Spectacularly amazing.

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2014)

Great performances by the cast, well directed, plenty of drama on Shakespeare's part -- what more can you ask for in a great movie? I love Shakespearean tragedies; they always hit so close home to me, every time, so I wonder why the movie has scored such a low number on IMDb so far?
Tell me, is it the old tongue that daunts you so? I think the movie made the language extremely accessible to us without straying too far from source material; that, in its own right, is truly meritorious.
I myself have never been a fan of Shakespeare before. I always thought his plays to be dull, unmoving and a fanciful dullard's play. Perhaps it was the numerous times in secondary school where we'd have cold readings of the script in my classroom and the very rare allowances of real, live, professional performances in actual theatre houses that made me feel this way. I blame this on the incompetence of most of my English teachers since, at times, I didn't get what it was they were trying to teach us -- and they were speaking plain English to us in the classroom, mind you!
Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed and what a fine job Ralph Fiennes did at delivering the story to us! I actually was able to follow most of what was going on without referring to any footnotes since Coriolanus was originally a play I've never heard of -- I blame this majorally on the fact that popular culture hasn't brought the story up nearly as often as like, say, Othello or Macbeth. (Remember, I was never a fan of Shakespeare.)
The movie integrated a modern setting into the production -- and yes, I can already hear everyone's groans -- but Fiennes was able to pull it off like Luhrmann before him. There were done stunning visuals and all the blood and gore and violence made this two hour long viewing seem very brisk and fast-paced.
Yet, addressing all previous complaints about the characters speaking in a relatively tongue, if you can't understand what's going on then perhaps you should go away and learn a bit more of the English language. Or, you can perhaps be a little more sympathetic towards such movies like these so you don't sound like a unintelligible bitch moaning about how unfair the movie is to us common people. I must admit, this movie does have an appeal to a certain group of the audience but never forget that your 'we' should never be used as a poor substitute for 'I' because that's a little unfair to the movie, don't you think?
Alas, I've spent much of my time venting my frustration with other reviewers so let's get back to the gritty basics.
Coriolanus explores themes such as pride, patriotism, fascism, politics, war. It tells the tale of a man who's both contemptuous and admirable, asking us whether it is right to lay down your beliefs of what is fair and moral to the demands of the mob, for the sake of peace. Like many of Shakespearean adaptations, this movie is intelligent, insightful and perceptive of human nature and behaviour.
If this seems like a movie for you then grab a bag of popcorn because you'll enjoy this.