Yet another modern take on Shakespeare which was clearly
made famous by the excellent Romeo + Juliet, the 2001's O, based on the story of
Othello, surely doesn't disappoints. By making Othello being a player basketball
player with a hot girlfriend and then Iago as his friend and replacing swords
with guns.... what can possibly go wrong! Well, in this case, O actually is
pretty interesting, fun, tense, enthralling and highly enjoyable and with a
touching ending that will leave the viewers in a emotional mood. At 90 minutes,
O is a bit rushed and it would have been much appreciated that it was at least
15 minutes longer to develop the character of Iago played by Josh Harnett even
further as he seems to be enjoying it. Harnett does a good job hear without
being sensational like the performance of the Iago in 1995's Othello. Mekhi
Phifer also does well enough, despite at times some pretty over the top acting,
but his final few minutes shows signs of a potential actor. Julia Stiles again
does exactly what she is always portrayed herself as a rebellious young
teenager. With roles in many other Shakespeare updates such as 10 Things I hate
about you, Hamlet, O, Stiles seems to be making a career out of Shakespearean
update. Overall, O is a movie that is going to be liked by its target audience -
teenagers and young adults, but fans of Shakespeare may well end up quite
disappointed. However, I personally liked it.
82%
=
9