Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Cem Lamb This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

generationofswine I'm sorry Al. I mean, I am stoked that you got to do Will on the big screen, I really am. I am ecstatic that it was one of my favorites and monumentally depressed that labor of loves like this only get a limited screening and small box office reviews.Who wants to see "The Merchant of Venice" anyway? So sayeth the Millennial.Clearly a lot of people do. I mean, how many centuries has it been in production? Is that were they got the name for the sports car? Who knows.The fact is that it was brilliant. Not totally true to the source, but close enough where you're going to sit back and be in Elizabethan bliss.Especially since, for us historians, films depicted so beautifully, as this one was, just reinforces the fact that Shakespeare was the Joss Wheadon of his day.It may be high brow today, but so is Dumas.The fact is, a film like "The Merchant of Venice" if done right, should give you the sense of Elizabethan pulp. You should be able to sit back and understand just how popular he was with the masses of the day. it should be funny and beautiful and dramatic and this film captured all of that. Not as action packed as Hamlet, but just as entertaining.And that was what Shakespeare tried to do, entertain us.

Kirpianuscus he does one of the most important roles from his career. and nothing surprising in that. because he has the gift and force and knowledge to translate in wise manner the tension,vulnerability, angry, fury, instinct of survive of Shylock as part of a period more than a play. and, sure, the experience in study of Shakespeare is essential. but it is one of the pieces of beauty of film. because the great cinematography, the costumes and the inspired recreation of atmosphere are completed by the performance of Jeremy Irons. the dispute between Antonio and Shylock, the dialogue who becomes circle of sparkles, the balance between justice and law, true and honor, error and revenge is the axis of a film who has the virtue to represent more than a good adaptation. it is the door to a manner to understand contemporary problems. and the essence of mankind.

SnoopyStyle It's 1596 Venice. Jews face restrictions even in the liberal city state. They are forbidden to hold property. They charge usury which is something unChristian and are demonized for it. Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes) asks 3000 ducats from melancholy Antonio (Jeremy Irons) to woo wealthy heiress Portia (Lynn Collins). Bassanio is able to get moneylender Shylock (Al Pacino) to make it an interest-free 3 month loan but Antonio must give a pound of flesh if he fails to repay the loan. There is animosity on both sides. After Antonio's ships are lost, Shylock goes to court seeking his pound of flesh.This is one of the more troubling Shakespearian plays to a modern audience. The villainous Shylock is the quintessential money-grubbing vengeful Jew that is the caricature Jew for every antisemite. There is no doubt that Al Pacino is brilliant and injects a humanity into a villain that is usually two-dimensional. In fact, it is questionable if Shylock is truly a villain in his hands. The comedy may not wear well especially as a modern play but Pacino turns it into something more compelling.

Red-125 Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004) was directed by Michael Radford, who also wrote the screenplay.This version of Merchant of Venice stars Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Anonio (the merchant), Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio, Lynn Collings as Portia, and Juleikha Robinson as Jessica, Shylock's daughter.With an all-star cast like this, it is expected that production values will be high, and that is the case. Whereas the BBC version of Merchant--which I've also reviewed--is a bare bones production, this Merchant pulls out all the stops, with gondola rides, torchbearers, and exquisite consumes.That having been said, it's Shylock who dominates the play, and Pacino is a superb Shylock. If you have a great Shylock, everything else will fall into place.Of course, Pacino brings with him his persona--a proud man, a sensitive man, and a man quite capable of seeking a pound of flesh that is owed to him.It is painful to see Shylock's use and abuse of his new power, and his ultimate defeat and destruction at the hands of Portia, You feel how frustrating and humiliating it is for Shylock to be crushed and defeated despite his valid, although cruel, legal case. It is a great--if painful--movie moment.Note: As I wrote about the BBC's Merchant, The Merchant of Venice is classified as a comedy because most of the characters get married, and no one dies. The problem with that definition is that it forces us to call a play a comedy when it's tragic and not funny. ("Midsummer Night's Dream" is funny. It may have serious undertones, but it's funny. It really is a comedy.)However, I think we can change the category of the play, and still keep the definition intact. What happens to Shylock is tantamount to death for him. Even though three couples get married, and no bodies are carried off the stage, I think of this play (and the movie made from it) more as tragedy than as comedy. It's absolutely worth seeing, but certainly not for laughs.This film will really work better on the large screen than on DVD. However, I saw it on the small screen, and it was still powerful and definitely worth seeing. Seek it out and watch It. It will repay your time and effort.