Wow! Such a good movie.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, this film was based on a play by William Shakespeare, but set in the modern world, but with the Shakespearean language remaining, this was also the directorial debut for noted Shakespeare interpreter Ralph Fiennes, so I was looking forward to seeing how it fared. Basically in a contemporary alternate version of Rome, the city is at war with the neighbouring Volsci, Caius Martius Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes) is the revered and feared Roman General trying to help bring order. Coriolanus is at adds with the city of Rome and the citizens, he is pushed and manipulated by his controlling mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) to seek the exalted and powerful position of Consul. But Coriolanus fails to win public approval and gain support from votes he needs to secure office, Senator Menenius (Brian Cox) and Coriolanus' wife Virgilia (Jessica Chastain) lose hope in him following this failure, Coriolanus' anger causes a riot to break out, culminating in his exile from Rome. The banished hero sees the only solution is to offer his own life and services, and ally with his sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler), and to take revenge on and conquer the city, but this can only end in tragedy, it ends with Aufidius betraying him, he and his men attack and kill Coriolanus. Also starring John Kani as General Cominius, James Nesbitt as Tribune Sicinius, Paul Jesson as Tribune Brutus, Channel 4 journalist Jon Snow as TV Anchorman (an unintentionally amusing performance) and Nikki Amuka-Bird as TV Pundit. Fiennes certainly makes his presence as the commander somewhat forced into forging a powerful political career in a conflict-ravaged society, then furious and trying to get his own back siding with the enemy, Jackman is less convincing as the enemy, Redgrave is a bit hammy at times, Cox as the influential politician and Chastain as the tender spouse give the best supporting performances. Whereas Romeo + Juliet had a fast pace and stylish visuals, this modern day adaptation certainly has some exciting battle sequences near the beginning and some places throughout, with characters covered in blood, but the pace slows with the chatty scenes with the characters in rooms talking, and obviously you have to concentrate to understand what they are saying, overall it is an alright political drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for Ralph Fiennes. Worth watching!

In his directorial debut, Ralph Fiennes shows that not only he is capable of directing film, but that Shakespeare's insights into human behavior, especially in observations of politics, remain timeless. He puts the play written in the early 1600s in modern context, and gives such an raw, real performance you can't help not recognize from. Gerard Butler amazes in his performance no one thought he could do, because all roles before and since 300 have been beefcake roles and questionable performances. Butler masters Shakespeare with such depth and tactics that fulfill that his performance is one of the best he's done. Vanessa Redgrave's Volumnius is one of many phenomenal performances she has done in her career- the scenes where she is talking plans with her character's son and the scene outside of the Senate are excellently done. Redgrave has done Shakespeare before, and can easily make the language accessible as the speaker. Jessica Chastain shows her versatility in her performance in this film greatly, but, as Shakespeare wrote, it cannot be said that she is underused because of that. Chastain gives a great supporting performance of a character who is still not well known of Shakespeare's tragic heroines. A great film that speaks of our time, where officials of wealth and privilege feel the need that that wealth and privilege makes them special enough to disregard the right and voice of the people they claim to represent, and where officials with their own interests can stir the masses for private gain.

Great performances by the cast, well directed, plenty of drama on Shakespeare's part -- what more can you ask for in a great movie? I love Shakespearean tragedies; they always hit so close home to me, every time, so I wonder why the movie has scored such a low number on IMDb so far?Tell me, is it the old tongue that daunts you so? I think the movie made the language extremely accessible to us without straying too far from source material; that, in its own right, is truly meritorious. I myself have never been a fan of Shakespeare before. I always thought his plays to be dull, unmoving and a fanciful dullard's play. Perhaps it was the numerous times in secondary school where we'd have cold readings of the script in my classroom and the very rare allowances of real, live, professional performances in actual theatre houses that made me feel this way. I blame this on the incompetence of most of my English teachers since, at times, I didn't get what it was they were trying to teach us -- and they were speaking plain English to us in the classroom, mind you!Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed and what a fine job Ralph Fiennes did at delivering the story to us! I actually was able to follow most of what was going on without referring to any footnotes since Coriolanus was originally a play I've never heard of -- I blame this majorally on the fact that popular culture hasn't brought the story up nearly as often as like, say, Othello or Macbeth. (Remember, I was never a fan of Shakespeare.)The movie integrated a modern setting into the production -- and yes, I can already hear everyone's groans -- but Fiennes was able to pull it off like Luhrmann before him. There were done stunning visuals and all the blood and gore and violence made this two hour long viewing seem very brisk and fast-paced.Yet, addressing all previous complaints about the characters speaking in a relatively tongue, if you can't understand what's going on then perhaps you should go away and learn a bit more of the English language. Or, you can perhaps be a little more sympathetic towards such movies like these so you don't sound like a unintelligible bitch moaning about how unfair the movie is to us common people. I must admit, this movie does have an appeal to a certain group of the audience but never forget that your 'we' should never be used as a poor substitute for 'I' because that's a little unfair to the movie, don't you think?Alas, I've spent much of my time venting my frustration with other reviewers so let's get back to the gritty basics.Coriolanus explores themes such as pride, patriotism, fascism, politics, war. It tells the tale of a man who's both contemptuous and admirable, asking us whether it is right to lay down your beliefs of what is fair and moral to the demands of the mob, for the sake of peace. Like many of Shakespearean adaptations, this movie is intelligent, insightful and perceptive of human nature and behaviour. If this seems like a movie for you then grab a bag of popcorn because you'll enjoy this.

Heroes and politicians, two remarkably different breeds. The first, fight bravely and spill blood, and the second, send them to do the dirty deed and despise them for being what they made them to be. And so Caius Martius ,courageous and conceited, enters the politics and quickly sinks in the quicksand of the foul swamps of populism. Ralph Fiennes in his directing debut, sets this classic play in some troubled, presumably Balkan nation, and in modern time. Many have tried that novelty, but here it is not a gimmick but the statement that nothing new happens in this world. If we only picked up a dusty history book from a long forgotten shelf, we might have avoided a war or two. But, then there is a lot of money to be made in human tragedy. Nothing pays better than tears and despair. Not our own, of course, but in some other unimportant land. Far away and easy not to pay attention to, almost as easy as for politicians to ignore heroes. Blood stains and Armani suits never go together, although they are never far from each other.