The Merchant of Venice

The weak link here may be Shakespeare. The production values and acting seem impeccable, so maybe the play’s the thing that’s uninvolving. To be fair, the problem may not be the creakiness of Will’s dramaturgy, but rather that naturalistic line readings do not do justice to his poetry. Something is lost in the transfer to the screen, and despite the glory of the locations and sumptuousness of the visuals, this is not much of a movie. Lovely to look at, with players engaging to watch, this film lacks both the singularity and passion of a true classic. I didn’t doze off, but I did lose focus once or twice. I have no argument with any of the performances, from Al Pacino as Shylock to Jeremy Irons, Lynn Collins and all the rest. And I can’t point to any overt mistakes by adapter and director Michael Radford. So it must be Shakespeare’s fault after all. (2004, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-63, RT-70.)