Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

sharky_55 A storm is brewing in the forests surrounding Athens, and it isn't just the faeries quarrelling. The famed city itself has been redressed as an imposing fortress, white marble adorned with fascist insignia, guards marching around like stormtroopers, and the victorious King Theseus exalted by fanfare and choir. There hasn't been anything close to light-hearted wooing; a war has been held. And if Nazi parallels weren't distracting enough for you, wait until the yielding queen is wheeled into the throne room restrained body to toe, masked Hannibal Lecter style. This is no longer a quaint comedy but a piercing melodrama, demonstrated by the way that the soundtrack seems to strain and wail alongside Hippolyta when she tries to break free of her restraints. Yet for all the soaring shots that fly out of windows and swoop over the glittering surrounding towns, director Russell Davies can't quite escape his Whosian roots: the cheesy special effects, the generous dash of camp, the implication that the world doesn't extend far from the set and frame. All the bombast and tyranny seems silly in comparison to genuine silliness, seen when the opening switches to the roll call of the Mechanicals in a hearty pub just outside the fortress walls. Bottom naturally draws the scene to himself, and no performance in the movie is bettered than that of Matt Lucas', beaming and bouncing from his very first step. The character can be easily lost in irritable boasts and showboating, but Lucas is lovable because of his inherent enthusiasm for the theatre and the performing arts, and we can therefore laugh at him without feeling like we are directing ridicule. With that dopey smile plastered permanently on his round face, the donkey ears are visible long before Puck's trickery. But not even Bottom's infectious cheer can distract from Davies' main intent to rewrite all the wrongs of the original Shakespeare. The players' dreadful Pyramus and Thisbe should be a tonic to the soul, a resounding uplift in the wake of confusion, darkness and deceit. Here it is laced with underlying terror. With each mistake and fumbled line Theseus is ordering another execution, slashing a red cross with about as much menace as one could muster when asked to sentence a poor workman to death via iPad. John Hannah delivers his commentary on the comedic tragedy with underlying menace instead of playful sarcasm, and the rest of the audience eye him warily, adjusting their reactions accordingly, lest they too be crossed off. Where has the joy gone? Turns out it's been jam-packed into the finale, a rapturous parade of both fairy and human celebrating the toppling of the the Theseus regime, and Hippolyta returned to her rightful place. You can see what Davies is going for, unleashing the torrent of fertility, sexuality and mysticism from the Early Modern English into the open. Magic in the air. Lovers reunited. All is mended. Titania may be fine with her little love-dazed tryst with a donkey (again, owing to Lucas), but what about poor Demetrius? The boy still has that dumbfounded look about him, mouth slightly agape, eyes only for Helena. There is a playful bit of misdirection earlier where he first falls for the spindly Lysander, but where is his happy ending? The original was problematic, no one could deny that. Why else is Puck offering amends to the audience, and sweeping the dust behind the door? Davis attempts to wave his magic wand and make everything all right, but Shakespeare was the most accomplished magician of them all. He had foreseen this problem already, and whispered a quick word to his Puck, who readied the flower's juice for the viewer. And what a spell we were put under.

dcrozier-04696 This is nonsense. What are actors of Maxine Peake's calibre doing in a misconstrued, overwrought, inept production like this. I was shocked when I saw this as the BBC usually has a good grasp on Elizabethan theatre but not this time. Avoid it! The Storm troopers are more than an anachronism; the forest scenes and the fairies seem to be at odds with each other; the lovers don't seem to understand the consequences of running from Athens away from "the sharp Athenian law"; Bottom's dream isn't one; the mechanicals are just that, mechanical; and Titania and Oberon seem to be discussing a shopping list over a pint for most of their interaction. In the year of the 400th anniversary of his death I would have hoped the the BeeB would have produced something more satisfying than this forgettable Midsummer Night's fiasco.

Jim A Midsummer Night's Dream has been a firm favourite of mine for many years and I have seen many version both on screen and in theatre. However I do not remember, when we studied A Midsummer Night's Dream in school, that it was written to be a homosexual romp and certainly no lesbian kissing. Maybe I will be regarded a die-hard traditionalist, but this wondrous play has all the magical ingredients in its original form which already provides plenty of scope for a variety of interpretations; so this work need no updating or unexpected twists to bring it to a new audience. Something of the historic context becomes lost along the way. Suffice to say, this has been deleted on my set-top box and if I am around in years to come, I will not be watching it on repeat. This is say because I have enjoyed some of Russell T Davies' previous work.

Prismark10 Russell T Davies certainly has taken inspiration from Baz Luhrmann and given Shakespeare a vigorous shake up and update.In the tyrannical court of Athens which is mocked up with Nazi type regalia, dictator Theseus plans his wedding to Hippolyta, who is trussed just like Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Meanwhile young Hermia is sentenced to death by her own father as she refuses to marry Demetrius but becomes enchanted with the Harry Potter like Lysander. Meanwhile her friend Helena pines for Demetrius who ignores her. In the forest they fall to mischievous behaviour by the fairies.In the town an amateur theatre group make plans to rehearse a play for the court but Bottom himself becomes transformed to an ass and finds that the fairy Titania has fallen for him thanks to spells woven by the spurned Oberon and aided by Puck.RTD reunited with the Doctor Who production team for technical, visual and special effects and composer Murray Gold who brings bombastic music to accompany the imagery. There are some nice touches of RTD's humour. The patrons of the local inn are watching 'The Comedy of Errors' on television which is actually 'You've been Framed.'Once we enter the forest, it becomes a bit trippy and the pared down text works a treat. I read this play at a school and it was rather unfathomable but here the way RTD has presented it on screen it really works.It all ends with a bit of a sing song from Bernard Cribbins. What more can you want.