With what seems to be inadvertent coherence, film is both a performance of selected scenes of William Shakespeare's Richard III and a broader examination of Shakespeare's continuing role and relevance in popular culture. The movie guides the audience through the play's plot and historical background.
Pacino plays both himself and the title character, making it an absolute essential for fans of Al Pacino, people like me, who cannot get enough of the guy's presence. His energy is infectious, his spirit is enviable.
Combines crowd-pleasing with the widespread cultural turn-off Americans have with the challenge of Shakespeare. What an incredible cause. Kids seeing this film first may well end up with a better understanding of the Bard's work, because Pacino has made an informative, engrossing and hugely enjoyable movie that stands as a work of pure entertainment as powerfully as its inspiration, the very mixture he intends to apply to complicated historical potboilers like Richard III. And he does not condescend the masses by focusing entirely on the negligent view of Shakespeare as obligation. Stars who turn to directing rarely or never do things like this.
Pacino plays both himself and the title character, making it an absolute essential for fans of Al Pacino, people like me, who cannot get enough of the guy's presence. His energy is infectious, his spirit is enviable.
Combines crowd-pleasing with the widespread cultural turn-off Americans have with the challenge of Shakespeare. What an incredible cause. Kids seeing this film first may well end up with a better understanding of the Bard's work, because Pacino has made an informative, engrossing and hugely enjoyable movie that stands as a work of pure entertainment as powerfully as its inspiration, the very mixture he intends to apply to complicated historical potboilers like Richard III. And he does not condescend the masses by focusing entirely on the negligent view of Shakespeare as obligation. Stars who turn to directing rarely or never do things like this.