Whether or not "Titus Andronicus" was Shakespeare's first play, it is still captivating. Sure, it may not be as brilliant as his later plays (and make no mistake about it - it is not), but it is still a fine story and it is well written. This is something that this movie does show. It is a very entertaining film, and it is a lot of fun to watch. While it starts off a bit slow, it quickly manages to pick up steam and stays watchable throughout. The acting is pretty excellent - the people in this movie obviously have a very strong grip on Shakespeare and show it.
Thankfully, the storyline here in "Titus" stays extremely close to the original story. However, I have a real problem with the whole "A Julie Taymor Film" bit. Put simply, she really did her part to damage the story. While the movie is beautiful visually, why is there such an odd mishmash of new and old? Now, I have absolutely no problem with placing a Shakespeare play in different periods of time, but "Titus" really stumbles with its mixture. I dont know why there is a mishmash of different time periods (there are cars and chariots mixed together throughout), but it does not work. It's actually quite jarring - it's impossible to fully immerse oneself in a movie which jumps back and forth in setting so much. The mix of old and new just doesn't work right - it never feels whole or solid, it always feels shaky and unsure - as if Taymor and the crew didn't know what anachronisms to work in where.
This is the biggest flaw in the movie, but its hardly the only one. There also seems to be a great deal of pretention involved, as there are quite a bit of self-indulgent camera tricks or sequences which seem to serve no purpose other than for Taymor showing herself what an imagination she has. Yea, a lot of the staging is very good, and the movie does flow pretty well, but there is too much... extra stuff going on. And it seems to get worse as the movie goes on - guns enter the film near the end.
Still, the shaky direction and pretentiousness of the film does not hurt the story, primarily because it is so entertaining. Sure, "Titus" is a film with some serious flaws, but it's also a film with a very good story and one that is, ultimately, worth watching. But don't thank Taymor for this - it's all Shakespeare's doing.
Thankfully, the storyline here in "Titus" stays extremely close to the original story. However, I have a real problem with the whole "A Julie Taymor Film" bit. Put simply, she really did her part to damage the story. While the movie is beautiful visually, why is there such an odd mishmash of new and old? Now, I have absolutely no problem with placing a Shakespeare play in different periods of time, but "Titus" really stumbles with its mixture. I dont know why there is a mishmash of different time periods (there are cars and chariots mixed together throughout), but it does not work. It's actually quite jarring - it's impossible to fully immerse oneself in a movie which jumps back and forth in setting so much. The mix of old and new just doesn't work right - it never feels whole or solid, it always feels shaky and unsure - as if Taymor and the crew didn't know what anachronisms to work in where.
This is the biggest flaw in the movie, but its hardly the only one. There also seems to be a great deal of pretention involved, as there are quite a bit of self-indulgent camera tricks or sequences which seem to serve no purpose other than for Taymor showing herself what an imagination she has. Yea, a lot of the staging is very good, and the movie does flow pretty well, but there is too much... extra stuff going on. And it seems to get worse as the movie goes on - guns enter the film near the end.
Still, the shaky direction and pretentiousness of the film does not hurt the story, primarily because it is so entertaining. Sure, "Titus" is a film with some serious flaws, but it's also a film with a very good story and one that is, ultimately, worth watching. But don't thank Taymor for this - it's all Shakespeare's doing.