BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

allisonli-80944 I don't understand why so many people have a low opinion of this adaptation because the performances are uniformly good, Helen Mirren in particular. Switching the gender of Prospero/a was a stroke of genius that adds a new dimension to the character and in many ways, makes more sense. She plays Prospera as a wronged and embittered victim of ambitious men and patriarchal forces. In my humble opinion, this makes the manner and speed at which she was deposed from her dukedom and framing as a witch/sorceress far more believable.The only sore spot in this movie is Russell Brand as Trinculo. Why is he here? He came out on screen and I almost spat out my drink. Looks utterly out of place. His casting makes no sense.

joeravioli In my mind, Shakespeare's Tempest is the least graceful of all his works that I have experienced. His genre-confused hodgepodge of plots and characters, while proving Shakespeare's genius to an audience which needs no such proof, serves only to render it atmospherically mutilated. It's as if Shakespeare had three, equally tedious slogs, and decided to combine them with the sentiment that the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts.But with The Tempest, Taymor does the impossible: She takes Shakespeare's debacle and makes it worse. Even as a non-aesthete, one who appreciates bad CGI when bad CGI is due, I found myself plunging through biting aesthetic pain whenever Taymor made the choice to use it. Taymor's failure to capture the already weak atmosphere of The Tempest is simply embarrassing. Each frame is drained of colour, bland as the characters and the story which fill them, and the CGI is curiously funny, although I highly doubt that was what Taymor was going for. Perhaps she sought to bring her own style into the film, but, as demonstrated by her directorial ineptitude in the making of this film, it would probably be better for her to keep a minimal personal influence, letting Shakespeare do the talking instead.Taymor seeks to win over her audience through a pointless gender swap, adopting the "I'm original" attitude of one whose only originality resides in turning celebrated literature into films. Instead of the magician Prospero, we instead get the magician Prospera, played by Helen Mirren. Wow. Every other character remains the same. Some idiot made the mistake of casting a black guy as Caliban. As makeup-encrusted as he is, that doesn't take away from the fact that the only black guy in this whole movie plays the slave.In accord with Shakespeare, The Tempest is narratively befuddled. Three separate plots are superficially explored in under two hours. And yet, as each plodding second passes, one could be forgiven for assuming that it is longer. Overall, Taymor's The Tempest was awful, buoyed only by a few performances and the occasional fancy shot. I found myself wanting to die, to sleep.Ay, there's the rub.

glasslens A few years after my original review, I have re-watched some of this film and have tried to be kinder. This is my amended version. I am sorry to still have to be so negative and I'm sure others have enjoyed it, but I can only say what I think. Whenever I write a review, I always think hard about how to start. But in this case, it is easy. This could have been fairly good, but sadly it is a truly dreadful film. The difference between a good film and a bad film can be a few small things and usually they are the things that destroy the magic. The Tempest of course is all about magic but the film destroys it. Totally. I'm sure the idea was saleable, particularly with the then celebrity Russell Brand in a lead role, but things must have started to go downhill from then on. There must have been times when they wanted to cut their losses and abandon it, but they pressed on hoping the SPFX would rescue it - instead it just made it worse. Julie Traymor's direction leaves a lot to be desired - she seems to be constantly struggling to hold things together. The use of a female lead is baffling although the actor, Helen Mirren, who normally plays the Queen of England, does a good job and manages to hold the whole tottering mess in some sort of shape. Tom Conti, a fine actor, manages to get through the laughable screenplay with his dignity intact, as does Alan Cumming. Dijimon Hounsou however is the worst Caliban I have even seen, and I have seen quite a few - again a good concept that didn't work. Alfred Molina, again a fine if limited range actor manages to keep his head down and put in a passable performance. Russell Brand is unspeakably awful as Trinculo - an idiot over-acting if ever their was. Again, good concept but didn't work. Stuart Dryberg's cinematography is patchy. The early exterior shots are useful for a "how not to" at a film school truly some of the worst exterior lighting since Dad's Army. Look at the credits and you'll find a huge crew who managed under Taymore's direction to product a piece of rubbish - why didn't someone speak up for goodness sake? But perhaps they knew but with all that money at stake, just couldn't abandon things. A new director for sure, a lot of re-shoots, a new Trinculo perhaps could have rescued it. But perhaps not.I have worked on amateur productions of this fine play which have been infinitely superior to this awful film and I would not insult amateurs by describing this as amateur - it is nowhere near that quality.

lukeyanni123 I had no choice but to watch this for a class at my college; I watched it on my own time and was supposed to write a review comparing it to the text.For being released in 2010, the CGI was just awful. It makes 70's effects look excellent. And their were so many anachronisms, and poor emotionless forced acting, Just an overall piece of rubbish. Spare yourself. This was the worst adaptation of a Shakespeare I have ever had the displeasure of watching. I found it more hilarious, more out of how soaked in cheese it was than any actual humor. It's racist on a level I cannot believe was carried over to the 21st century. Awful, awful movie. I cannot stress that enough.