At 162 minutes, the intensity becomes overwhelming.
Titus (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:74
Fresh:50
Rotten:24
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: The movie stretches too long to be entertaining despite a strong cast.
Synopsis:
Based on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (one of the Bard's lesser-known and most gruesome works), director Taymor (Broadway's The Lion King) brings this adaptation to life with dazzling imagery and...
Based on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (one of the Bard's lesser-known and most gruesome works), director Taymor (Broadway's The Lion King) brings this adaptation to life with dazzling imagery and haunting immediacy.
Titus (Hopkins) is a victorious Roman general who makes two mistakes: supporting the wily Saturninus (Cumming) as the new Emperor, and wronging Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Lange), by killing her eldest son. Murder follows murder as the tides of fate change, as Tamora is aided by her two reckless sons and her Moor lover, Aaron (Lennix). The body count is raised higher and higher until Titus finally holds a very special dinner banquet.
Taymor's bold visual sense verges on absurdity, but her sense of morality, as well as powerful acting by Hopkins and company, combine to tell a powerful, violent tale.
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Harry J. Lennix, Alan Cumming
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Harry J. Lennix, Alan Cumming, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Laura Fraser, Angus MacFadyen, Colm Feore, James Frain, Blake Ritson
Director: Julie Taymor
Director: Julie Taymor
Screenwriter: Julie Taymor
Story: William Shakespeare
Producer: Conchita Airoldi, Julie Taymor, Jody Patton
Composer: Elliot Goldenthal
Reviews for Titus
This may just be the most striking and unsettling translation of Shakespeare ever committed to film.
It's hard to see it matching the success of other recent adaptations of the Bard.
At once mesmerizing and jarring to the point that the audience can never get comfortable in the film.
A consistently absorbing entertainment that never becomes either campy or facetious, given its inescapable exaggerations.
It's amazing how enjoyable Shakespeare can be when Kenneth Branagh isn't involved.
Hopkins unwisely echoes his performance as Hannibal Lecter, but Lange rises to the occasion with a mesmerizingly in-your-face portrait of mother love gone haywire.
Tecnicamente brilhante, esta inventiva adaptação traz ótimas atuações - com exceção de Cumming, que parece estar ensaiando para um revival de Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Along with everything else, the acting styles here clash, though the dissonance serves the drama's bellicose theme.
Eager to allow Shakespeare's words to shine through as clearly as possible, Taymor shoots the dialogue scenes fairly straight, with a minimum of background action.
Taymor manages to play with images and music as effectively as Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet or McKellan's Richard III, yet weaves a tale so powerful and stark that it leave you breathless.
Latest News for Titus
February 04, 2005:
Julie Taymor to Direct Musical
More...
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