Parents' Guide to

Coriolanus

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

War-set Shakespeare adaptation has plenty of blood and gore.

Movie R 2011 123 minutes
Coriolanus Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

age 15+

This title has:

Great role models
Too much violence
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Ralph Fiennes carries this off brilliantly. Like Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, and Kenneth Branagh before him, Fiennes now takes on the daunting duty of directing and performing in a big-screen Shakespeare adaptation. Even more daring, he tackles one of Shakespeare's lesser-known works and adapts it to modern times, using guns, war, and CNN-style TV coverage. It all works extremely well, with the exception of the ugly hand-held cinematography designed to make the war footage look more chaotic but that really only looks jerky.

Oddly, the Bard's dialogue fits well in the modern setting; even the TV pundits sound perfectly natural. Even the questionable casting of Butler pays off, as he plays bloodthirsty bad guy Aufidius with all of the arrogance and gusto he usually brings to his heroic roles. Fiennes is especially magnetic, but even he can't keep his scenes from being stolen by the magnificent Redgrave; for her, this is a crowning achievement in an already great career.

Movie Details

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