Much Ado about Nothing – Jack Williams
In line with much of Shakespeare’s work, Much Ado about Nothing is a play (ballad?) about the tragedy and romance involved with marriage and love. I saw this particular version as a Hollywood RomCom with a European twist, but also saw some deep hidden darkness within the characters which is also typical to Shakespeare’s work. Much Ado highlights the issues that rise between sparring couples bound by attraction, and also how easily love – which, according to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, is “Never shaken…Not time’s fool…Alters not…But bears it out even to the edge of doom”– can in fact be tricked, faked, and hidden. Despite ultimately landing in marriage, the endless deception and jealousy between Hero, Claudio, and Don Pedro makes for an inherently ugly timeline of events, only masked once again by marriage, however likely it is to be a fickle marriage.
Kenneth Branagh, who directed, produced, and starred in the play all but took the play by the horns and made it his own, and I liked it. Most notable was the comedic twist that he put on the original script. I have not read Shakespeare’s original script, but this version seemed to be a bit funnier than typical to an already knee-jerking Shakespeare. It could also be the fact that one of my favorite actors of all time, Keanu Reeves, was part of it, that I enjoyed the film so much…. I usually am not the biggest fan of Shakespeare (I know, it’s weird).