Richard III (1995)

Academy Awards, USA 1996

Nominated Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Tony Burrough
	Best Costume Design Shuna Harwood

United Artists
Directed by Richard Loncraine
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(MGMHD)

Ian McKellen plays the deformed, deranged royal who murders his way to the throne. Shakespeare's words are transferred to 1930s England, but with a twist: it has been turned into a Nazi-style state with Richard III its Hitler. While this may have looked good on paper, the change of setting just adds another layer of confusion to the already dense Shakespearean prose. As a result, McKellen more often seems comical than mad. Frequent asides spoken directly into the camera may have worked on stage, but are distracting on screen. Americans Annette Bening and Robert Downey, Jr. are miscast and clearly in over their heads.