Richard III
1995 · Movie · 107 min. · United Kingdom
This film adaptation of a critically acclaimed stage production of Shakespeare's historical drama stars Ian McKellen in the title role. The setting is a comic-book vision of 1930s London: part art deco, part Third Reich, part industrial-age rust and rot. The play's force is turned into a synthetic high by art directors and storyboard sketchers, all of whom have a field day condensing the material into disposable pop imagery. This is a fun film, more than anything, so infatuated with its own monstrous stitchery that even the most awkward casting (Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr.) seems a part of the ridiculous design. McKellen is the best thing about the movie, his mesmerizing portrayal of freakish despotism and poisoned desire a thing to behold.
Direction Richard Loncraine
Cast Ian McKellen · Annette Bening · Kristin Scott Thomas · Jim Broadbent · Robert Downey Jr. · Nigel Hawthorne · Maggie Smith · Adrian Dunbar
Soundtrack Trevor Jones
Screenplay Richard Loncraine · Ian McKellen · William Shakespeare
Cinematography Peter Biziou
Original title Richard III
6.5
1K votes (FilmAffinity)
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