I saw an excellent movie version of Coriolanus last night, an adaptation for sure, but a good adaptation, an interesting and provocative take on the Shakespeare original. What did it have going for it? All (and only) the best lines were picked out and used (deftly used, with great delivery by great actors), long and interesting action sequences were created to forward the plot, character, and theme (yes, stuff blows up), and interesting, modern-day sets and scenery were included (with a cool sort of CNN-media-war-coverage thing threaded throughout). But, as any adaptation must do, big parts were cut out, including my favorite patricians-are-the-stomach speech and, most notably, some key bits at the very end.
However, even with these (and other) parts excised, the story still remained, and a great story it is, full of great Shakespearean nuance. As any good adaptation should do, it enhances the original version without really changing anything, a difficult magic trick for sure, especially when you’re dealing with Shakespeare. This one did that, to a tee, which in turn helped me understanding the play way better. Indeed, I feel like I missed some things in the initial reading, like maybe I was wrong about Coriolanus the character, just a bit maybe. Although he's still mostly a jerk, the movie explores why he is the way he is, in a believable and relatable way, which builds sympathy for the guy and makes me like him, and the play, much more. So I liked this movie a lot, especially in the way it helped me appreciate the play. So kudos to them. The Bard would have been proud I think.
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