Review of Titus (1999) by Dan S — 29 Mar 2009
This film is a train wreck.
Often considered one of Shakespeare's weakest plays...Titus is a pretty simple story to put on screen...act it out, blah.
Julie Taymor Attempted to do what Baz Luhrmann did with romeo and Juliet...and failed.
Luhrmann took the original story and text, modernized the visuals and let the story be told as it was. Taymor kinda modernized it (did a hybrid of modern/ancient Rome) it was interesting the way she did it. But she did not let the story be told. Instead she felt it necessary to add a million "art-fart" special effects to try to make it look like it belonged in a moma gallery. Now, don't get me wrong, some of the sets looked beautiful, and the costume design was great...but does Shakespeare really need a scene with a Matrix "Bullet Time" effect simply for the sake of having it? Or the wanna-be Stanley Kubrick ending...what a joke. All the Dreamy rotoscoped sequences are equally as bad, with pointless symbolism and terrible composition.
The acting was subpar to say the least...it was very hammy...over acted and not believable. So much time was spent on the look of the film that the characters kind of just get a basic comb over....yes a movie based on a play and the characters are backseated....makes a lot of sense right?
It was a waste of 3 hours...a totally mess.
This review of Titus (1999) was written by Dan S on 29 Mar 2009.
Titus has generally received positive reviews.
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