maximumhong Revenger's Tragedy is a great little movie directed by Alex Cox and starring Christopher Eccleston as the "Revenger." Probably not for young audiences (language, violence), but is timely and full of of quirky, chaotic fun."Let the man who seeks revenge remember to dig two graves." This is the message the film begins with. How apt, considering the nature of the film and the state of the world's affairs today.Christopher Eccleston is a brilliant actor and can tackle any role with a unique and charming fervor. Here, he plays a tortured man on top of his game of seeking revenge for the murder of his bride. He's a 'bone-setter' by trade, and he even carries around his bride's skull and rants and raves with it.Derek Jacobi plays the villainous, lecherous duke who is the target of revenge. With such a determined performance, one would not believe that the actor was paid little to nothing for his involvement.Eddie Izzard plays a son of the Duke and the next in line, and a reluctant power junkie. I love the off-casting, because usually Eddie Izzard is the funny man but in this case he is the witty but ultimately corrupt fall guy.If you've seen Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, and Straight to Hell, take that impression and combine it with a Jacobian revenge tragedy (language unchanged), add Eccleston and Eddie Izzard and Derek Jacobi, with little or no budget, and you have a memorable way to spend 2 hours of your life. This won't be a remembered or highly-sought after film, but then again, the truly unique ones never are.

david-davies-1 This is an excellent adaptation of the play, which penguin classics claims Tourneur wrote, not Middleton, by the way.Christopher Eccleston is superb in acting Vindice as a fanatically hilarious psychopath, and the modern twists to give it present day significance also work well.However the language is quite difficult to understand, indeed I would say reading the play is important to gain some perspective into what is actually occurring, and to keep in mind as you watch it, especially th subtle changes, and a more satisfying ending than that given in the play. However it is quite advisable to never question the plausibility of the events in the play actually occurring, in essence it would make little sense, however I recommend you suspend your disbelief and be carried along on this imaginary journey into the surreal and meaningful.

boxduty I agree with all the positive comments that have been made.It's greatly entertaining, as nearly all revenge films are. (in my opinion anyway...) It's got asides to the audience. (I do like that) It looks gorgeous, never lags, has great casting/acting. (Although I'm not sure if Alex Cox's cameo fits in here this time.....)And even the plot's good, I reckon.So...that's my erudite opinion, (albeit a bit spartan!) Give it a chance, it's great.....Shame there's no commentary on the DVD tho...To sum up - great film!

karenbennitton Does anyone care about any of the characters in this film? - Or for that matter what happens to them? - I doubt it. That is the key problem - for a tragedy to work we have to care about at least one of the characters and none of them inspire any sympathy or appear to have any redeeming qualities at all.What may have worked in the 16th Century, certainly does not work in one can only assume 'post apocalyptic Liverpool' if that was indeed what it was meant to be. The problem is the characters in post apocalyptic Liverpool, whilst still driving around in cars, using mobile phones and watching television, have reverted to speaking in Shakespearian language - with a Liverpudlian dialect. Oh dear! Bad enough you might think - but this often lapsed into pure scouse - with comments such as 'eh lah are you a cockney? And was that a Merseyrail announcement during one of the scenes filmed in the underground? Well the good news is that in Post apocalyptic Liverpool - the trains are still running.The characters without exception are badly drawn, wooden and more like charicatures on the lines of the Joker/Penguin in Batman and Robin except there is no real storyline to speak of - or if there is - it is one that doesn't work in a modern setting where half the sets are gloomy and 'Blade runnerish' and the other half are fluorescent garish or just 21st century normal. Costumes are also mixed up with half wearing their everyday clothes (Parkers are big in post apocalyptic Liverpool - apparently) and the other half wearing costumes from the leftovers of a fancy dress party? The film explores the ideas of lust, incest and revenge in the most inane fashion imaginable - the tragedy is that this film was made at all.