The boldest, and best, idea in the whole film is to take leading man Prospero and reimagine him as a woman—in this case Prospera, brilliantly played by Helen Mirren, who clearly can do just about anything.
Prospera was ousted from ruling over Milan (by big brother Antonio, played stylishly by Chris Cooper) and now is forced to live on a remote island with her daughter, Miranda (Felicity Jones). In Prospera's own way, she's fiendishly vindictive, as well as fiercely protective of her offspring, and uses her magic powers to bring her brother and others who may have wronged her back to the island via shipwreck to wreak her revenge.
Onto this exotic playground comes a wide variety of characters, giving a superb ensemble a chance to play it light and dark in what is at times an uneven and hard-to-digest telling of the tale. At this point in his career, Shakespeare clearly had great confidence in his ability to write dialogue, but some of it is so tricky it takes a cast of acting heavyweights to make it sing.
The results in the acting department are mixed, but Taymor has rounded up a superb group of thesps to give it the old college try.
Of course Mirren leads the pack with a strong and courageous take on a role written for a man that has surprisingly changed very little with the gender switch. To listen to Mirren spin Shakespeare's words off her tightly controlled British tongue is to know you are hearing one of the greats. In this grande dame's hands, it looks like Shakespeare wrote it specifically for her.
Also impressive is Djimon Hounsou as Caliban, who, along with spirit Ariel (Ben Whishaw), aids her in her devious deeds. Caliban, a native of the island, literally embodies it in both look (with pounds of dirty makeup) and actions, and Hounsou gets it pitch-perfect. As Miranda, Jones—along with Reeve Carney as her romantic Prince Ferdinand—are pleasant enough but a bit overwhelmed by others, including comic relief turned in by the team of Alfred Molina and Russell Brand, who come off as the class clowns in this thing.
A quartet of fine actors represents the opposite, darker side—including Alan Cumming, David Strathairn, Tom Conti, and Cooper, who come in with Prospera's homemade storm and provide lots of necessary conflict.
Taymor certainly knows her way around this kind of material and brings her theatrical flair into play at every turn. If you aren't into imaginative reinterpretation of Shakespeare, you might want to run for the hills. But there are pleasures to be had, primarily Mirren, alone worth the price of admission.
Genre: Drama
Written and directed by: Julie Taymor, based on the play by William Shakespeare
Starring: Helen Mirren, Ben Whishaw, David Strathairn, Djimon Hounsou, Alan Cumming, Chris Cooper, Tom Conti, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Felicity Jones, Reeve Carney.