Starring: Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz
Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) returns from war and visits his old
friend, Leonato. In tow, Don Pedro brings Benedick (Denisof) and Claudio
(Kranz). Claudio falls for Leonardo, innocent daughter, Hero (Jillian Morghese)
and in no time, they are engaged to be wed. Meanwhile, Benedick constantly
argues with Hero’s sister, Beatrice (Acker) and despite the animosity between
Benedick and Beatrice, they find themselves conspired against to try and fall in
love with each other, whilst the arrival of the recently freed and villainous
Don John (Sean Maher) puts the impending wedding in jeopardy.
With Much Ado About Nothing, Joss Whedon attempts to display
his eclecticism as a film-maker. Fresh off of the success of The Avengers
(Avengers Assemble, also 2012), a rip-roaring mega-budget superheroes and explosions
affair, we get this shoe-string budgeted monochromatic and eccentric adaptation
of one of William Shakespeare’s comedic plays. If not for the credits, you’d
have a hard time believing it was by the same director, although there are some
tell-tale signs of Whedon’s work such the cast of intelligent and capable women
as well as a snappy and witty approach to dialogue. These elements were present
in the Bard’s original work, and the film shows what little has changed in approach
between modern romantic-comedies and Shakespearean comedies (Kiss Me Kate, an
adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming Of The Shrew, is the best known example).
The stand-out from amongst the cast is Alexis Denisof, who initially seems
hammy and contrived to the extreme, but it is that facet that eventually makes
him entertaining and endearing, capering around in moments of high physicality.
This will be an acquired taste, as is any interpretation of Shakespeare, given
that there are both camps that stubbornly dislike Shakespeare’s work and those
who despise modern interpretations as if killing some scared cow, but the
universality of Shakespeare’s work shines through and whilst it seems that at
times we are being given a personal tour of Joss Whedon’s house (take note of
the police station ‘set’ for example), Much Ado About Nothing does the source
material justice.
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