Review by lchris9

This modern retelling of Shakespeare's Othello, set in an elite boarding school, has some promising moments but ultimately falls apart.

First of all, the setting and characters of O simply aren't equal to the film's high-minded intent. In the original play, Othello was a general. The Odin of the film is a high school basketball star. In today's society, it may not seem incredible to consider school athletics of earth-shattering importance, but to me it's a bit of a stretch. No one in O has any sense of perspective, the notion that maybe basketball isn't the most important thing in the world. This is made worse by Martin Sheen as the sterotypically fanatical coach. The racial element of O doesn't work either, and I'm sure some black viewers were offended by the ease with which the psychotically envious Hugo fools the naive Odin. To me Hugo seemed like a surly underachiever, not likely to have the intelligence or ambition to pull off such elaborate schemes. Speaking of which, the plot of O is overly complex. The way Hugo plots Odin's downfall is simply too elaborate and makes us aware that the script is trying too hard to fit a model (the original Othello).

Finally, the film collapses completely during the final fifteen mintutes. Apparently, O was delayed due to the events at Columbine. They needn't have worried, as the violence at the conclusion of O is so overblown it seems amateurish. I seriously doubt if this film has the power to motivate real-life violence (at least one thing in its favor). At the very end, Odin gives a speech that sounds like a monologue in a drama class. Then we're subjected to opera in the background and further portentous musings on the part of Hugo.