Based on Shakespeare's first play, the hero is a Roman general who has to choose the next Caesar. He makes his choice, which has far reaching consequences for him and his family. The situation is made more complex by the captured Queen of the Goths, who ends up marrying the young Caesar, while bent on revenge against Titus. Things get more violent and bloody after that.
162 minutes, No persons under 16 (Violence, Nudity)
Drama, Sex, On the Art Circuit
Ian Douglas: I had trouble rating this movie. The producers obviously put a lot of effort into it. Some of the performances were good, others not so, with Hopkins sometimes slipping into Lector mode. There were several points that bothered me, the most noticable being the production design, a confusing mishmash of Roman soldiers and swords, Gestapo uniforms, and modern motor bikes and vehicles. When Titus murders his children, he does not appear particularly moved. The last scene takes place way too quickly, the audience hardly has time to see what is happening. The language is for the most part very difficult to follow, I'm not sure if it was the vocabularly, diction, or just Shakespeare's convoluted way of saying things. Good special effects, though.
