Richard III (1955)

"What need'st thou run so many miles about, when thou mayst tell thy tale the nearest way?"

This brilliantly describes how I feel about Shakespeare. While he writes really great stuff, it's incredibly hard to follow because of his vernacular. Maybe back is his time, or maybe even in Olivier's time, it was a lot easier to comprehend. Luke and I both agreed that Shakespeare's work is much better read than watched on the silver screen, simply because then you have time to comprehend the meaning of the words. When watching his work performed, by the time you've figured out what one line means, 4 others have since passed.

In it's credit, Richard III isn't a bad film at all. If you like Shakespeare, and are familiar with the play itself or can easily interpret Shakespeare, then you're bound to love it. Olivier does a great job as the titular usurper. The sets are all well-designed and the Technicolor photography makes it all come to vivid life.

But, like I said, the plot is very hard to follow if you're not familiar with the play, mainly because of the language used. Hopefully I'll be able to return to the film later on and appreciate it more, but, for this first viewing, it mostly bored and frustrated me.

On a side note, to see two hilarious interpretations of Shakespeare's work (in fact, they even satirize morons like me) check out Chris Coutts' Tales for the L33t, featuring Romeo + Juliet and Hamlet.