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Cymbeline

  • 20142014
  • RR
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
3.7/10
4K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovovich, Ed Harris, John Leguizamo, and Dakota Johnson in Cymbeline (2014)
Trailer for Cymbaline
Play trailer1:12
4 Videos
28 Photos
  • Drama

A gritty story of a take-no-prisoners war between dirty cops and an outlaw biker gang. A drug kingpin is driven to desperate measures.A gritty story of a take-no-prisoners war between dirty cops and an outlaw biker gang. A drug kingpin is driven to desperate measures.A gritty story of a take-no-prisoners war between dirty cops and an outlaw biker gang. A drug kingpin is driven to desperate measures.

IMDb RATING
3.7/10
4K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Michael Almereyda
  • Writers
    • Michael Almereyda(screenplay)
    • William Shakespeare(play)
  • Stars
    • Ethan Hawke
    • Ed Harris
    • Milla Jovovich
Top credits
  • Director
    • Michael Almereyda
  • Writers
    • Michael Almereyda(screenplay)
    • William Shakespeare(play)
  • Stars
    • Ethan Hawke
    • Ed Harris
    • Milla Jovovich
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 36User reviews
    • 49Critic reviews
    • 54Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Videos4

    Cymbeline
    Trailer 1:12
    Cymbeline
    Cymbeline Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:00
    Cymbeline Official Trailer
    The Betrayel
    Clip 1:38
    The Betrayel
    The Confession
    Clip 0:41
    The Confession

    Photos28

    Dakota Johnson in Cymbeline (2014)
    Penn Badgley and Dakota Johnson in Cymbeline (2014)
    Milla Jovovich in Cymbeline (2014)
    Dakota Johnson in Cymbeline (2014)
    Ethan Hawke and Penn Badgley in Cymbeline (2014)
    Ed Harris and Penn Badgley in Cymbeline (2014)
    Ed Harris and Dakota Johnson in Cymbeline (2014)
    Ethan Hawke in Cymbeline (2014)
    Milla Jovovich, Ed Harris, and Anton Yelchin in Cymbeline (2014)
    Cymbeline (2014)
    Milla Jovovich, Ed Harris, Anton Yelchin, and Mauricio Ovalle in Cymbeline (2014)
    Milla Jovovich at an event for Cymbeline (2014)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ethan Hawke
    Ethan Hawke
    • Iachimoas Iachimo
    Ed Harris
    Ed Harris
    • Cymbelineas Cymbeline
    Milla Jovovich
    Milla Jovovich
    • The Queenas The Queen
    John Leguizamo
    John Leguizamo
    • Pisanioas Pisanio
    Penn Badgley
    Penn Badgley
    • Posthumusas Posthumus
    Dakota Johnson
    Dakota Johnson
    • Imogenas Imogen
    Anton Yelchin
    Anton Yelchin
    • Clotenas Cloten
    Peter Gerety
    Peter Gerety
    • Dr. Corneliusas Dr. Cornelius
    Kevin Corrigan
    Kevin Corrigan
    • The Hangmanas The Hangman
    Vondie Curtis-Hall
    Vondie Curtis-Hall
    • Caius Luciusas Caius Lucius
    James Ransone
    James Ransone
    • Philarioas Philario
    Spencer Treat Clark
    Spencer Treat Clark
    • Guideriusas Guiderius
    Bill Pullman
    Bill Pullman
    • Sicilius Leonatusas Sicilius Leonatus
    Delroy Lindo
    Delroy Lindo
    • Belariusas Belarius
    Harley Ware
    • Arviragusas Arviragus
    Diego Cortez
    • Frechmanas Frechman
    Mauricio Ovalle
    Mauricio Ovalle
    • Fu Manchuas Fu Manchu
    Emerson Rosenthal
    • Emersonas Emerson
    • (as Emerson Ray Rosenthal)
    • Director
      • Michael Almereyda
    • Writers
      • Michael Almereyda(screenplay)
      • William Shakespeare(play)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    More like this

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    Storyline

    Edit
    A gritty story of a take-no-prisoners war between dirty cops and an outlaw biker gang. A drug kingpin is driven to desperate measures. —Lionsgate
    • corruption
    • deception
    • police
    • biker gang
    • one word title
    • 37 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • Kings Queens Soldiers Bikers War
    • Genre
      • Drama
    • Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
      • Rated R for some violence
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      It is the second modern-day Shakespeare adaptation to star both John Leguizamo and Vondie Curtis-Hall. Both previously started in Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" (1996) as Tybalt and Captain Prince, respectively.
    • Quotes

      Belarius: [about Queen's beheaded son] I do fear this body hath a tail more perilous than the head.

    • Connections
      Version of Cymbeline (1937)
    • Soundtracks
      I'm Indestructible
      written and performed by Andrew Adkins

      Courtesy of Whiskey Begonias (ASCAP)

    User reviews36

    Review
    Top review
    Well-acted but unsatisfying Shakespeare modernization
    Going to the theater to watch CYMBELINE reminded me of times spent being selected to serve on a jury: I had to throw out all my preconceptions and concentrate on the case as presented. Thanks to generally earnest and well-measured performances by the cast, the piece is gripping but by its conclusion is unconvincing and somewhat an empty exercise.

    There's no denying director Michael Almereyda's creativity in slashing the play's contents to manageable length while retaining the beauty and power of the Bard's language. But this is familiar territory for film buffs, poaching on maverick NYC director Abel Ferrara's vision of a nihilistic parallel world New York, which he explored most successfully in influential films KING OF NEW YORK, MS. 45 and BAD LIEUTENANT. Almereyda's style is quite different, adopting an ultra-serious mood of foreboding, while Abel's explosive approach was far less wimpy, often pushing or breaking through the limits of X-rated (now NC-17) filmmaking.

    Leavening this heavy, self-important mood is almost non-stop relief (almost comic) provided by anachronisms, with a NY setting imposed awkwardly on the war between ancient Romans and occupied Britons. (Abel would have cast Brits w/their distinctive accents vs. Italian/Americans with Bronx or Broroklyn twangs, but Almereyda employs a disparate ethnic mix on both sides of the equation which I found completely arbitrary apart from its "urban ethnic" slant.) This brand of humor was pioneered by the late British powerhouse Ken Russell in the '60s and '70s with works ranging from THE DEVILS to LISZTOMANIA, and is channeled by Almereyda by way of Russell's only current imitator in cinema, Baz Luhrmann (of ROMEO + JULIET fame or infamy).

    Strong portrayals of the key adversaries by Ed Harris (Briton Cymbeline, as a meth drug/gang leader king) and Vondie Curtis-Hall (as the local Roman officer by way of upstate NY) are further enhanced by an even greater gravitas displayed by Delroy Lindo as the tough but kindly protector of the king's two missing sons, who he has raised and sheltered to adulthood.

    Rest of the cast is variable, starting with chief protagonist Posthumus played as a handsome but rather wan figure by Penn Badgley. Overshadowing him in a memorable turn is current It girl (of 50 SHADES OF GREY) Dakota Johnson as Cymbeline's daughter Imogen, the princess, in love with Posthumus. She is very empathetic throughout the film and morphs handily into a Shailene Woodleigh lookalike in later reels when hiding out with hair cut off as boy in the usual Shakespearean cross-dressing mode.

    Top-billed Ethan Hawke (who previously was a NYC HAMLET for the director) is riveting and thoroughly immersed in the text as the villain of the piece, who sets much of the melodrama in motion via his creepy wager with Posthumus that he can deflower Imogen easily. The film is at its audience-involving best during Hawke's dominant segment, and becomes rather wearisome in later reels as his importance is sidelined.

    Similarly John Leguizamo commands the screen and steals most of his scenes as an ambiguous go-between character who transitions much of the action. Other standouts in small roles include a surprisingly serious Bill Pullman and sudden songstress (singing Bob Dylan no less) Milla Jovovich, cast against type as the evil step-mother queen. One of the weakest elements is Anton Yelchin as her crazy son, a role I didn't get into at all though he is a key element of the play.

    So after an hour or so enjoying the intriguing upstate NYC locations and practical interior sets plus oddball elements (apt use of All Hallow's Ever/Halloween imagery throughout but silly American culture references like President Obama on TV), the final reel was quite poor, perhaps due as much to Shakespeare's intricate plotting devices as to the director's adaptation. Like plays or great novels of the period (see Fielding's TOM JONES) the disparate loose ends of the play come way too neatly together for the climax and resolution.

    I guess the pernicious trend in cinema in the past couple of decades of the so-called Chaos Theory screenplays justifies this sort of dramatic nonsense (CRASH and BABEL come to mind) but the quickie payoffs of a convoluted storyline are unsatisfying to a contemporary (and thinking) audience, and easy outs that give one a "much ado about nothing" final response.
    helpful•30
    19
    • lor_
    • Mar 9, 2015

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 13, 2015 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Site
      • Official site (Japan)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Anarchy
    • Filming locations
      • Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Benaroya Pictures
      • Keep Your Head
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $64,851
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 38 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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