Anyone who has happened upon this blog before will know that as an appreciator of Ben Whishaw's work, Julie Taymor's The Tempest, in which he plays Ariel, has been a long time coming. It finished filming back in 2008 but didn't hit the screens here in London until this week.
It not only brings together Mr Whishaw with a Shakespeare play I'm very fond of but also a cast list that bulges with talent (Helen Mirren and Alfred Molina), curiosities (Russel Brand and Alan Cumming) and beauties (Felicity Jones and Reeve Carney).
And of course Taymor who isn't shy of visualisation, quirkiness and colour in her films. But did all the talent shine?
Well, The Tempest was one of my A-level set texts so it's a story I'm quite familiar with: Prospero, the Duke of Milan is deposed by his brother and set adrift in a boat with his young daughter Miranda. But for a few provisions smuggled aboard by loyal courtier Gonzalo the two would have died but wash up on a strange and magical island.
Prospero is a bit of a magician himself and years later when fate puts a ship carrying his brother, the King of Naples and his son Ferdinand on a path close to the island he can't resist but conjure a storm. With the help of his spirit Ariel the ship is wrecked and the passengers scattered along the shore about the island.
Ferdinand washes up on his own, the courtiers in another group and two servants of the King of Naples - Trinculo and Stephano in another.
Prospero sets Ariel to work engineering a series of events that will enact revenge but ultimately put right everything that has happened in the past. Of course this is Shakespeare so there is a comic thread, a romance and a bit of politics and plotting thrown in.
The genius behind Taymor's version is to turn Propero into Prospera, a sorceress (Mirren). Her exile from Milan for her dabbling in magic seem more appropriate somehow as a woman in a man's world.
Taymor has obviously had to chop the play down to a cinematic length and as a result a lot of nuances are lost but the essence of the story remains.
And there is much else to like about it. Mr Whishaw with his slight frame and darting eyes was born to play the spirit Ariel (although the appearing and disappearing moobs were a little distracting either he has them or he hasn't a decision would have been good).
There are also some great visual effects used for Ariel and Prospera's magic (but also some not so great which I'll come onto). I know that the special effects budget was very small and simple ideas such as shooting Whishaw underneath a pain of glass over which water has been poured is extremely affective in making him appear to be under water.
Carney and Jones as the lovestruck teenagers are just gorgeous on screen - a more beautiful pairing you couldn't find. I've never seen a Miranda on stage that I've been particularly satisfied with and I think having her stranded with her mother shaped a different character and made her more believable.
But it doesn't all sparkle. The special effects don't always work in fact some look like they've come straight out of a 1970's TV series and seem strangely at odds with the dramatic landscape and beautiful cinematography of the rest of the film.
In cutting down the script Ariel becomes more one dimensional whereas in the play his tetchy, disgruntled side comes to the fore.
The comedy also doesn't work. Molina as Stephano and Brand as Trinculo do their best and I'm sure they'd bring the house down were it on stage but in a film that sort of aping around against a dramatic backdrop in between scenes of jaw dropping cinematography just don't work.
So was it worth waiting two years for? Well for Mr W's Ariel definitely. That and Mirren, the costumes and cinematography elevate it to four stars or 60%.
I've tried not to read reviews but have caught some headlines and get the impression it hasn't gone down too well which seems to be backed up by Rotten Tomatoes which gives it 28% based on 69 reviews and an average user rating of 44%. While on Metacritic it gets 43% based on 28 critics. Not enough visitors for a user rating yet so head over and add your score if you have.
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