The Ego Of The 9th

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2012)

No one ever accused IMDb of being logical but this time they've outdone themselves by listing several 'citizens' but omitting Vanessa Regrave, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, James Nesbitt, etc so that we have to click on 'full cast and crew' to access leading players. Vanessa Redgrave is not exactly short of superlative screen acting roles to flesh out her CV but nevertheless she is now the proud owner of yet another gasser as she hits one out of the park as Volumnia, mother of the protagonist and walks away with the movie despite some reasonable competition by Fiennes himself and Brian Cox. Fiennes clearly has a secret affection for the role and I personally saw him play it on stage as part of a double-header. It doesn't suffer as much as it might by being updated to the present day though no one is going to buy Serbia as Rome. If anything the modernization helps to clarify the political machinations that Shakespeare tended to obscure. Surprisingly it is playing the Multiplexes but no doubt the violence helps to justify this half-hearted appeal to the target 13 - 18 male audience.