Othello
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Movie Reviews of Othello
Movie Review: A Good Version...
Summary: 4 Stars
I have seen three other Othello movies and this is my personal favorite. From the way he looks and speaks one would not think Iago is the villain in the story. Laurence Fishburne did a good job portraying Othello and will leave one feeling almost sympathetic to his demise. Overall, it was a good movie!Movie Review: Branaugh's Othello Rocks
Summary: 4 Stars
Without losing the Elizabethean venacular, this version of Othello rocks. The actors have the Shakespearean language roll off their tongues as smoothly as if they were reciting "Old KIng Cole." Perfect for a high school classroom if you can get away with the R-rated fantasy scenes.Movie Review: Othello
Summary: 4 Stars
Well created version of Shakespeare's work. Many scenes envoked much detestation for the villain whose treacherous plot to hurt others out of jealously and spitefullness...what a tragedy! All in all I enjoyed the movie.Movie Review: Great Iago but weak Othello
Summary: 3 Stars
Othello is a complex play, no doubt about it - Othello: "What did he say?" Iago: "Lie -" Othello: "Lie with her?" Iago: "With her, on her, what you will." It is a play about lying, all lie almost all the time, even Desdemona - "Handkerchief?" "It is not lost, but what if it were?" Shakespeare lies. A man in the middle of the play stands up and announces he is not drunk, what is the obvious conclusion? Then he tells you the ending and you laugh, now even more convinced he's drunk.I was not especially pleased with this version, although there is a lot to like about it. Branagh's Iago is brilliant, in a good version of Othello there should be that slight tinge of feeling toward Iago when the end comes, and this is well done; Branagh holds a nice balance between mastermind and in-over-his-head, and he reads Shakespeare better than anyone alive. The rest of the very able cast is superb, most notably the woman playing Emilia (always a juicy role), and, amazingly, a very decent Roderigo (never a juicy role).
But the negatives - Fishburne's Othello is very weak and flat, almost ruins the show. The scene on the beach where he demands the "ocular proof" from Iago is an embarassingly bad reading, he alone of all the cast seems forced and unused to the language. Not all the liberties with the plot were successful, making Desdemona more assertive and worldly for example just begs more the question why she doesn't catch on and act, conversly making her seem more foolish. And the ending is a letdown, mared by some bad cutting and unneccesary inserted dialogue.
Overall, I want to like this but Fishburne doesn't carry it and the play isn't called "Iago". Still a good effort, beautiful production values, good supporting cast, some clever ideas, a great Iago - but no stones for thunder at the center of it all.
Movie Review: Laurence Fishburne's talent is wasted
Summary: 3 Stars
Poor Laurence Fishburne. I felt so sorry for him watching this movie because he gives a passionate and multi-dimensional performance as Othello and yet, no one else in the cast matches or even comes close to his level of talent. As the cover photo suggests, this is a more sexualized version of Shakespeare's tragedy, which doesn't make it bad, but definitely steals the focus from the other emotions that fuel the story. All of Othello's feelings were intense, not just those he had for Desdemona, and this fact is overlooked by the emphasis on his sexuality. Kenneth Braunagh is such a bad Iago that I actually found myself laughing at him. As for Irene Jacob's performance, it is really not worth mentioning here. She is pretty and exotic but she gives no depth to the wounded character of Desdemona. I truly wish that this movie could be redone by a different director with a different supporting cast, because it is a fascinating idea that just falls flat.