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Coriolanus

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5.8/10 • 465

2011-02-142h 3m

DramaThriller

Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.

Caius Martius, aka Coriolanus, is an arrogant and fearsome general who has built a career on protecting Rome from its enemies. Pushed by his ambitious mother to seek the position of consul, Coriolanus is at odds with the masses and unpopular with certain colleagues. When a riot results in his expulsion from Rome, Coriolanus seeks out his sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. Together, the pair vow to destroy the great city.

Directors
Ralph Fiennes
Editors
Nicolas Gaster

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Ralph Fiennes

    Ralph Fiennes

    Caius Martius Coriolanus

  2. Gerard Butler

    Gerard Butler

    Tullus Aufidius

  3. Lubna Azabal

    Lubna Azabal

    First Citizen (Tamora)

  4. Ashraf Barhom

    Ashraf Barhom

    Second Citizen (Cassius)

  5. Jessica Chastain

    Jessica Chastain

    Virgilia

  6. Vanessa Redgrave

    Vanessa Redgrave

    Volumnia

  7. James Nesbitt

    James Nesbitt

    Tribune Sicinius

  8. Brian Cox

    Brian Cox

    Menenius

  9. John Kani

    John Kani

    General Cominius

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jul 17, 2025

6/10

This reminded me a little of Sir Ian McKellen’s 1995 reimagining of “Richard III” as Ralph Fiennes turns his hand to directing this Shakespeare story of power-lust and betrayal. It’s maybe not the most famous of the bard’s works, nor for my money is it one of his most original. The story itself has shades of “Julius Caesar” too it as it depicts the rise and fall of the eponymous dictator (Fiennes). It all starts when the grain-deprived masses of the city take to the streets and their leader, who holds most of these plebs in utter contempt, finds himself unexpectedly deposed by the council - upon which sits his own mother (Vanessa Redgrave) - and shown the Appian Way. Disillusioned and furious, he enters into his own equivalent of a Faustian pact and swears allegiance to his bitterest enemy “Aufidius” (the seriously over-challenged Gerard Butler). What chance he can galvanise his new ally into helping him regain what he has lost - and, probably more consistently throughout this internecine web of deceit and suspicion, can anyone really trust anyone else to keep their promises? This does look good, and the assembled cast are extremely competent at delivering some of the poignant and thoughtful dialogue contained in this political tragedy, but I felt that perhaps too much of the nuance had to be condensed out of this necessarily abridged story, and somehow the fact that it wasn’t stage-bound lessened the intensity of the characterisations. Though she looked entirely natural in her pseudo-Fascist uniform, I felt Redgrave lacked for emotion as she performed and Fiennes over-compensated for that with plenty of intensely photographed opportunities for his nostrils to flare and his Adam’s Apple to agitate. As is so often the case with these adaptations, they can’t be as long as the original and so have to compromise. This one did a little too much of that for my liking. Still, if it encourages folk to read his works, then it is film well used.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$7,700,000.00
Revenue
$1,072,602.00
Keywords
senategeneralmarketrivalrytragedytearsscarstabbingtruceflag