Othello

Othello is my favorite Shakespeare play, so if an adaptation keeps pretty close to the source, I'm satisfied. However, it's really the acting of Othello and Iago that saves this one, keeping at bay the stuffiness that director Parker felt obligated to apply.

Not bad. Gotta love the acting.

Lots of overacting, but in a good way. Best portrayal of Iago I've seen.

Good adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy. I was highly impressed with the cast. Branagh is superb, as he almost always is in Shakespeare, and Fishburne makes for a stupendous Othello. I do have to say that it felt like a relatively safe adaptation of the play. When we have Shakespeare being reinvented constantly this ends up feeling a bit tame.

solid movie

Stiff and theatrical.

Disappointing. Branagh apparently decided the play was titled "Iago," and not "Othello."

There are several nagging issues I have with this adaptation but it has some great performances (Branagh is an outstanding Iago and Fishburne is good too) so the end result is far from unwatchable. The very fact that the director sacrificed adding more content for pointless sex scenes is very, very irritating. I still liked it quite a bit (it is Othello, faithfully adapted, after all), but I wish it was Branagh sitting in the director's chair.

B

The case presented by this film is, "maybe post-method Shakespeare is impossible." It's definitely not impossible, but I'll be damned if the 90's didn't present a pretty strong argument against our man in Avon. Fishburne's a decent enough actor, but Othello is way out of his league. It's an easy character to get wrong though. As for Iago, the old cliche is that a good Iago makes you want to shower afterward. Branagh isn't a good Iago. Plus, there was all that Bergman camera shit. That sucked.

66.500

So bad it's hilarious.

This is an unfortunately inadequate adaptation of what I believe to be Shakespeare best, most gripping play. The casting is where this goes awry first, Branagh is a great actor but leaves something to be desired as Iago and Fishburne doesn't quite master one of the most difficult role of all time. The director is not as skilled as branagh behind the camera and is neither as clear, entertaining, or faithful to the material as branagh tends to be. Better off watching a stage version filmed