Another triumph from BBC and the Bard!
Richard II - 5 STARS.
Perfect acting, incredible story, gorgeous costumes, beautiful cinematography. By far the best of the four, and mostly because of an electrifying performance by Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas, Skyfall). I asked myself why I hadn't seen Whishaw more often! His performance as Richard II is towering, electrifying, chameleon-like, moving, disturbing, delicate, multi-faceted, and most of all, brilliant. A phenomenal performance, and worthy of much praise indeed.
The supporting cast more than holds it's own: Patrick Stewart (always great, but sadly he leaves the narrative rather early), Clemence Poésy (a great, underrated French actress), David Suchet (reliable as ever), and Rory Kinnear (Who's Bolingbroke "bursts with valour and courage").
But let us give credit to where credit is due. Shakespeare...was one damn fine writer!
BEST SPEECH (delivered gloriously by Ben Whishaw):
For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground...
Within the hollow crown... keeps Death his court.
Shakespeare's historical plays can be a tough sell -- after all, they are political dramas that most modern people don't know much about.
But "The Hollow Crown" is up to that challenge, bringing to life Shakespeare's famous historical tetralogy ("Richard II," both parts of "Henry IV" and "Henry V") with an all-star cast and beautiful direction. The backgrounds are lush and the direction is powerful, but the real credit here goes to Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ben Whishaw and Jeremy Irons.
In "Richard II," a feud between Henry Bolingbroke (Rory Kinnear) and Thomas Mowbray (James Purefoy) leads to a duel... which is interrupted by King Richard II (Whishaw). Instead, the king banishes both men, and snatches the inheritance of Bolingbroke when his father (Patrick Stewart) finally dies. The nobles grow angry, and Bolingbroke begins to build a rebellion against his cousin -- with tragic results.
The story then skips about twenty years into the future...
Tom Hiddleston?
**********EDITED TO ADD: Well, the man's immense popularity has had an effect; Mr. Hiddleston is now listed first on the cast list (at least as it displays on my pc.) ******************************
I'm fairly stunned that the product listing doesn't mention Tom Hiddleston, considering the importance of his role as first Prince Hal and then King Henry V in the Henriad (hint: that would be three of the four plays in this package.) His performance was lauded by critics and awarded by public acclaim. Not to mention the guy rules Tumblr. In other words: huge fan following.
For more context, his well-remarked other roles in recent years include significant appearances in productions such as BBC period piece Return to Cranford (with Dame Judi Dench), Spielberg's War Horse, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, and..oh yes...as Loki in Marvel's Thor and The Avengers movies.
Presuming that this package contains the same material as that in the BBC product...
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