Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

SnoopyStyle It's a mix of Ancient Rome and modern fascist Italy. General Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) returns from his campaign with hostages, Queen of the Goths Tamora (Jessica Lange) and her sons. Titus sacrifices her oldest son. Saturninus (Alan Cumming) and Bassianus (James Frain) compete over the empty throne. Senator Marcus Andronicus (Colm Feore) nominates his brother Titus for the crown. Prideful Saturninus is angered and Bassianus is supportive. Titus relinquishes the honor to Saturninus who claims Titus' daughter Lavinia (Laura Fraser) despite the fact that she's already betrothed to Bassianus. To everyone's shock, Saturninus frees Tamora and her sons. Bassianus flees with Lavinia with the help of Titus' sons. Duty bound Titus even kills one of his own sons to try to stop them. Saturninus takes Tamora as his replacement bride as she plots her revenge on Titus.Director Julie Taymor has put as much costumes, great actors, dressed up sets as she can but it's still very stagey. It can't escape from being a play. It's interesting for a little while but it wears thin. There are not enough people and not enough grandeur. The dialog is still Shakespearian. It is a brutal violent play. The actors do a great job but this is a play, not a movie.

TheLittleSongbird The play I have never considered one of Shakespeare's best, I give you that there is enough wit and poetry to make Shakespeare's style distinctive and Aaron is the most interesting character, but the story is not the most focused or developed like Shakespeare's later plays. I was worried about the film version Titus, I know that Julie Taymor is an imaginative director, both on film and on stage, but it was whether the film could do anything with the material. Not only does it absolutely do that, but it also improves on the play. The film is perhaps too long, but the story is actually compelling even with some very disturbing moments(then again the idea of men in a pie is that in the play) that doesn't rely heavily on shock value. And the characters especially Titus and Aaron are interesting. Taymor's direction is creative and doesn't swamp the dialogue too much, while the costumes, sets and various sequences are jaw-dropping. The music is rousing and haunting, and the dialogue flows naturally and has the poignant intensity you'd expect from Shakespeare. Titus is not Anthony Hopkins' best role, my favourite is between Frederick Treves(The Elephant Man), CS Lewis(Shadowlands) and Stevens(The Remains of the Day) though Hannibal Lector(The Silence of the Lambs) is probably his most iconic. His turn here is still very authoritative and moving though. Jessica Lange oozes sex appeal and evil and Harry Lennix is radiantly malevolent. Alan Cumming is somewhat off-the-wall but in an endearing way, while Matthew Rhys and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are good as Demetrius and Chiron. All in all, I found this film to be brilliant and while any Shakespeare is worth watching and reading this is the first time that a Shakespearen film adaptation has been better than the play it's based on. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

pontifikator The best film of 1999, directed by Julie Taymore and starring Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Harry Lennix, and Alan Cumming.Taymore brings Titus into the modern day in some of her staging of the film, but the dialogue is all Shakespeare, and the cast is excellent. It's a pleasure to see Hopkins playing a real character with many facets instead of Hannibal Lecter.In classic tragedy, the hero fails, brought down by a flaw which would have been a good trait if the hero had not had so much of it. In Oedipus Rex, for example, Oedipus would have been fine but for his overweening curiosity. In Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare's title), our hero is honest. Too honest for his own good. He has returned from war with Tamora (Jessica Lange) a Goth queen as his slave, and the emperor has died, leaving two good-for-nothing sons as his heirs apparent. When offered the crown, Titus rejects it out of hand: Of course not, the crown goes to the eldest son. Titus should have accepted the wreath. All his woes befall him for not knowing he would do better for Rome.Before you see the movie, I recommend getting a copy of the play in one of the several editions that explain the language as you read the script. Read it before you see it so that you have some understanding of the beautiful Elizabethan language. The Folger Shakespeare Library or Arden Shakespeare edition should be at your local library. When people ask why Shakespeare's plays are written as they are, I've heard it answered that it's because that's how people talked back then. I assure you, no one ever talked that way. Read an annotated script so that you understand the Elizabethan English these consummate actors spread before you.Hopkins, Lange, Lennix, and Cumming all get to chew the scenery, the screen, the frame, and even some of the seats. My shirtsleeves were in tatters when I left the building. It's a great piece of Shakespearean theater, and Taymore lets it all out. That said, this is a true tragedy, and there is no happy ending for Titus Andronicus and his entire family. Where in "Fracture" Hopkins plays the guy who pulls the rabbit out of the hat, here in "Titus" Hopkins's character has to gnaw his paw off in a vain attempt to get out of the snare set by Tamora. Never has integrity been so ill repaid. Taymore does a remarkable job of bringing the play to the screen. And it got nominated for Best Costume Design. Feh.

tubby1 Titus is a film that does have a certain allure but it alienates just as much with its peculiar segments within the film. For all its gusto and confidence Titus fails to be as poignant as it could be.The period is created with a flurry of modern additions, which at times does not look that far out of context with the overall picture but would have been better to maintain in its intended setting. Indeed the inclusion of Lucius, a young boy who is ignored and then brought into the film (you will understand if you see the film)is rather bizarre and unexplained progression, which I did not like.Harry Felix and Angus MacFadden are the stand out performances with Anthony Hopkins and Alan Cummings giving powerful displays which are both hindered by the over dramatics created in the film. The score is at times too over-the-top to take seriously, and the story is dark and harsh which will quell people's potential enjoyment.Titus for all its art and craft manages to sustained itself through its strong acting but its bravado is too much to be able to palate in reasonable proportions.