Much Ado About Nothing

I know at least a couple of you are looking forward to my Unsouled post, as the book was released this week and I completed it yesterday. However, I'm still trying to formulate something coherent and process everything I can about the story. When I do manage to string enough words together to describe it, the post will definitely be a long one. For now, I want to talk about the latest film I watched -- Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, based on the well known play by William Shakespeare.

The main reason I wanted to watch this film was for Whedon and his merry band of Whedon alum. The cast included at least one actor from every single one of his original series, such as Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher from Firefly, Tom Lenk from Buffy, Fran Kranz from Dollhouse, and most importantly, the adorable Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof from Angel.  I would have watched the movie for the Amy and Alexis reunion alone; their chemistry from Angel as Wes and Fred has left me yearning for more ever since I completed that series. I did have one major reservation about this film and it was the genre. I'm not much for Shakespeare on his own, if only because of my impatience for the confusing language and a plot that beats around the bush. Still, I took a leap of faith that there's a reason people praise Shakespeare in the way that I praise Whedon. A combo like that had to have potential.

The first thirty or so minutes of the film seemed to be confirming my reservation rather than my faith. The mix of the old and the modern and the use of direct dialogue from Shakespeare was rather overwhelming at first. Though I could get the general tone of the situations, I could only understand every other line and didn't feel like I was getting much out of it besides the fangirling opportunities (which can sometimes be enough to sustain a short project). By the time I hit forty minutes in, however, I was hooked. At this point in the film, Claudio and the others have endeavored to play matchmaker to the unwilling and cynical Benedick and Beatrice, and it's hilarious. Also at this point, I'd gotten more of a grasp of the language and also didn't seem to need as much of it to appreciate the humor.

Then we hit the drama and the climax involving Hero being falsely accused of infidelity and I was absolutely sucked in. It was traumatic and stressful like all the best emotional moments in film are. The language they used no longer mattered, nor did the less than contemporary subject material. The emotions were universally heart-wrenching.

Which made the ending absolutely satisfying and commendable. I loved this film and was right to give it a chance and stick with it through the first half hour.

That being said, I know that Much Ado About Nothing will not be for everyone. I'm thinking of the people who can't get through that first half hour of set up, or many of my action-oriented friends. The stakes are going to seem low. It's not really life or death, it's reputation and honor. It's love and yeah, it's a little bit girly. It's the same kind of subtle brilliance that makes me appreciate works like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. If you can't see the wit, humor, and strong storytelling in works like these and think them more boring than anything, then Much Ado probably isn't your cup of tea. 

But it's definitely mine.