The Tempest [DVD]

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This modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s final masterpiece is an exciting, mystical and magical fantasy with Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren (Best Actress, The Queen, 2006) leading a star-studded cast including Russell Brand (Get Him To The Greek) and Alfred Molina (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). Exiled to a magical island, the sorceress Prospera (Mirren) conjures up a storm that shipwrecks her enemies, and then unleashes her powers for revenge. Directed by the visionary Julie Taymor — and complete with exclusive bonus features — The Tempest, with its innovative twist, is a supernatural dramedy filled with Shakespearean villains, lovers and fools that will leave you spellbound. From .co.uk ----------- Stark colors and textures dominate The Tempest, a cinematic adaptation of the classic play by William Shakespeare, directed by accled theater maverick Julie Taymor (whose other films include Titus and Frida). The ever-magnificent Helen Mirren (The Queen, Red) plays the usually male role of the magician Prospera, the duchess of Milan, who was exiled to an island with her daughter Miranda (Felicity Jones), where she has two magical servants: the mercurial spirit Ariel (Ben Whishaw, Bright Star) and the sullen, lumpen Caliban (Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond). Prospera conjures up the storm of the title and brings ashore a ship full of her former peers, including the king of Nes (David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck), the king's son Ferdinand (Reeve Carney), and Prospera's brother (Chris Cooper, Adaptation), who usurped her position in Milan. Treachery, regret, and romance follow. The Tempest has the weaknesses of the original play; there's much talk of rebellion but nothing really happens--Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love, Caliban gets drunk with a couple of clownish shipwrecked men (Alfred Molina, Spider-Man 2, and Russell Brand, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and Ariel bewitches and bedazzles the king and his retinue… all of which comes to a tidy and too easy conclusion. Taymor whips up plenty of visual razzle-dazzle, some of which is lovely and some of which is trying too hard. But the strength of The Tempest is some gorgeous poetry, and Mirren handles that language with impeccable clarity and power. --Bret Fetzer