MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
A film review by Gregory N. Bond
Copyright 1993 Gregory N. Bond
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Richard Briars, Brian Blessed, Michael Keaton, Ben Elton. Director: Kenneth Branagh Script: Some bloke named Shakespeare.
[Probably old news to many, but it's just opened here]
I went into MUCH ADO with very high expectations. Branagh's previous Shakespeare project (HENRY V) was a wonderful movie, and the reviews I had seen about MUCH ADO were uniformly good (the best set of reviews I'd ever seen for a film).
I came out knowing that every one of those rave reviews was right on the money. This is the best film I have seen in years.
MUCH ADO is the story of two pairs of lovers, the young and innocent Claudio and Hero (two good-looking nobodies with very few lines) and the older, sharp-tongued and cynical Baldick and Beatrice (Branagh and Thompson). There is celebration, betrayal, revenge, and weddings.
The dialog crackles and fizzes (as would be expected given the author), with quips, puns, one-liners and razor-sharp wit flowing faster than I could follow. This is a *very* funny film despite being in somewhat archaic language.
The cast does a magnificent job. Chief among them are of course Branagh and Thompson. Both have such fluency with the style and such assured delivery that the antiquity of the language isn't even noticed. Branagh in particular shows an excellent sense of comedy in both his acting and direction. There is a long sequence when he is hiding in the garden eavesdropping on a conversation, that is almost Keystone Cops.
The remainder of the cast does an excellent job, also handling the language well. Some interesting casting puts Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves as half-brothers, and all actors use their own (American or English) accents, but the overall result is still consistent and reputable.
The cinematography is just fabulous. The whole film was shot on location at a Monastery in Tuscany, and it looks just superb. The soundtrack could be criticised for a lack of period relevance and being at times quite overpowering, but it is none the less effective. A number of lute and voice songs are woven into the story in a very effective manner.
Overall, this film is simply a delight. Run, don't walk, to your nearest cinema and see it on the big screen. It's worth every penny of the AU$10 you will pay.