So director/star Ralph Fiennes (a.k.a. Lord Voldemort) does himself a favour by selecting one of the Bard's lesser known tragedies, Coriolanus. It is not surprising that many are unfamiliar with the title as part of Shakespeare’s oeuvre. And from the trailer alone one wouldn't realize it was the Bard’s work at all.

Fiennes camouflages the true story, which took place in the fifth century BC, in a modern-day setting. Gaius Martius (Fiennes) is a Roman general, widely noted for his tactical military genius and bravery, as well as for his contempt towards the Roman citizens.

He succeeds in a bloody campaign against the neighbouring hostile Volscians, including a fierce one-on-one encounter with Aufidius (Gerard Butler), leader of the Volscians and Martius' sworn enemy. Upon his welcome return, Martius’ mother (Vanessa Redgrave) convinces him to run for consul, the highest Roman political office, against his better judgement.

However, two officials are worried about Martius' agenda (now honourably named Coriolanus by the senate) and orchestrate popular suspicion and outcry against him. The irascible Martius is publicly spurred into a pseudo-fascist tirade against the weakness and stupidity of the common man, and he is subsequently expelled from Rome.

The military and political contexts of Coriolanus (sadly) make the blend of ancient and contemporary time periods as seamless as possible. Fiennes need not pull a Baz Luhmann (re: Romeo + Juliet) and mask any temporal incongruities with a flashy and overdramatic directorial style.

Fiennes' update is quite unpretentious, and allows the timelessness of the story to do all of the work. Clearly, fidelity to the spirit of the original text was a priority in the film’s conception.

Fiennes is doubtlessly a Shakespeare fanatic, having acted in no less than fourteen major stage productions of his work (this past fall he finished a well-publicized run in London as Prospero in The Tempest). As such, it comes as no surprise that his cast's powerful abilities to ignite words of the Bard were the film's greatest highlight. This is unquestionably an actors' piece.

Stalwarts Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox (as Menenius, a senator allied to Martius) are in top form. Along with the electrifying Fiennes, they help us through points where the long-winded nature of the characters in Shakespeare's original is less amenable to screen adaptation.

The style of language will always be a barrier in making Shakespeare modernizations feel natural and comfortable to today's audiences. However, submitting yourself to the beauty of each linguistic turn can only pay dividends. And Fiennes' Coriolanus makes it a definitive pleasure to do so.