Bullet Points: Coriolanus (2011)
William Shakespeare was a pretty good writer. You can quote me on that. His works are as good today as the day they were written and we continue to see his plays adapted each and every year. Modern film isn’t exactly the most original so if you’re going to re-make works of literature over and over again it might as well be some of the best stuff ever put on page.
Coriolanus may not be among his most well known plays but it is right up my alley in terms of story. Putting it into modern times doesn’t turn me off like most “modern re-imaginings” so I thought that I would give it a shot.
Synopsis: A banished hero of Rome allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city.
- The Setting: This film is clearly adapted from a Shakespearian play set in Rome but for our purposes this Rome is modernized. Just imagine the Roman Empire retained its strength and its territorial boundaries remained the same as they did a couple of thousand years ago.
- Our Main Players: Ralph Fiennes plays Caius Martius who throughout the film is given the name/title Coriolanus after his military feats at Corioli. Gerard Butler plays the Volscian General Tullus Aufidius. A sworn enemy of Matius but a man that seems to be cut from the exact same cloth as him and one that shares his mutual respect as a damned good warrior.
- Battles and Wars: The fighting portrayed in Coriolanus is brutal. Martius leads his men into the defended city and fights tooth and nail to get to Aufidius. The two men have a years-long vendetta against one another and eventually throw down in a pretty sweet knife fight. The fight itself is somewhat short, spilling out into the war-torn streets where a wayward mortar round sends both men to the ground. Each man is passionate about their cause and fights to the death to defend what they believe to be the correct side.
- To be the Consul: The moment Martius returns home they start using their political sway to make him Consul of Rome. With his military deeds at the forefront of his campaign, it’s only his noticeable disdain of many of the plebes that causes the unease in the people. That and when the rival parties start building a movement against him. It isn’t long until he gets worked into a frenzy and is sent away, banished for all time from Rome.
- Brothers: It’s at this point that Martius returns to Aufidius and lays himself at his feet. Aufidius could never best him and respects the hell out of him. He takes him in and uses his immense military knowledge to win victory after victory. All the while, Martius’ hatred for Rome grows stronger and stronger.
- Send for her: It doesn’t seem to matter what the people of Rome put in their way, the new duo of Martius and Aufidius are leading their army straight into the heart of Rome. His former friends are turned away until finally they send his family in to kneel at his feet and beg. Holy shit….This is a point in the movie where the actors involved (Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave) really crush it. Fiennes and Gerry Butler knock it out for the majority of the film but these two ladies steal the show here. They talk him into a shakey peace treaty but at the same time he loses some of the faith he had built up with his new troops.
- The Tragedy: Being that this was one of Shakespeare’s final tragedies, you have to know that it goes bad rather quickly. Martius and Aufidius finally have the talk they should have had when Martius first showed up but this time it’s done with knives out. Aufidius and his closest supporters kill him like a dog in the street and we’re left not knowing what might happen to the place calling itself Rome.
The Verdict: Lovers of Shakespearian tragedies and scene stealing bald actors will flip their lids when they see Coriolanus. Ralph Fiennes is an absolute mad man when it comes to acting and his eye for action is nothing less than amazing. The cast of the film are incredible and they deliver the hundreds of years old lines as if they were meant for our own ears in our own time. We gripe and complain about remakes and reboots but all one needs to do is watch movies like Coriolanus and Ran and see that epic stories can fit within any era or context. Gerard Butler is so underrated and Lord knows Brian Cox kills it in all things, but Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave couldn’t be cast any better. Available for FREE on Tubi so there is absolutely no reason to not watch it.
