Pluskylang Great Film overall

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

wildwoodmusic Wow! I just found this. Been out of the country for a long time and I seem to have missed a lot. I love Shakespeare and have seen many, many productions and films. I find this fascinating and could have watched more. Some say it was laughable, I don't see it. It is a learning experience and Pacino captured Richard perfectly. Better then most I have seen. There is a lovely mix of the scholarly, the actor's processes and a good bit of fun. I felt as if I was discovering new views along with the actors. Maybe it isn't to everyone's tastes but it beats out the pablum that is the usual fair in these times. I too greatly regret the whole film was never made and released in conjunction with Looking for Richard. It would have been magnificent.

Betty_Louise I really wanted to like this movie. I like Pacino and I love Richard III. Most of it is quite good, but I'm afraid that one scene will always come to mind whenever I think of this film.Pacino is working on the following speech:Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, To set my brother Clarence and the king In deadly hate the one against the other: And if King Edward be as true and just As I am subtle, false and treacherous, This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up, About a prophecy, which says that 'G' Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence comes.Pacino doesn't understand why Richard says that "G" will be the murderer. After all, the person that Richard is setting up is named Clarence. Instead of delving into the full meaning and believing that Shakespeare must have had a reason to use the words he did, Pacino just decides that he'll change the line to say that "C" will be the murderer.Arrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh! It would only take one look at the list of the characters of the play to find out that the character referred to as "Clarence" is really "George, the Duke of Clarence" so that the "G" does refer to Clarence after all. Not only that, but the prophecy actually refers to Richard himself, since he is "Richard, the Duke of Gloucester." Richard is "G", the murderer.Much of the film is very interesting and enjoyable, but I'm afraid that Pacino's hubris in thinking that he knows better than Shakespeare did will always color this film for me.

Andres Salama Pacino's directing debut is a (sort of) documentary of him as he prepares to film Shakespeare's Richard III (with him on the title role, of course). We see him researching the material, going to Shakespeare's house in England, rehearsing with the actors, interviewing people on the street about Shakespeare, interviewing scholars. As the film progresses, we actually see him performing (parts) of the play with the actors (including Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder, among others). Its enjoyable and informative, though it is sometimes irritating when Pacino asks questions to the scholars he already knows the answer to. It's a bit self-indulgent, also, though Pacino does come as a likable person. But his unpretentiousness seems a bit too studied, too labored (hey, Shakespeare is for normal people too, he seems to say, a little too many times).

Alain English "Looking For Richard" is Al Pacino's monument to William Shakespeare. By taking the audience inside rehearsals for a production of one of the Bard's most famous plays, Richard III, the actor comprehensibly dissects the text and makes the play come alive.For me, in one respect, "Looking For Richard" is a disappointment. By taking the audience through the play like this, rather than actually just putting the play on screen he deprives us of what could have been a great Shakespearean performance. The snatches we see of him performing the role of King Richard by far outmatch his other on-screen Shakespeare, Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice".Pacino takes us through the play act by act in a filmed production of it. This includes discussions with his fellow producers and also the popular actors he brings on board with him, among them Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder and Kevin Spacey. He also visits Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, and also London, at the site of the reconstruction of the writer's Globe Theatre.Memorable highlights include a breakdown of iambic pentameter (that's something you don't see every day) as well discussions of Shakespeare with connisseurs like John Gielgud, Kenneth Branagh and Peter Brook.Without any of the expletives for which Pacino is famous in his roles, "Looking For Richard" could easily be an educational picture as well as family entertainment. I long to see Pacino come here to London and do some Shakespeare for real.As it stands, this comes thoroughly recommended to Shakespeare buffs and newcomers alike.