Coriolanus-Shakespeare with a Twist!!!

There is something extremely interesting about all of William Shakespeare's work. They are extremely similar in the sense that they all involve betrayal, death or loss of power. It's DRAMA at it's best and noone captured it better than him for stage which now have been made into some brilliant adaptations with modern day versions like Romeo + Juliet or closer home, Maqbool and Omkara. Coriolanus is another one of his brilliant works but debut director, Ralph 'Voldemort' Fiennes takes the daunting challenge of not only adapting  the play into a modern day setup, but also star in the pivotal role which by no means is a easy task.

Now Ralph's character in the movie is that of a Roman Soldier whose somwhat like a dictator of sorts but a hero nevertheless. He has done more for the country than your average Joe in terms of defending the very ground that is his birthplace, but make no mistake, he does not do this for the people. In fact, he despises them. Ultimately even his heroism gets overshadowed by his sheer arragance and disregard for the common man, and is banished from the very place he fought all his life to protect. Even his fellow politicians and his own mother are manipulative enough in the process and there is nothing that can save him from being banished.

Now I'm sure you've seen the poster above and are wondering where Gerard Butler fits into all of this. Well, he is Coriolanus's sworn enemy, Tullus who ultimately becomes his ally to seek revenge on Rome and post this what happens is typical Shakespeare which is a good thing if you are a fan of his like him.

Now the one real problem in this movie is 'language'. Every dialogue is recited just like the play in Shakesperean English, without subtitles whatsoever, so it can get a bit frustrating at times as you have to give the movie your undevoted attention if you do not want to miss out on anything. Apart from that it's a stellar performance from the debutant director who is absolutely amazing with his acting as well. butler is decent as he has nothing much to do honestly but definitely makes his presence felt in his brief role.

I'm going with 3 out of 5 for Coriolanus....

Ironically both the movies I saw in jan were real similar-Agneepath and Coriolanus in terms of basic plot and the REVENGE factor. and with grey shades in all characters involved. So now here's looking forward to this month's releases. it's Valentine's Month, so you can be assured that there are some great chick flix coming up. just stay tuned and.....

Keep reeling!!!