I went to see the new film version of 'Coriolanus' by Ralph Fiennes a week and a bit ago. This was either a labour of love for Mr Fiennes or a vanity project and I can't quite work out which.'Coriolanus' is a powerful tale of pride and fall and you expect to see high drama but this film seemed to be largely a monotone with little light or shade to highlight the high drama - with few exceptions it was at full throttle throughout and, although that can be very exhilarating, it can also be rather dull if not handled correctly.
Featureless landscapes and dull, concrete cityscapes have their uses but they were unrelenting here. It's supposed to be set in modern Rome with armies shooting and killing each other, savage hand-to-hand combat, blood and gore aplenty and, I have to admit, I just gazed on in bewilderment expecting the 'real' film to start at any moment.
I was terribly disappointed by it. That wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for at all. Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler played it at the same level, at fever pitch intensity throughout and that just loses me. The only light and shade came from the excellent Vanessa Redgrave who rules all the scenes she was in - clearly it's a well written role and perfect for someone like Ms Redgrave but it also served to point a finger and snigger at the two dimensional portrayals of the other actors. The worst scene in the whole film was near the end when Ralph is shouting at Gerard and calling him 'boy' and a close up resembled his portrayal of Lord Voldemort in a 'Harry Potter' film - c'mon people, it's obvious, delete the derogatory 'boy' and the scene might work. Instead, it whisked me away to Hogwarts.
It made me squirm. It made me flinch at the blood and gore. But I didn't admire it, like it or think it's a good film. It's 'Coriolanus' by numbers and I expected more.
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