Film Reviews

Coriolanus

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Gerard Butler
• Details: UK / 120mins (15A).

Those who think Shakespeare is nothing but a bore and Leaving Cert English could do with something a little more relevant to today should check out two adaptations: Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet and Ralph Fiennes' Coriolanus. The former is fun sexy, the latter is bloody and violent. Art thou Rambo, sir?
Cais (Fiennes) is Rome's fearless general, ruthlessly putting down the insurrection of guerrilla leader Aufidius (Butler) and any civil unrest that comes his way. Such is his prowess at leading his troops into battle, the scarred nut is bestowed the title Coriolanus, and is given a lofty political position. However, politics is unsuited to a man with such an acerbic tongue and hardboiled attitude – he's "a scourge to his enemies and a rod to his friends" - and senators Brutus (Paul Jesson) and Sicinius (James Nesbitt) move to turn the public favour against him. It works - Coriolanus is banished and in a rage seeks out Aufidius so they can march on Rome together…
After a rather clumsy opening where Fiennes, assuming one is familiar with the play, drops the viewer straight into the mix: several plot points have already whizzed passed before anyone has a chance of knowing who's who or getting into the rhythm of the language (like Romeo And Juliet, Fiennes updates the era but keeps the dialogue). But settle down it does and Fiennes, in his directorial debut, finds his own groove. The director works overtime to ramp up the action of the story, taking his handheld camera into battle Paul Greengrass style (The Hurt Locker's cinematographer Barry Ackroyd delivers a bleached, cold look). With themes of corruption, power, civil upheaval and revolution, Coriolanus is oddly still relevant today.
Sporting a shaved head and a haunted stare, it's an expected committed turn from Fiennes and he is surrounded by a bevy of hardened actors: Brian Cox delivers again as Coriolanus' mentor Menenius and Vanessa Redgrave as mother Volumnia is, as always, a delight. Jessica Chastain, playing his wife, is there or thereabouts but has little impact on the story. Even Gerard Butler is up for it.
The action hero Shakespeare, Coriolanus can be a little messy but it's never anything short of entertaining.

Review by Gavin Burke