Revengers Tragedy (2002)
A film adaptation of the 1606 satirical tragedy by Thomas Middleton, relocated to a post-apocalyptic Liverpool. Christopher Eccleston plays the revenge-obsessed Vindice, who has sworn to kill the evil Duke (Derek Jacobi) who murdered his one true love.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
Clever screen modernizations of classic drama make sense to me. I loved Ethan Hawke in HAMLET, Emma Thompson in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Kevin Klein in A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM, etc. This is a masterful adaptation/reformulation of THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY. It's intelligent, fast-paced, witty, shocking, engaging, and faithful to the spirit of the original.I intend to use it in conjunction with teaching the original to Advanced Placement English students in a public high school.As a certain 20th-century poet said, "Don't criticize what you can't understand." This is a nearly flawless production for anyone who loves the history of theater or who loves great cinema.
The acting is tremendous, the dialogue is delivered with such ease and intensity, and where there is caddiness-- it is intentional. This movie is visually beautiful and unapologetic; it does not bore you with tedious dialogue, but challenges the audience to mesh both Jacobean language with a modern day setting. Other movies have tried to accomplish this time fold, attempting to 'modernize' what they consider to be classics, but other movies did not have Christopher Eccleston and Eddie Izzard. There performances deserved more credit than the average moviegoer could afford. See this movie.
Wonderful! Elizabethan (or Edwardian) suspense meets "A Clockwork Orange". This production of a play by John Middleton (Shakespeare's contemporary) is cast in a dark punk-futuristic mode. The setting fits the plot so snugly it almost seems like Middleton wrote the play especially for it. Great acting. Highly recommended for anyone willing to make an effort to get the fast-paced 17th century English.
I have just seen the premier of this film at the Cambridge Film Festival, and it is superb. Christopher Eccleston is demented as the lead role, and Eddie Izzard at last cuts out the buffonery and lives up to his promise. Chumbuwumba provide and excelent soundtrack, and the costume designers have seen too many Adam Ant videos. The scouse touches bring the film down to earth just when it seems to get away. Better performances, and directing, would be difficult to see.