For some odd reason I only saw the "brilliant" review this week when I decided to add this to my collection this week. Collecting Shakespeare on DVD can be a bit of a gamble, and this one truly is a mixed bag, and the extra feature "Behind the Scenes" helps explain why. It's hard to believe that this producer and director opted for 1" video and a transfer to 35mm in 2001--the director says he wanted to avoid the look of a soap opera. Well, granted, but had it not been for some ability to use varied shots for interest, this could have become Blair Witch Project meets Shakespeare. It's not as bad as all that, but certainly very uneven, or, charitably, marked by a surreal quality due to the interesting setting of a fort in Quincy Bay near Boston. The strengths of this film: Matte Osian turns in a creditable performance as Richard, especially from the point he surrenders his crown to the end of the movie--he captures the ironic majesty that Richard displays once he is no longer king; Robert McCafferty as Northumberland is very good in most of his scenes; and Frank O'Donnell captures old John of Gaunt in a way that I imagined when I read the play in college almost 30 years ago. The downsides of this film will be those that displease Shakespeare purists most: (1) The sound at times is muddy due to the choice of setting, especially for the interior scenes. This is worse due to some strange audio mixing choices that have been added to somehow emphasize certain lines, thereby diminishing them. (2) Shakespeare's text here is appreciated but not given center stage. The producer, according to the extra features, had access to an ammunition specialist, some AK-47s and other weapons, and the director made far too much use of them. This play is not supposed to have gratuitous violence like Julie Taymor's version of Titus Andronicus, but it's use of guns and bombs comes close to it--violence for its own sake. (3) This is worsened by the pacing of the lines and the scenes, which is not helped by the horrible editing job! There are so many apparently "meaningful" scenes without words, but I fail to see what depth has been added. (4) Instead, some of the best sets of lines Shakespeare wrote in his early years are lost--John of Gaunt's "this sceptred isle, this England" speech among them. (5) Finally, how Richard and his Queen respond to the tragedy is changed completely as the film moves to its conclusion. Some day I hope to own the very expensive Shakespeare Plays from the BBC/PBS, but until I can see that very young Derek Jacobi playing Richard II in my own living room, this DVD will have to do. It has enough merit to be interesting; it raises several questions for discussion with friends of the Bard.
