Anonymous

Greetings again from the darkness. While it is clear that writer John Orloff and director Roland Emmerich believe that Edward De Vere, The Earl of Oxford, and not Will Shakespeare, wrote the infamous and iconic plays we have celebrated for 400 years, my advice is to watch this as a Hollywood movie and not a docu-drama. Hollywood is at its best when exaggerating, twisting and dramatizing historic events and figures.

You may be an expert on Shakespeare and even Elizabethan history, but whether you are or whether you are not, my guess is that you will find this to be interesting and thought-provoking. You may agree with the idea that Shakespeare was not the prolific and talented author, but this movie provides one possible alternative ... with no scientific proof or actual documentation. We see Rhys Ifans and Jamie Campbell Bower portray Edward De Vere as the older and younger version respectively. Both capture his passion for writing and frustration at being unable to live the life for which he was born.

Vanessa Redgrave and her real life daughter Joely Richardson portray Queen Elizabeth at the older and younger stages, and we certainly get a distinctive impression of how "the Virgin Queen" may have been mis-labeled as much as any figure in history. Many lovers and illegitimate children are mentioned and the web of secrecy would have been exhausting, given the other responsibilities of her position.

Rafe Spall portrays Will Shakespeare as what one might call The Village Idiot. The buffoonery we see from this man is an extreme that weakens the case for De Vere, rather than strengthen it. Though talented writer Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) was De Vere's first choice, the lack of morals by the illiterate actor Shakespeare allows him to seize a capitalistic opportunity and soak up the audience love.

The best part of the film is the realistic look and feel of the streets, the Globe Theater and costumes. Rhys Ifans is exceptional in the role of De Vere, and the story itself plays out much like one of Shakespeare's plays. The downside is, I believe most will find the multitude of characters and time-lines and sub-plots to be quite confusing at times. Don't take a bathroom break or you'll miss new babies being born and upheavals being planned.

The trailer to this movie interested me but it really beat my expectation. I thought it would be sort of interesting but overall dumb and super far-fetched movie. Now I can see how some people might dislike this movie, especially for those that are fans of Shakespeare. Also the movie doesn't really make you think but instead goes in a black and white direction. Where Shakespeare is a charlatan and a fraud, while being a obnoxious drunkard and a despicable person at that. Also this movie might irritate some viewers who judges movies by how true it is historically. Although history is written by ink and usually by the victors. But what this movie is, is a intriguing movie that grabbed my attention most of the way through although it had some slow moments. And can get a bit convoluted the way it goes from before and after parts, but you catch on after a while. Since there are movies about Shakespeare, it would have been more interesting if it had more of the back story of Earl of Oxford and his life. And also some parts seemed a bit far-fetched. The cast was pretty good and the acting for the most part is believable. Especially Rhys Ifans who played Earl of Oxford, the way he presented himself was charismatic and you could tell the character is intelligent by the way he expressed himself. Vanessa Redgrave was also great as Queen Elizabeth I. What was intriguing was how plays are in a way sort of like movies and this movie was about how plays moved people in immense ways. Overall this movie was a good blend of drama, romance and conspiracy.

7.4/10

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." - Romeo Juliet He wrote 37 plays and more than 150 sonnets. He introduced some 3000 words to the English language. But was he an illiterate buffoon? His parents were illiterate and he was likely to have received only primary education. His own wife and daughters were supposedly illiterate. For many years since early 19th century, there has been an unsettling question still ensues a debate among many scholars on the authorship of the work published under his name. Who is the real author of Hamlet, Romeo Juliet and many more of those plays that redefined the English literature during Tudor period. Although the work was published by Ben Johnson, but was it really the work of Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford? DeVere was a playwright and a poet of the Tudor times. Also, there were many similarities existed between the characters for example Hamlet and Richard III plays and the people DeVere was close to and the events happened in his life and that are described in the plays. There are few others whom anti-Stratfordians believe to be a real writer as well such as Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe. The anti-Stratfordians include famous people like Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, Helen Keller, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Wells, Malcom X, and more. Did you know Shakespeare was a grain merchant in his later years who was delinquent in paying taxes !!!!

This movie is all about story and script writing. It steers through the complicated corrupt Tudor history, entwines them in a way that is more of a mystery than investigative story. But Intriguing plot, stunningly created Tudor London, breathtaking shots.. an impressive mise-en-scene, superb costumes, convincing performances. A good watch.

Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Sigmund Freud, namely: who actually created the body of work credited to William Shakespeare? Experts have debated, books have been written, and scholars have devoted their lives to protecting or debunking theories surrounding the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature. Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when scandalous political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles lusting for the power of the throne were brought to light in the most unlikely of places: the London stage. -- (C) Sony Pictures

As an average movie-goer, I had no idea that Shakespeare's authorship was ever questioned. I didn't know there were theories that existed that other people might have been the true author of the plays, one of which the film focuses on is Oxford. But as far as what ANONYMOUS achieves, it certainly opened my mind as an individual that there is a possibility that another person might have been the true writer of the plays. I mean, why not? It makes the whole thing pertaining to Shakespeare's plays much more interesting. At the most basic level, ANONYMOUS does one thing right: It's damn interesting and entertaining.

Even as a person who never liked Shakespeare's plays (especially the dreaded ROMEO AND JULIET), the film manages to be involving. I was compelled throughout the film, and what makes it work are the actors. Most of them are on the top of their game, including Rhys Ifans who is unrecognizable as Oxford compared to his role in HARRY POTTER 7 PT.1. Even his stares are intense. Rafe Spall as William Shakespeare seems to have a field day with his role, portraying him as an attention-seeking, moneygrubbing actor. I'd also like to point out that Sebastian Armesto, playing Ben Jonson, seems to have an unexpected greater amount of sreentime than anyone else in the film, and he does well in his role as the aspiring writer who plays as a messenger between Oxford and Shakespeare.

Another interesting thing to point out is that the film really doesn't focus on the whole authorship debate a lot. We see that Oxford is the writer giving the scripts to Ben, but other than that, the film pretty much brushes it off to the side and, instead, focuses more on the relationship between Oxford and Queen Elizabeth I as well as the Essex Rebellion. As you can tell, the cast is pretty huge, and I have to admit the first 20 minutes of the film is pretty confusing. We're introduced to a world with many characters and time periods jumping all over the place, but it gets easier to grasp once you get to know the characters.

Overall, ANONYMOUS is an interesting and entertaining film that will get people talking about who the real author of the plays are. The least anyone would get out of it is two hours of a fun "what if?" scenario. The performances by the cast is what really makes the film, though. If it wasn't for the cast, the film wouldn't have worked. Additionally, haters of director Roland Emmerich might find themselves pleased that ANONYMOUS is a character-driven film that doesn't rely on things being destroyed every five minutes. I'd like to see him make more films like this.

First thing to point out. When going to watch this movie I had no intention whatsoever to judge it on its historical accuracy. I simply did not and do not care. If you want a documentary on Elizabethan times then clearly you shouldn't be watching this particular film.

If, on the other hand, you want a perfectly entertaining and interesting way to spend a couple of hours then you should go and see it. I thought the story was engaging and original (if, like myself, you're not a pretentious academic). The acting was, on the whole, very accomplished. In particular, I thought Rhys Ifans gave a brilliant performance as De Vere and was perfect for the role. I did find Rafe Spall pretty annoying as Shakespeare, but perhaps I should give him the benefit of the doubt as this was probably the aim of the character.

With regards to the historical rewrite then surely if people are interested in what 'Anonymous' suggests they'll try to find out more about the subject in order to make their own mind up. Nothing wrong with that. And those taking Hollywood's version of history at face value are pretty much beyond help anyway.

Certainly one of the most memorable movies i've seen (for the right reasons) this year.