I’m going to try something a bit different with this review and would greatly appreciate your thoughts in the comments section below. Starting with this review, I’ve decided to abstain from giving the movie itself any sort of a numerical rating, but rather give a brief summary of what the film is about. Please let me know if you prefer to have an accompanying opinion piece, or if just a brief summary is better. With that said, onto Much Ado About Nothing.
Much Ado About Nothing is a film based on the William Shakespeare play of the same name. The film was directed by Kenneth Branagh, and stars Kenneth Branagh, Michael Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Kate Beckinsale, Emma Thompson, and Denzel Washington.
The plot of the film centers around Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) and his noblemen, as they visit their friend Leonato in Messina. Don Pedro soon learns that his young friend Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard ) has fallen in love with Leonato’s daughter Hero (Kate Beckinsale), and decides to arrange a party, to woo her in the interest of Claudio.
But as we all know, all is not happy in the worlds that Shakespeare creates. Whether it be his desire to ruin the happiness of those around him, or because he feels loved scorned by Hero’s engagement. Whichever it may be, Claudio Don John (Keanu Reeves) decides that he’s going to do his best to ruin the wedding plans by casting doubt upon Hero’s honor.
In a similar matchmaking fashion, Don Pedro decides to attempt to arrange a match between for Beatrice (Emma Thompson) and Benedick (Kenneth Branagh). However this match proved itself to be a lot more difficult, as the two would be lovers are sworn enemies of the opposite sex. As the story weaves itself, thicker and more intricate lies are told, and hearts broken, until the story culminates in new loves being born, and wicked men being thrown in jail.
The 1080p AVC encoded blu-ray transfer is neither bad, nor anything you’d want to write home about. The film hasn’t been scrubbed clean of all of it’s natural grain, however at times I wish it had been. It’s never to the point of distraction, but I’m not sure this is the best possible transfer the film could have received.
The colors are nicely handled on both the intricate clothing and the skin tones, which allow both to be showed off in a rather brilliant fashion.
The blacks of the film are pure and deep, and rarely ever show anything rather than the deep black you’d expect from a high definition transfer.
Though the film is driven by nothing more than dialogue, the films DTS 2.0 stereo track definitely feels like a rather lackluster transfer for modern sound systems. Even listening to the film’s dialogue while no score plays, I wished for more from the audio track, though thankfully the dialogue track is very clear and crisp. I noticed no instances of any detractor from the audio track, which is nice given the rather bland transfer.
This film arrives to your blu-ray players with a rather disappointing list of “special features.” I honestly don’t understand the motivation in releasing a film with almost no special features, beyond pure laziness.
- Making Ado About Nothing Featurette
- 1080p Trailer
If you happen to be a fan of Shakespearean plays and/or movies, or you’re already a fan of this film, then it’s most certainly worth checking out. I doubt the film is ever going to see a better transfer, or a release with more special features. However, unless you just cannot wait to get your hands on this film, I’d absolutely recommend waiting until the price drops to something you’re comfortable paying, for essentially what is a bare-bones release.
