obvious when one of the princes is ‘black’ and the other is ‘white.’
However, I feel that Keanu Reeves is not suitable to play the part of Don John. In another version of Much Ado About Nothing, the actor cast as Don John was much older and less handsome, which made him appear more of a villain and I feel, for this reason, he succeeded in playing the role of Don John. I think that Keanu Reeves is inappropriate to play this role because the audience does not immediately recognise him as a villain. Keanu Reeves normally plays the part of the hero; the person that does the good deeds; the one who attracts the women, which provides him with a false image at the beginning of the play. It’s important not to be fooled by his appearance because it, then, doesn’t allow the audience to truly recognise Don John as the villain.
Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson perform well as Benedick and Beatrice. They portray their characters well, especially Emma Thompson as Beatrice. She really portrays Beatrice’s upset and anger, at the fact that Hero’s has been slandered, well. Her acting really allows to you to understand why Beatrice is so distraught.
I feel that Robert Sean Leonard’s acting was quite poor. He was unable to portray Claudio’s true feelings. At moments in the film, when Claudio was supposed to be really worried and upset, Robert Sean Leonard made it seem as if Claudio was just pretending to be upset. This gives a false impression to the audience who may think that Claudio was not actually concerned. However, in the wedding scene, he portrayed Claudio’s anger, brilliantly. It really allowed the audience to see why Claudio would be so angry about being deceived.
Dogberry was played by Michael Keaton, who I feel did a brilliant job in depicting Dogberry as the village idiot. I feel he was really able to show that Dogberry was meant to be stupid, and this was done well in the scenes where Dogberry and Verges galloped around on imaginary horses.
Location
Much Ado About Nothing was filmed in Villa Vignamaggio in Tuscany and the setting was really bright and open. The fact that it was bright and sunny made it, automatically, seem as if everybody was happy. The use of such bright, open settings showed the audience that Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy and is meant to have a happy ending. Shakespeare didn’t write the play to be dull and unhappy, but interesting and joyful and the setting really allows that to be obvious.
Music
The music is well selected in the film. It helps to augment the mood and sets the atmosphere. The music, used in the wedding scene, builds up suspense and adds to the mood, creating drama and bringing the scene to its climax.
Extras
Balthazar’s song from Act II Sc III is moved to the beginning of the film and instead of being sung, it is read as a poem by Beatrice. I feel this works really well because it sets the film up and unites the beginning of the play to the subject of the play, deception. It also builds on Beatrice’s character. Beatrice reads the poem with emotion, which implies that Beatrice, herself, has once been deceived.
Slow motion is used at the beginning of the play, when the soldiers are riding up to the villa. This focuses on them and makes their return seem really significant. The soldiers return as war heroes and by filming their return in slow motion, it really demonstrates that to the audience.
When Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato deceive Benedick about Beatrice’s intentions for him, it isn’t as serious as it is supposed to be. In the play, Shakespeare wrote the deception scene to be serious, but in the film, Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato treat it as a joke. They shout to each other and smirk a lot, which removes the seriousness of the scene.
