Much Ado About Nothing
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Movie Reviews of Much Ado About Nothing
Movie Review: You take pleasure in the message, then?
Summary: 5 Stars
What a brilliant cast, what brilliant camera-work, what a delight for the eyes, and what music to the ears!Keaton is a little creepy to my taste, but he is generally entertaining for all that. Robert Sean Leonard does a terrific, boyish Claudio ... the thoroughly sleazy Keanu Reeves plays upon him with an ease which is painful to witness. This appearance by Denzel Washington demonstrates his worthiness to receive an Oscar, only I wish that award had been for this role rather than Just Another Cop Movie; the cast all together work miraculously well together, you almost feel Shakespeare wrote this play in the nineties, with this cast in mind. Branagh and Thompson are terrific as ever ... they must have been uncomfortably like Beatrice and Benedick in real life, two great talents too sharp to fit one another peaceably ... but this is one of the documents which make you wish they could have continued a lifelong partnership. To see this, is to regret that Thompson fell into a period of prolonged dowdiness in such things as "Carrington" and "Howard's End" (both beautifully filmed, but both rather tawdry stories ... part of their power, I suppose, being the dissonance between their visual beauty, and how "soiled" the stories make the viewer feel).
Shakespeare is too great that any one production might claim to own him, but this movie is a model of perfection ... you nearly feel that no one else may have any right to Much Ado.
Movie Review: An Exquisite Film!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Much Ado About Nothing" is a beautifully made, performed, and directed film by the incomparable Kenneth Branaugh. This film includes an all-star cast that give wonderful performances and draw you into the lives of the characters. The plot is somewhat complicated, so I'll give a general version. The film is basically about love, misunderstanding, scandal, revenge, virtue, and bravery. That's a lot for one film, but believe me, it's all in there!Kenneth Branaugh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton give excellent performances in this film that you wouldn't want to miss. Although the film is a period piece and the Shakespearean language is used, you will have no difficulty understanding it perfectly.
The scenery and landscape in this film are exquisite as well. I never thought there could be such a beautiful, untouched place like that on earth. I would suggest watching the film just for the beautiful landscape, but it's the performances and the story that you should really pay attention to.
Anyone who loves Shakespeare would absolutely love this film! Anyone who loves Kenneth Branaugh and what he has done for Shakespeare in the past 10 or 15 years will appreciate this film as well! There isn't one bad thing I can say about this film. Definitely watch it, you won't be disappointed!!!
Movie Review: Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite Shakespeare movies. The performances were delivered so originally and the plot was so much like other movies that I thought for a while that this movie was not an adaptation of a Shakespeare play but an original brainchild of Kenneth Branagh, who was amazing and hilarious as Benedick. I have not read the entire play of Much Ado About Nothing but I could understand everything that was going on. Keanu Reeves played Don John like a real movie villain. I don't know who the plot revolves around. Is it about Hero and Claudio, Beatrice and Benedick, or both couples? Emma Thompson was also very funny as Beatrice. Is it just me or have Richard Briers (who plays Leonato) and Brian Blessed (who plays Antonio) been in almost every Shakespeare adaptation done by Kenneth Branagh. Kenneth Branagh really knows how to bring Shakespeare to the screen. I was sad that the girl who played Hero didn't have a lot of dialogue. Michael Keaton played Dogberry very nicely. I loved hearing his Beetlejuice voice again. I had no idea that Denzel Washington could do Shakespeare. He was so amazing as Don Pedro. A friend of mine thinks he should play Othello. I agree. See this movie. You won't regret it.Movie Review: Much Ado About Something...
Summary: 5 Stars
A warning: watching this film is apt to take away from your pleasure in watching any other film of a Shakespearian play. Simply, it's beautiful. The cast is a surprising ensemble that works incredibly well together (except, alas, for Keanu Reeves, who despite his best efforts, cannot act - luckily, the role doesn't require that he do so), the cinematography is beautiful, and the joy of watching Shakespeare done by good actors is that you actually understand the wordplay and the plot. Furthermore, there is no one star of the show (perhaps two, if Benedict and Beatrice are counted as the leads), so you don't get as sick of Brannaugh as you usually do in his mind-numbing epics (i.e. Hamlet - wherein near the end you feel like screaming, "There's a knife right there! Get it over with!). Finally, Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington are wonderful; Thompson is so consistently exquisite in all of her movies that Britain should put out an insurance policy, and I am very embarrassed to say that, of all of Washington's excellent films, I love this one the best. I have never seen Shakespeare done better in a movie.Movie Review: Perhaps the best of the Branagh-Shakespeare films.
Summary: 5 Stars
All right, I admit it. I think Kenneth Branagh is brilliant as an actor and a director. (I'm ignoring that whole "Wild, Wild West" thing. I'm not sure who's to blame for that.)He built a reputation for his ability to bring Shakespeare to the screen with unparalleled accesibility. Together with his then-wife Emma Thompson, a continuing company of actors and artisans, and a hand-full of big 'Hollywood' actors, "Much Ado About Nothing" may be the best of Branagh's Shakespeare films.
Granted, when Shakespeare doesn't do tragedy, the plots sometimes border on sit-com. The old 'Three's Company' joke applies. 'Oh, is this the episode with the misunderstanding?' This is one of those. But if you go into it with a light attitude, it rewards.
In this film, the performers deliver Shakespeare's lines as if it's modern language. Clear and covincing, amoungst beautiful scenery and costumes. It's great fun, and I was so pleased when they recently reissued it on DVD.