Ralph Fiennes delivers an intense turn in front of the camera while proving his worth as a filmmaker in the passionate and relevant political war thriller Coriolanus.
There have many adaptations of Shakespeare plays over the years, including modernizations. From successes like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet to ... not successes like Sam Worthington’s 2006 version of Macbeth. Ralph Fiennes has turned to a lesser-known Shakespeare play in Coriolanus for his directing debut—which is now on Blu-ray and DVD—and he does it very well.
Rome is in chaos, the country is in the middle of a food shortage, the plebs are rioting and tensions within the nation of Volsci are flaring up on Rome’s borders. Caius Marius Coriolanus (Fiennes) is a top commander, with the scars to prove it. After a battle between Rome and Volsci and between Coriolanus and his mortal enemy Tullus Aufudius (Gerald Butler), Coriolanus is hailed a hero. Senator Menenius (Brian Cox) convinces Coriolanus to run for Consul of Rome, despite his contempt for the common people. Another senator, Sicinus (James Nesbitt) leads the plebs to exile the war hero, forcing Coriolanus to plot his revenge with none other than his enemy.
Jeff Beck of We Got This Covered wrote, "There have been several attempts to take the plays of William Shakespeare and contemporize them. Some have been incredibly successful like Baz Luhrmann’s great adaptation of Romeo and Juliet or Kenneth Branagh’s brilliant take on Hamlet which moves the story to the 19th century. Others have not been quite as successful. I have personally seen two versions of Macbeth that have attempted to bring the story into modern day, both of which tried to use similar ways of doing so, but ultimately failed. Now we are faced with a modernized version of Coriolanus, a play that most people have most likely never read and probably don’t even know what it’s about."
Coriolanus actor/director Ralph Fiennes and screenwriter John Logan talks to Matt's Movie Reviews about Shakespeare, the extreme nature of man & working on the new Bond film Skyfall.
