Coriolanus Review

 'Wow' - This is what you end up exclaiming when end credits start rolling for 'Coriolanus'. A riveting piece of cinema that holds your attention well for the two hours that you are seated in an auditorium, 'Coriolanus' has the much desired dramatic quotient that you expect from a film which is based on a Shakespeare play.

Of course with a strong written material that first time director (and also the central protagonist) Ralph Fiennes had in hand, he was always walking the thin line. There was nothing less than something really good expected from him since a minor slip on a side and he could well have been accused of messing up with something that was so much accessible for him. However what (slightly) worked in his favour is the fact that as a play, 'Coriolanus' isn't quite as well known as other works of Shakespeare which means there isn't as much scrutiny expected from this motion picture as would have been the case with the rest.

Moreover, Ralph does the smart thing of setting 'Coriolanus' in today's times; hence changing the milieu that Shakespeare had created four centuries ago. The setup is again 'something like Rome' (as explicitly stated in the film) but the wars being fought are real. This means that as a great General who knew who to keep his enemies away (despite not being a people's person himself), Ralph brings to real the kind of patriot one would have wanted to see when fighting a modern day war.

However, after defeating the enemy (Gerard Butler) and seeing glory, there is a twist in the tale waiting for him as he is soon brought down to earth and disgrace. Not even his authoritarian mother (Vanessa Redgrave) could now prevent him from doing what was unimaginable for rest of the world but always waiting to happen in Shakespearean mind - 'take revenge from the very country that he was protecting for years'. As he joins hands with none less than Butler himself, it is time for a volcanic saga to erupt, something that makes you further acknowledge the fact that this was a story that was waiting to be told.

In fact the very strength of this action affair happens to be the powerful drama that ensures that momentum never goes down in 'Coriolanus'. From the time his city is attacked to the battle that follows and the people movement that surprisingly goes against him to the fact that he changes sides and then the counter attack that follows, the film turns out to be an engaging affair that sees further twist in the tale during the dying reels. Of course somewhere down the line one did expect that to happen but the turn of events leading to the climax add on to the excitement quotient.

If Ralph does quite well as a director, even as an actor he comes trumps all over again. While audience remember him more as Lord Voldemort from the 'Harry Potter' franchise, the fact remains that he has showed his mettle in realistic cinema as well, case in point being 'The Hurt Locker' or lesser known flick 'In Bruges'. This time around as he takes the centre stage in the title role, he even stays a few steps ahead of Butler who otherwise prides on being the central protagonist in each of his films, case in point being his last few releases like 'Machine Gun Preacher' and 'Law Abiding Citizen' which were in the same zone.

However one must credit Butler too for gracefully staying a step behind Ralph despite sharing equal prominence in the film's poster design, if not the promotional campaign. Perhaps this was a gift from Butler to Ralph as he went about making his directorial debut but still, one would have to admit that the latter has taken full advantage of the platform provided to him and comes up trumps.

Let the fact be stated though that getting into the world of 'Coriolanus' does require some bit of an effort. Since the spoken language frequently comes quite close to Shakespeare's own words, there are times when one has to stress to figure out the spoken word. Still, when compared to the recently release 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' where one struggled with the silences (or the largely incoherent passages) quite frequently, 'Coriolanus' succeeds in coming trumps as a much better movie watching experience due to the inherent drama that holds centre stage.

Rating: ***1/2