emdoub

Okay - I'm a hard-core Firefly fan, quite enthusiastic about Avengers, and was really looking forward to watching a Director I enjoy, with a cast I've come to be quite fond of, take on the Bard - I had high hopes for this.

Black and white cinematography - a bit of a surprise, and while I've seen it used to add impact that mere color cannot add, it wasn't used, really - it came across as self-consciously arty. Bringing the setting time into the present wasn't a problem - Shakespeare time-travels quite nicely, and there was no reason to not try for it here.

One of the great things about Shakespeare is that, properly read, the archaic language and phrasing translate quite well across the years. A Midsummer Night's Dream from 1999, or Hamlet from 1990, are wonderful examples of this - the original lines sing to the audience, as they've always been able to do.

But the words must be read, not recited - and here, we have good acting talent putting almost nothing into their lines - almost as if they're reading a teleprompter, with no understanding of the meaning of what they're saying. This is, ultimately, the job of the director to ensure - and it's the worst Whedon work I've ever seen. The actors, if in a bit less of a hurry to recite the lines before they've been forgotten, had been encouraged to put some feeling in, could have done better - I've seen them do better elsewhere. Joss Whedon can get a very complex performance out of his cast - I've seen him do it elsewhere. I just wish I'd seen them all do the work that I know they're capable of in this flick.

Interesting, well-presented story of what might have actually happened - with the known facts that support this theory. Yes, it would be instructive for the viewer to see the actual documentation instead of admittedly guesswork scenes that reenact private conversations, but not many documentaries present such documents - they'd be pretty dry if they did.

It does tell an engaging story about the odd events leading up to the ill-fated voyage, and present an alternate explanation of the horrible mistakes that history records - if this theory is true, the failure to launch the lifeboats until the last minute makes perfect sense.

For history buffs, it's a good starting point for research. For the mildly curious, it's an entertaining look at what might have been a well-executed cover-up.