Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4479 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-07
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 155 minutes

Synopsis
Adaptation of William Shakespeare's revenge play, Titus Andronicus.

Customer Reviews

Excellent
I thought that the set and direction were stunning. The casting was excellent too, and I have to disagree with another reviewer regarding Jessica Lange's performance, which was credible if not excellent. An accessable adaptation and underrated.

A dreadfully pretentious version of Shakespeare's most gruesome play.
It is a testament to just how awful the confusing sets and costumes are that the depth and beaty of Shakespeare's dialogue and the mastery of Hopkin's performance still only warrant three stars for this film. This film confuses from the opening sequence and starts as it means to go on, with the play seemingly jumping between the fascist Italy of the 1930s and Ancient Rome. The outlandish and, frankly, tacky 'dream' sequences are attrocious, Demetrius and Chiron are a disgrace, cast as drugged-up, glam-rock ravers and the horrors Lavinia experiences at their hands cheapened by the director's attempts to do Burton-style spooky. Without Hopkins I would not have watched this film to the end, his performance is surely one of his best as the wronged and mighty Titus. The only other person worth a mention is the actor who so imaginitively portrays Aaron, aside from, of course, William Shakespeare who was surely turning in his grave to see such a buchery of his work.

A wonderful movie of vengeance, gore, beheadings, etc., etc
This isn't a great movie, but it certainly is a unique and gorgeous one. Titus is Julie Taymore's version of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, a tragedy with no heroes, no lessons, no values, but with great style, and with more than enough blood, murder, revenge, rapes, beheadings and mutilations. Taymore, who was the talent behind the style of The Lion King on Broadway, has set the story in a strange intersection of ancient Rome and fascist Italy, where spears and helmets coexist with motorcycles and armored cars, where there are newspapers, radio, aqueducts, marching legions and Thirties' debauchery.

Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) has returned to Rome after great victories against the Goths. He has lost many sons in the battles but brings back treasure and his captives, Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Jessica Lange), and her three sons. He has the eldest slain, dismembered and burnt as an offering to the gods. Tamora, implacable, swears her vengeance on Titus. Saturninus (Alan Cumming), who has claimed the imperial throne, sees Titus as a threat. Saturninus is self-indulgent, cruel and sly. He takes Tamora as his queen and sets in motion his own betrayals. Off to the side is Aaron the Moor (Harry Lennix), a man with his own need to bring down everyone and who, for his own purposes, allies himself for a time with Tamora. And there is Titus himself, full of pride and righteousness, who endures tragedy that leads to the death of most of his remaining sons, the rape and mutilation of his daughter and his disgrace. He achieves a terrible vengeance on them all.

The movie is hugely melodramatic and overstated, and that adds to its fascination. Taymore has given it a wild, odd, lush, eccentric look that carries it over the top and back again. It's a wonderful movie to see just for the visual production. Fortunately, its an excellent movie to hear, too. Hopkins, Lange and Cumming do a first-rate job of speaking Shakespeare's verse. You have to let yourself get into the rhythm and style of the words, but that's not hard to do.