Coriolanus
Dir: Ralph Fiennes
2011
***
Many have said that Ralph Fiennes was quite brave to set his version of Coriolanus in a contemporary setting. I personally think it was only a matter of time before someone did, it seems to be the logical progression of the Bards work and also he knows his stuff, so I think it was always a safe bet. So why have I only given it only 3 stars, well I think the brave part of the film is Fiennes directing as well as playing the lead role. I'm afraid the direction lets it down massively in my opinion. The shaky camera during the war films looked more like it was trying to hide the lack of convincing war action rather than show the chaos of combat and for the rest of the film the editing and composition are pretty amateur. However, like all good plays, it is all about the performances and this he got right. Fiennes, Butler, Cox and Redgrave are unsurprisingly brilliant. Seeing James Nesbitt on the big screen was a pleasure and a long time over due. I really like Jessica Chastain but she was totally wasted here, I also thought the supporting cast of 'Citizens' let the film down a little but the casting of Jon Snow as 'News Anchor' was inspired and a great surprise. Overall it was a very good film, it just seem to lack a certain punch. It obviously had a reasonably good budget but at times it looked like it was done on a shoe-string, a gallant first effort but it ever-so slightly misses the mark.