The Tempest (2010)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The Tempest (2010/I) was directed by Julie Taymor, who also wrote the screenplay. (The play was, of course, written by William Shakespeare.)There is a long tradition of women playing male roles in Shakespeare's plays. The great Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet in the 19th Century, and at Stratford, Ontario, Seanna McKenna played Richard III. (I saw McKenna in Richard III, and she was incredible.)However, for this Tempest, Julie Taymor directs Helen Mirren as Prospera, a woman, rather than Prospero, a man. Mirren is such a superb actor that I think she could have played Prospero, but that isn't what happened. Changing the gender of the principal character in your story is a risky business. The whole concept of The Tempest is that Prospero was the Duke of Milan. He wasn't Duchess of Milan. On the island where he is marooned, Prospero is lord and master. His relationship with Miranda is one of father and daughter. It's hard to think of Prospero as a woman.Having seen The Tempest many times, I've come to expect an older male actor playing the role. (The classic Shakespearean progression is Romeo to Hamlet to Macbeth to Lear and Prospero.) So, despite Mirren's skills, I simply couldn't adjust to a woman in the part.Also, of course, the relationship between father and daughter and mother and daughter is often very different. So, changing Prospero's name to Prospera isn't just a matter of a name. It's made The Tempest into a very different story. And, in my opinion, it's definitely not the story that Shakespeare wrote.Although I have a high regard for both Helen Mirren and Julie Taymor, I think this was a concept that just didn't work. Directors and actors have always modified Shakespeare according to their thoughts about what the plays mean. You can push and stretch a Shakespearean play a long, long way, and still have it be Shakespeare. However, in this case, it's not Shakespeare, it's Taymor. It's an interesting movie, but It's not the Tempest.At the time I wrote this review, the IMDb rating for the movie was 5.4. I've never seen a serious film with this low a rating. Apparently, almost no one liked the concept. I gave the film a rating of 7.0. It's not great cinema, but it's better than a 5.4.

I am not a fan of male characters in Shakespeare being played by women, although it is only fair when you remember that when first written, all parts were played by men. However, I thought Helen Mirren did a brilliant and believable piece of work. At least the text had been adapted to reinforce the fact that she was female and we weren't expected to believe that she was Prospero and not Prospera. I thoroughly enjoyed this screen adaptation and although scenes that I looked forward to were cut out e.g., the Goddesses at the feast, the CGI was very clever. I thought that it was a mistake to make the casting of Caliban an African man, although he was disguised with scales and what looked like vertiligo. The purists see this play as about man's fear of anything different,(the other) and this plays into the post colonial criticisms by making the man black. Although Ben Wishaw did a sterling job as Ariel, it was a bit disconcerting to see his thin body running around naked. Especially at the beginning when he had to lie about with his leg discretely crossed in case he revealed anything he shouldn't. However, having acted in this play and seen several versions this was one of the best.

From the very start, I could not follow this movie. It just happened to be on, and while I did tape it, I had to watch everything because too much stuff would have to be deleted quickly otherwise.Rewinding didn't help. I couldn't follow the ancient dialogue. I just had to do my best and hope I could figure out what was going on.I finally concluded that Helen Mirren was playing some kind of witch and the pretty girl was her daughter.The shipwrecked men were rescued in a miraculous way--not even getting their clothes wet.The naked spirit worked for Mirren's character. The weird-looking black man was some kind of servant.I finally found something I could enjoy as Stephano and Trinculo showed up. There was something modern about these drunk morons, Even some of their clothes looked modern, and I couldn't help but wonder if Shakespeare had really written their dialogue. If so, he really was a genius. And because he loved the liquor they gave him, the man-fish I later found out was Caliban wanted to meet their every need. Somehow these drunk idiots seemed out of place in Shakespeare, even turning the magnificent Caliban into a moron, but they worked for me.The romance involving the daughter didn't do much for me.Mirren's performance, whether it meant anything to me, was nothing less than magnificent. Powerful at times, gentle at others, alternating between cruel and forgiving.Djimon Hounsou also gave a powerful performance, though he could be funny too. Once he ended up with the two jokers, I couldn't help but think something was lacking in his style. But he was making me happy for a change, so I can't fault him.One thing I really didn't care for was the music. Some of it was rock, and some of it was just plain weird. None of it existed in Shakespeare's time, but I guess if they couldn't make the dialogue modern, they could do it with the music.Whether I liked it or not, it was mostly a worthy effort.

I only caught the last quarter hour or so, and can't comment on the rest of it, but what I saw wasn't too shabby.Helen Mirren is pretty convincing as the magician. I don't care if Prospero underwent a sex change operation or not. It's a little surprising to see such echt-Hollywood types as David Strathairn and Chris Cooper tackling WS's often difficult prose and arcane references. Felicity Jones, as Miranda, is a knockout, regardless of her lines.And, as Caliban, Djimon Hounsou has some extremely funny moments being chased by dogs leaving trails of fire, his eyes bugging out like Mantan Moreland's. "Feets, don't fail me NOW!" The visual effects treat Ariel very nicely, suggesting his lightning-quick speed in a way that's hard to describe. He sort of leaves fading images of himself behind as he fulgurates away.Besides, it's always a pleasure to hear lines that are part of our common lexicon, or used to be. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on." Cripes, even Humphrey Bogart quotes it, or misquotes it, in "The Maltese Falcon." And it's great to sense the irony behind Miranda's, "O brave new world, that has such people in't," as she is introduced to a couple of scalawags -- even if the actress kind of throws the lines away.But I can't give it a higher grade because I'd really need to see the whole thing. Man, think about it. A sorcerer on an island, a monster, a sprite -- and an invitation to lather the viewer with a Niagara of horrifying special effects. I can imagine it now. A CGI volcano erupts. The modern city of New York descends from the heavens. Achilles and his myrmidons rise up from their graves and shrug the earth from their shoulders. Well, why the hell not? Mirren is a magician, isn't she? And we have the world of CGI at our disposal.However, the effects may not have been overdone in this instance, though the temptation was surely there. Anyway, judging from what I saw of it, it's enjoyable. I wish the island were a little less dark and chilly looking, but that's carping.