Total Film
More than just a nutritious slice of Shakespeare, Fiennes’ directing debut makes you crave further helpings. Watch Redgrave during awards season.
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Coriolanus (2011)
Actor Ralph Fiennes makes his directing debut with Coriolanus, a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy about power, politics and revenge. Gerard Butler, James Nesbitt and Vanessa Redgrave also star.
Fiennes is Coriolanus, a Roman war hero who under his mother's (Redgrave) influence makes a push into politics with his eye on the top position: Consul. After failing to connect with the common man, Coriolanus' rage angers the constituency leading to widescale riots. As the cause of the riots, he is ousted from Rome. Swearing revenge he allies with a former enemy (Butler) to avenge his former home.
2011Rating: M, Violence, mature themes and infrequent coarse language123 minsUK, Canada
DramaThrillerHistorical
- Director:
- Ralph Fiennes (feature debut)
- Writer:
- John Logan
- Cast:
- Ralph FiennesGerard ButlerVanessa RedgraveBrian CoxJessica ChastainJames NesbittDragan Mićanović
Coriolanus (2011) / Reviews
Time Out
In lesser hands, this could have easily been some seriously detestable John Wayne jingoism. But via Fiennes, the film is a spiky and complex counterweight to Hollywood sentiment and indie cynicism alike.
Full reviewThe New York Times
Then too there's the sheer pleasure of hearing these words spoken by an actor like Mr. Fiennes, whose phrasing is so brilliant, you might be tempted to close your eyes if his physical performance weren't equally mesmerizing.
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The Guardian
A deeply, divisively political work, devoid of comic relief and short on endearing characters, its complex moral conflicts are as knotty as the verse.
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Rolling Stone
Think "The Hurt Locker," which shares a cinematographer in Barry Ackroyd with no damage to the Bard's bruising poetry. Neat trick.
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Roger Ebert
One of the pleasures of Fiennes' film is that the screenplay by John Logan ("Hugo," "Gladiator") makes room for as much of Shakespeare's language as possible. I would have enjoyed more, because such actors as Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox let the words roll trippingly off the tongue.
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Hollywood Reporter
Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in Coriolanus as William Shakespeare's Rambo in a production that delivers heavyweight screen acting at its best.
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Empire Magazine
Exciting, ironic, with assured direction, accomplished performances and the tension of topical themes, this is Shakespeare as relevant as you like it.
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A.V. Club
As played by Ralph Fiennes in his own cinematic adaptation of the play, Coriolanus' military genius makes him a figure of awe, but it's his near-absence of empathy that makes him terrifying.
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