Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23777 in VHS
• Released on: 2001-03-13
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Original language: English, Latin
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 162 minutes

Customer Reviews

Highly stylized, visual, visceral.
Judging by the state of modern adaptations, it's not possible to take Shakespeare literally anymore. Either you bump him up a couple of centuries, a la Branagh's Hamlet, or you set him in some strange alternate universe (the most recent Romeo and Juliet). Director Julie Taymor (Broadway's Lion King) opts for the latter with Titus, and brings feverishly heightened visual acuity to the larger-than-life story.

The play Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's first tragedy, and it shows. Though the dialog is top-notch, he hasn't got a handle on the mechanisms of tragedy yet. The action veers from bloody misfortune to misfortune without the internal logic of, say, King Lear. In modern terms, it's more "Nightmare on Elm Street" than "Fargo."

None of that matters, however. Taymor has chosen a fantastic cast, including Hopkins as the titular Roman general drivin to the brink of madness, Jessica Lange as his sultry nemesis, the Goth queen Tamora (proving how smolderingly sexy middle age can be), and Laura Fraser skillfully underplaying a potentially histrionic nightmare. The superb performances thoroughly mask the creaks in the plot.

More than anything, however, the production design is worth .... Taymor's absolutely insane in the best possible ways. Her Shakespearean Rome is an anachronistic stew -- jeeps and motorcycles share the roads with carts and horses, soldiers fight with arrows, knives, and guns. The costumes must be seen to be believed. Taymor keeps a firm reign on the disparate design elements, filling each frame with fever-dream colors and subtle symbolism. There are images in this film that will be permanently seared into your subconscious.

I recommend this to everyone (over 17) except the usual crowd -- Shakespearean purists won't like it, the squeamish will lose their lunch halfway through it, short attention spans will balk at the 2:30 running time. If you're none of those, snag this DVD and watch a fantastic flick. Then watch it again with the director's commentary. Then devour the added material on the 2nd disc.

Beautiful and Brutal
Sometimes art must be endured rather than enjoyed. Titus is a harsh story, with little sympathies to be given to either hero or villain. This is the first movie I have seen for along time that made me flinch at the sheer brutality of its characters. Every conceivable crime manages to make it's way into this film. Rape, mutilation, murder, cannibalism, war, lies, and betrayal are all dished up in liberal portions.

And yet, Julie Taymor has taken this play and made something amazing. The characters exist in a blended world of Rome under Caesar and Mussolini. It is a visual masterpiece. Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) is a military man, who trusts in the divine right of the emperor. When that trust is betrayed in the harshest way possible, Titus begins a slow descent into madness and revenge. Tamora (Jessica Lange) is the conquered Queen of the Goths who finds a new seat of power as the wife of corrupt Emperor Saturninus. And most impressive is Aaron the Moor, who has no loyalties other than his own love of evil. A villain who can be said to be the only winner in this sad tale.

Good film, great dvd
I bought this disc without having seen the movie because I figured, hey, Shakespeare, Anthony Hopkins, an inexpensive 2dvd set-it's worth taking a chance! Well I am most certainly glad I did. Julie Taymor's adaption of "Titus Andronicus" is a spectacle of theatrics, brilliant acting coupled with stunning photography and a deft amount of wit. A story of crime, punishment, and most importantly, revenge, the play is generally considered the least of Shakespeare's works (although I'd take it over one of his banal comedies any day) but it stands as one of the strongest film adaptions of the Bard's work I have seen. Hopkins plays the title role with all the elgance we've come to expect from one of our greatest living actors, but it's clearly an ensemble. Every actor here gets his or her moment to shine, including a surprisingly strong Jessica Lange and the scene-stealing Henry Lennix. His performance is brilliant as the embodiment of evil in that he doesn't sneer and brood and cackle with devilish laughter but rather delivers his lines with eloquence-he's charming,intelligent and TOTALLY unrepentant. Some contrivances in the plot do occasionally hinder the screenplay, as do some of the anachorisms; at times they're brilliantly symbolic and at other moments just distracting. But it all adds up to a very powerful film that is TRUE tragedy in the sense that there is no moral to the story. If you purchase the dvd, be sure and check out the feature loaded second disc, including a wonderful Q&A session with the director as well as a enjoyable hour long "making of" documentary.