Wow, this one took me by surprise. With "Titus" now out on video, I am here to warn you of what you could be getting yourself into by renting it. Expect to see your basic Shakespearean story of murder, betrayal, and revenge, as well as the difficult to decipher Shakespearean tongue. Be warned, however, that Julie Taymor, who brought the much acclaimed "Lion King" production to the stage, has taken every single element of this play to its extreme. This is hands down the most sexually graphic, violent, disturbing, and confused Shakespeare adaptation to ever hit the big screen.
Though I admit I am terribly confused by Shakespearean language, I was able to follow the story mostly through the visuals. We begin by watching a young, adolescent boy in modern times playing violently with action figures at the breakfast table. He creates an enormous mess, but it is relatively tame compared to what is about to happen to him. An explosion rocks the kitchen wall, the boy is knocked unconscious for a brief moment, and a man comes in and carries him away.
All of a sudden, the man is seen wearing Roman armor, and he is holding the boy in the middle of an ancient coliseum. Titus Andronicus (The Great Anthony Hopkins - "Silence of the Lambs," "Nixon," "Mask of Zorro"), Rome's military leader, has just arrived here with his soldiers, back from a terrible battle. Titus has brought four prisoners with him, a queen, Tamora (Jessica Lange - "Rob Roy," "Cape Fear," "Tootsie"), her three sons, and her advisor. Ignoring her tearful pleas, Titus murders one of her sons and even brings his entrails to her. He does however spare the other's lives, keeping them as prisoners.
Soon thereafter, we are in another scene outside of the home of Caeser (who has just died), where a crowd is gathered to anoint a new emperor. While the crowd wants Titus to take the throne, he denies it, giving it to one of Caeser's power hungry sons, Saturninus (Alan Cumming), who immediately takes Titus' beautiful daughter, Lavinia, as his empress. Unfortunately, she is in love with his brother and runs off with him at first chance. Saturninus then pronounces his beautiful prisoner, Tamora, as his new empress, and sets her entourage free. Needless to say, Tamora is furious with Titus and immediately vows revenge for the murder of her son. There are many more murders, rapes, orgies, betrayals, trickery, and horrible schemes to come as revenge of some sort is plotted by just about everyone in the play.
The story is very complicated and respectable, not surprising as it was penned by the greatest playwright to ever live. Taymor's glorious sets and costumes are quite impressive as well. The performances by most of the lead actors including Hopkins and Lange are, as can only be expected from them, extraordinary. Regardless, I have many complaints about this film.
First of all, the setting of the film, time wise, is terribly confusing and disorientating. We begin in modern times, but we are immediately taken back to ancient Rome. While much of the play appears to take place in these ancient times, modern devices pop up all over the place. Modern guns, newspapers, sunglasses, t-shirts on the boy, business suits on some men, and even cars and video games come into the scene when least expected. Perhaps Taymor intended to use all of these devices as shock value and to provide a modern connection for the story, but time and again they are distracting and even laughable in their placement.
Furthermore, while I'm sure many critics just accept the Shakespearean language as is, I have a hard time enjoying a film when I cannot begin to understand much of the dialogue. Many of the characters, especially Tamora's two sons, are frankly annoying, and the film runs way too long, almost three hours. "Titus" has numerous visually stunning scenes but also includes some laughable ones. The one where people fall one after the other into a pit as well as the ridiculous MTV inspired video game sequence come to mind as being too excessive or lacking necessary ingredients.
I have no doubt that scholars of Shakespeare's work will probably be fascinated by this adaptation, so long as they are not dismayed by the time structure. For the general public however, I have to say that unless you want to see it out of sheer curiosity, this is a film to skip.
Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange ignite the screen in a strikingly original coup de cinema (New York Times). Titus is a wild ri...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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