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Review by Susan Granger
2½ stars out of 4
Julie Taymor, who received both critical and popular acclaim
for her Broadway version of Disney's The Lion King, makes her film
debut with a curious adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, one
of the Bard's least successful plays. It's a graphic, grisly, gruesome
orgy of vengeance, revolving around Titus, a proud but aging Roman
general, played by Anthony Hopkins, who returns home in triumph
circa. 400 A.D. after conquering the Goths to crown the new Emperor
Saturninus (Alan Cumming). His prized gift to the new ruler is Tamora
(Jessica Lange), Queen of the Goths, whom the depraved Saturninus
impetuously marries - after being scorned by Titus's only daughter
(Laura Fraser). Along with her secret lover, a villainous Moor (Harry
Lennix), and her two punkster sons (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Matthew
Rhys), the furious Tamara then schemes to wreak a crafty revenge on
Titus and his family for the ritual death of her oldest son at Titus'
hands. Cinematically, Taymor idiosyncratically links this historical
epic of political intrigue with the 20th century by incorporating a
contemporary lad (Osheen Jones) playing with toy soldiers. Working
with production designer Dante Ferretti, costumer Milena Canonero and
cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, the inventive Taymor sets out a
defiant, dizzying visual feast, crowned by a repulsive, cannibalistic
banquet that could have been created by Hannibal Lechter - and it's
impressively scored by Elliot Goldenthal. On the Granger Movie Gauge
of 1 to 10, Titus is a perversely stylistic, surreal 6. It's a bold,
bizarre bloodbath, giving us only fleeting glimpses of the tragic
characters who - in later Shakespearean plays - evolve into King Lear,
Lady Macbeth, and Iago.
Copyright © 1999 Susan Granger
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out of 4
