Titus

Sumptuously and elaborately staged, steeped in powerful symbolism and bordering on absolute brilliance, this stylistically post-modern, though sometimes pretentious Titus Andronicus adaptation is a manifold Shakespearean tragedy so devastating and ghastly that it makes Hamlet look like Ozzie and Harriet. Anthony Hopkins stars in the title role as a Roman general whose victory over the Goths has cost him 21 of 24 sons in battle and left him a wrecked shell. Upon Titus' return to Rome with Goth royals as prisoners, the tyrannical new Emperor (Alan Cumming) marries the captured queen (Jessica Lange), giving her the power to exact terrible and grotesque revenge upon the Andronicus family: torment, madness and comeuppance ensue. If you can endure the violence inherent in the play (rape, mutilation, dismemberment, cannibalism), taken to near stomach-turning levels here, Titus ranks among the best of the Bard's cinematic adaptations. Highly recommended. (R. Blackwelder)