Titus (1999) (2-Disc Set; Special Edition; Widescreen)

Absolutely stunning!

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 8, 2001

This has gone from being my favorite movie based on a Shakespeare play, to being perhaps my favorite movie, period. The strengths are many. The acting is top notch from virtually everyone. Hopkins should have won the Best Actor Oscar, hands down. Ha...rry Lennix is brilliant as Aaron, and Alan Cumming turns in a excellent performance as the nearly psychotic Emperor Saturninus. But the real star of the movie is director Julie Taymor. She takes what is an admittedly less than masterpiece Shakespeare play, and turns it into a masterpiece of a movie. The scene where Marcus comes upon the ravished Lavinia is one of the most powerful I've ever seen. We don't need to see the rape to be stuck by the brutality of it. Taymor understands when less is more. And she also understands when MORE is more...ie: the Feast Scene. This is a bombastic play, and she gives us visuals to match. People have commented on the mixing of eras. Guess what? Shakespeare did it too. (In "Troilus and Cressida" a character speaks of Aristotle, who was born hundreds of years after the Trojan War.) I thought the image of Saturnine riding in a Popemobile was great, and who wants to lose the scene with the clown delivering the heads of Titus' sons. In any case, if you're a Shakespeare fan this is essential. If you want to see a Roman-themed movie 100 times better than Gladiator, this is for you. The DVD is loaded, and will provided hours.....err, years of entertainment. Read more Less