a look.