© 2000 John Murphy

Roger Ebert pretty much hit the nail on the head with his statement about this movie: “It’s what the play deserved.” That’s exactly right. The original play by William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus is a gratuitously violent, overblown, hambone piece of trite trash. And I love it. I loved every minute of this flick because of how true it stays to the original intentions of its author. To sicken the audience. But what Shakespeare knew when he wrote it (and remains true) is that theatre-goers relish a guilty pleasure.

Sure, there are a few fleeting moments of transcendental poetry, a few moments where the acting is out-and-out beautiful, blah, blah. I don’t really remember. I do remember a set of intestines thrown onto a blazing fire. I do remember a girl getting her hands and tongue cut off/out. I do remember multiple hangings, beheadings, impalements. And I definitely remember a pie. Yes, a pie. You’ll get it when you see it.

Quite a conspicuous debut by theatre wunderkind Julie Taymor. Her first movie is a tour-de-force in its own way. There’s nary a boring second to be had while watching the various shenanigans to be witnessed. It’s also cool to chart the evolution of Shakespeare, since this play lays the groundwork for much of his later (yes, better) work, such as King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth.

But, man, does this movie kick some serious ass. No doubt Taymor intended something along the lines of a revisionist, pseudo-commentary on the Nature of Man and his lack of progression beyond the innate Primordial Instincts so deeply embedded. Uh, whatever. It’s hard to think about those things when you’re watching a character get brutally, horrifically, terrifyingly, murdered with a spoon. If you’ve never seen something like that and would like to, here ya go.

Note: Titus Andronicus, one of Shakespeare’s first plays, was also one of his biggest hits.

To see some vidclips from Titus, click here.

Cast:

Titus: Anthony Hopkins
Tamora: Jessica Lange
Chiron: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Demetrius: Matthew Rhys
Bassianus: James Frain
Lavinia: Laura Fraser
Aaron: Harry Lennix
Saturninus: Alan Cumming
Marcus Andronicus: Colm Feore
Young Lucius: Osheen Jones
Lucius: Angus Macfadyen
Quintus: Kenny Doughty
Mutius: Blake Ritson
Martius: Colin Wells