Whether you enjoy it or not, it is a solid fact that William Shakespeare was one of the best, if not the best, writer of all time. His tragedies and comedies set so many milestones in storytelling, and have continued to influence all creative mediums today, including film. The man obviously had an influence on Kenneth Branagh, the director of Much Ado About Nothing. This film is one of five Shakespeare film adaptations that Branagh has directed. It is about two lovers, Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) and Hero (Kate Beckinsale) who are to be married in one week. To pass the time they devise a "love trap" for two of their family members. One is an arrogant and yet bumbling bachelor named Benedict (Kenneth Branagh) and the other is the strong willed and witty Beatrice (Emma Thompson). But in the midst of it all a man by the name of Don Jon (Keanu Reeves) conspires to stop the wedding. Overall the film is lighthearted, simple, and fun. However, it retains a much more sophisticated eloquence that definitely sets it apart from other films equally as lighthearted as it.
When you're script is a word for word adaptation of the Shakespeare play, it is obvious you are going to have a fantastic story with great dialouge. There is just no denying that Shakespeare was a genius and comparatively had hardly any flaws in his work. The trick for a film adaptation of his play is to provide excellent visual aesthetics that will match the eloquence of the script. Branagh hits his mark excellently here. The film is something beautiful to look at. In every shot and every location it is obvious a lot of care and attention was put into making this film look as pretty as it sounds. The sets are beautifully designed, as well as the costumes which are all very consistent and fitting for the medieval time period. Branagh's direction is also top notch and he excels at being able to transform a script written for the stage into a very full on-screen experience. Branagh makes sure to put a lot of emphasis on the actors, since the characters are where the central focus of this story lies. But when he is not honing in on his actors he is utilizing fantastic tracking shots that show off the gorgeous sets and artistic design that went into them. The visual and audible aspects of this film thankfully lock together perfectly.
As I said before there is a lot of emphasis on the actors in this film, and while the majority of the acting is well above par, there is a noticeable issue with it overall, but it is something almost out of the directors control. Shakespeare is not easy to act believably. The kind of acting necessary to make Shakespeare feel real as opposed to cheesy is in a league of its own. It has a lot to do with the dialect and style in which his work is written, which is obviously hundreds of years old and far different from how we speak today. It is because of this extremely specific acting style the actors must utilize to pull off these characters that we see a differentiation in the acting ability of the cast. In other words, we can tell who is a well versed Shakespearian actor and who is not. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are the shining stars of this film and it is very obvious that this style of acting is their field of expertise. It is a place where they feel comfortable and can truly act the part without forcing it in the Shakespearian dialect. Then we have other actors like Robert Sean Leonard and Denzel Washington who, despite being great in this film, are not actors of the same caliber when it comes to Shakespeare. I just couldn't believe Leonard and Washington as much as I did Branagh and Thompson, but it certainly doesn't mean they weren't very good in the film. And then of course at the bottom of the barrel we have Keanu Reeves who I won't even get started on. All I will say is that watching Reeves try to act Shakespeare is a painful experience.
Much Ado About Nothing is definitely a very good film. It is very well made and, for the most part, very well acted. Watching a movie directly adapted from a Shakespeare play without removing any of the dialect of the time period is a breath of fresh air from your typical 21st century writing style. Now I will say on a more personal note that the story in Much Ado About Nothing, while very well written, is not exactly my cup of tea. Shakespeare only wrote in two genres... tragedy, and comedy. Much Ado About Nothing is one of the latter, so obviously it is very happy-go-lucky. My personal taste leans towards the darker tragedies that Shakespeare wrote, so I personally would recommend one of those before Much Ado About Nothing, but the film, for what it is, is still very good.
When you're script is a word for word adaptation of the Shakespeare play, it is obvious you are going to have a fantastic story with great dialouge. There is just no denying that Shakespeare was a genius and comparatively had hardly any flaws in his work. The trick for a film adaptation of his play is to provide excellent visual aesthetics that will match the eloquence of the script. Branagh hits his mark excellently here. The film is something beautiful to look at. In every shot and every location it is obvious a lot of care and attention was put into making this film look as pretty as it sounds. The sets are beautifully designed, as well as the costumes which are all very consistent and fitting for the medieval time period. Branagh's direction is also top notch and he excels at being able to transform a script written for the stage into a very full on-screen experience. Branagh makes sure to put a lot of emphasis on the actors, since the characters are where the central focus of this story lies. But when he is not honing in on his actors he is utilizing fantastic tracking shots that show off the gorgeous sets and artistic design that went into them. The visual and audible aspects of this film thankfully lock together perfectly.
As I said before there is a lot of emphasis on the actors in this film, and while the majority of the acting is well above par, there is a noticeable issue with it overall, but it is something almost out of the directors control. Shakespeare is not easy to act believably. The kind of acting necessary to make Shakespeare feel real as opposed to cheesy is in a league of its own. It has a lot to do with the dialect and style in which his work is written, which is obviously hundreds of years old and far different from how we speak today. It is because of this extremely specific acting style the actors must utilize to pull off these characters that we see a differentiation in the acting ability of the cast. In other words, we can tell who is a well versed Shakespearian actor and who is not. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are the shining stars of this film and it is very obvious that this style of acting is their field of expertise. It is a place where they feel comfortable and can truly act the part without forcing it in the Shakespearian dialect. Then we have other actors like Robert Sean Leonard and Denzel Washington who, despite being great in this film, are not actors of the same caliber when it comes to Shakespeare. I just couldn't believe Leonard and Washington as much as I did Branagh and Thompson, but it certainly doesn't mean they weren't very good in the film. And then of course at the bottom of the barrel we have Keanu Reeves who I won't even get started on. All I will say is that watching Reeves try to act Shakespeare is a painful experience.
Much Ado About Nothing is definitely a very good film. It is very well made and, for the most part, very well acted. Watching a movie directly adapted from a Shakespeare play without removing any of the dialect of the time period is a breath of fresh air from your typical 21st century writing style. Now I will say on a more personal note that the story in Much Ado About Nothing, while very well written, is not exactly my cup of tea. Shakespeare only wrote in two genres... tragedy, and comedy. Much Ado About Nothing is one of the latter, so obviously it is very happy-go-lucky. My personal taste leans towards the darker tragedies that Shakespeare wrote, so I personally would recommend one of those before Much Ado About Nothing, but the film, for what it is, is still very good.