What should have been a definitive Much Ado is just another example of Shakespeare goes to Hollywood.
Branagh and Thompson had the skills and experience to bring Benedick and Beatrice to life as never before on screen, but incredibly, Branagh so reduced their parts that they no longer seem to be the stars. He filled up time that might have been better occupied with great acting and greater lines with odd conceits such as Beatrice's sunburning and a cinematic reference to The Magnificent Seven.
Other strange visual images include some of the most unappetizing nudity in a Shakespeare film since Polanski's Macbeth.
Branagh did, however, do a much better (and more lighthearted) job of the deception of Benedick than the BBC managed.
Kate Beckinsale and Robert Sean Leonard are physically appealing and dramatically effective. The production almost seems to belong to them.
Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington are adequate to their parts, but Michael Keaton, who plays Dogberry as a sadistic torturer, is unforgivably bad.
Branagh and Thompson had the skills and experience to bring Benedick and Beatrice to life as never before on screen, but incredibly, Branagh so reduced their parts that they no longer seem to be the stars. He filled up time that might have been better occupied with great acting and greater lines with odd conceits such as Beatrice's sunburning and a cinematic reference to The Magnificent Seven.
Other strange visual images include some of the most unappetizing nudity in a Shakespeare film since Polanski's Macbeth.
Branagh did, however, do a much better (and more lighthearted) job of the deception of Benedick than the BBC managed.
Kate Beckinsale and Robert Sean Leonard are physically appealing and dramatically effective. The production almost seems to belong to them.
Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington are adequate to their parts, but Michael Keaton, who plays Dogberry as a sadistic torturer, is unforgivably bad.