Titus

Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: January 21st, 2014.
Director: Julie Taymor
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Colm Frere, Laura Fraser
Year: 1999
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The Movie:

Julie Taymor's big screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, her directorial debut adapted from her own stage production, is rarely considered the high point of the The Bard's output but in this filmed form makes for a wholly unique take on the famous tragic tale.

When the story begins, Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) has defeated the Goths and returned to his home to Rome with their Queen, Tamora (Jessica Lange), and her three sons in tow. When he arrives home he finds that Caesar has died and his two sons Saturninus, (Alan Cumming) and Bassianus (James Frain), are locked in a power struggle to decide who should replace their late father. The people, however, would vastly prefer that Titus himself be crowned the new Emperor. Regardless, Titus casts his support for Saturninus and as a show of faith gives her his beautiful daughter, Lavinia (Laura Fraser), for him to wed. This earns him the ire of Bassianus, to whom he had previously promised Lavinia.

Things are already complicated but become even more so when Titus kills Tamora's eldest son. From there, his own sons stand up to their father and disallow Lavinia to wed Saturninus, who in turn pushes back by opening the prisoners and letting loose the Goths taken captive in the war. He then takes Tamora for his bride and let's his new sons-in-law Demetrius (Matthew Rhys) and Chiron (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) do as they please regardless of the cost to the people. He offers the same freedoms Tamora's assistant Aaron (Harry Lennix), with whom she is having an affair. Tamora, understandably shaken by the murder of her son at Titus' hand, uses Demetrius, Chiron and Aaron to take revenge against him and she proves quite cunning but the arrival of Titus' brother, Marcus (Colm Feore), just might turn the tides of this vendetta.

What makes Julie Taymor's take on Titus interesting and more than just a simple stage to screen adaptation of some classic source material are the visuals. Instead of leaving this as a simple tale of greed and betrayal in traditional Roman times she's updated things. As such, we see tanks in the streets and our characters are decked out in suits and ties as well as in traditional Roman armor. Certain characters also dress in attire similar to what the Nazi's wore in the Second World War, and others in what almost looks like leather/fetish gear. It's an interesting effect that, if not always completely complimentary to the story, allows the director to toy with some impressive images and make for some interesting and eye catching moments of visual contrast. The movie never looks less than fantastic.

Where the movie really excels, however, is with its cast. Hopkins is really at his best here, never really going overboard (as he is sometimes apt to do) but instead investing in his character some appreciable depth and dimensionality, really fleshing him out and making him believably human. He uses that weighty screen presence of his to really make his character stand out and he delivers what is quite literally a flawless performance here. Jessica Lange is every part his equal, her character just as conniving and in many ways dangerous as that of Titus and her power hungry Tamora is a true sight to behold. The supporting cast members are found here at the top of their collective game as well, but it's Hopkins and Lange who will leave an irremovable impression on your mind when it's all said and done.

There are moments where maybe some more judicious editing would have helped and very definitely times where some of this feels like an exercise in style over substance, but by and large Titus is a truly interesting and unique take on Shakespeare and one which holds up quite well upon repeat viewings.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Titus arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed in its original 2.35.1 widescreen aspect ratio. There's been a lot of discussion on various internet outlets about the merits of the transfer here, with some claiming it to be an abomination and others finding it to be quite satisfactory. For the most part, yes, Titus does look decent in high definition. There are some instances where the image looks a little dirtier than some might have hoped for and other instances where there's a softness to the picture that a better remastering of the source might have corrected. Colors generally look excellent (comparatively speaking - this isn't a particularly colorful film and that's an intentional move on the part of the director), however, and skin tones appear realistic and appropriately warm throughout. Black levels are solid and shadow detail tends to be pretty good though there are a few darker scenes that look a bit muddier than others for whatever reason. Close up shots tend to offer good levels of detail, longer distance shots not as much. All in all, it's an upgrade over the DVD as you'd expect it to be, but it never quite hits reference quality levels of mind blowing high definition grandeur.

Audio options are supplied in English DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio tracks with optional closed captioning provided in English only. The 5.1 track sounds the more robust of the two, really doing an excellent job with the directional effects and more noticeably in a lot of ways the placement of the score. Dialogue stays clean and clear regardless of which option you choose and levels are properly balanced throughout. There are no audible problems with any hiss or distortion and the added depth afforded to the mixes by the lossless encoding do a great job of enhancing the atmosphere and tension in the film.

There are a lot of extra features on this disc, starting with the first of three commentary tracks. Here director Julie Taymor that covers pretty much everything that you'd want to know from a director's standpoint. She talks about how and why this project came to her in the first place, details the origins of the picture, discusses the casting and the production values, the locations, the sets - she covers it all and in quite a bit of detail. The second commentary is from composer Elliot Goldenthal and, as you'd probably have guessed, it focuses on his work in the music department. He goes into some depth in regards to why he chose the various compositions that he did for the picture and discusses some of the challenges that his work on the film involved. The third track features actors Anthony Hopkins and Harry Lennix and while it has a bit more dead air than the others, this scene specific talk (in which the participants seem to have been recorded separately) lets the two men talk about their characters and their experiences on the film. Between these three tracks, we've got a pretty thorough understanding of not only the history of the film and the intent behind it.

Aside from the commentary tracks we also get a fifty minute long Making Of Titus documentary that includes some interesting interviews with the principal cast and crew members and of course with Taymor herself. There's some intriguing footage included here and it's worth watching if you want to learn more about the film. It's broken up into four parts and covers pre-production, rehearsals, the actual production itself, the score and quite a bit more. Also included here is a thirty-four Q & A with Julie Taymor in which she appears in front of a group of Columbia University students to field questions about her picture. Between the commentary tracks and the documentary this one winds up covering some of the same ground but it's interesting to see her 'think on her feet' as she gets involved in discussing the picture with the audience.

Penny Arcade Nightmares is a five minute piece in which the film's special effects coordinator, Kyle Cooper, discusses what was done in a few of the movie's more effects intensive sequences and how he and his crew made the movie magic happen. Rounding out the extras on the disc are two trailers for the feature, two minutes worth of TV spots, an isolated score, menus and chapter selection.

Additionally, inside the Blu-ray case is a booklet of liner notes from Julie Kirgo that detail the film's Shakespearean roots and which rightfully praise its unique take on the source material and the performances that the picture contains. All in all, there's a lot of really interesting extra content here and even if it came from the previous Fox DVD special edition release, it's nice to see it ported over for posterity's sake.

The Final Word:

Titus may indeed be a flawed film but the acting is so strong across the board and the visuals so consistently impressive that it's hard not to get wrapped up in it. Twilight Time has provided better transfers than this one in the past but the improvements over the past DVD issue are definitely noticeable and the audio upgrade is a solid one too. A nice selection of extras round this one out rather nicely.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!