It's the perfect cinematic vehicle -- or at least it would have been, if Radford's adaptation weren't so unremittingly cloddish.
Comment
07/04/08
Rate this Movie 
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004)
70 %
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted: 116
Fresh: 81
Rotten:35
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Consensus: A respectable if uneven take on the Bard's The Merchant of Venice.
Runtime: 2 hrs 11 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: One of the immortal bard's most frequently performed works gets a first-rate cinematic treatment here, via director Michael Radford (IL POSTINO). Al Pacino is virtually unrecognizable as Shylock, bringing an old-world gravitas to the... [More]
Starring: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes, Zuleikha Robinson
Director: Michael Radford
Reviews for William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
Top Critic
This is Al Pacino's show, and thankfully his Shylock is absorbing enough to carry the day.
06/24/06
Top Critic It veers from real conviction to panto, but Radford is clearly committed to the play's relevance, while Pacino, the Shakespeare addict, is a joy to watch.
04/01/06
Top Critic Radford's gloomy film is a long and slightly draining haul, but the intensity of Al Pacino's central performance justifies the effort required.
02/15/05
Top Critic Pacino's performance is worth the ticket price alone, but don't expect a film that'll encourage a Shakespearian revival; it's far too uninspired for that.
12/05/04
A well made, beautifully acted film that remains gripping throughout its lengthy running time.
12/04/04
Radford that draws out the cultural context of the period and the emotions in the story.
10/19/04
Pacino is at least dynamic, something harder to say about the women in the cast.
07/04/08
Top Critic Pacino shapes the role masterfully. He not only rises to the role's extremes of villainous melodrama, he fills them, rendering them both theatrical and believable
10/11/06
It tilts so far in one direction that the comic elements seem to come from another, lesser film.
09/26/05
With a running time of over two hours, I was ready to pay with a pound of my flesh for The Merchant of Venice to close shop already.
05/09/05
Merchant of Venice is such a blatantly anti-Semitic work that a modernization seems imprudent.
04/08/05
Shakespeare needs no special effects or short-sighted novelties. Michael Radford's straightforward telling of The Merchant of Venice does the great play justice.
03/24/05
Radford preserves the mechanics of the plot, but also offers us heroes who are as flawed as the nominal villain, if not more so
03/24/05
Latest News for William Shakespeare's The Merchant of...
July 13, 2006:
Kidman & Pacino in "Prosecution" Remake?
Billy Wilder's 1957 film "Witness for the Prosecution" is rather excellent, which is why most (old) movie fans will take exception to the news that ... a remake is... More...
Related Forums for William Shakespeare's The Merchant of...
MERCHANT OF VENICE is a 'problem' play till u add Pacino amid real Venetian settings!
by: Darko, Donnie 6/29/05
by: Darko, Donnie 6/29/05
Canadian Premiere of "The Merchant of Venice" presented by the Toronto Jewish Film Fe
by: Tal Lewinger 12/27/04
by: Tal Lewinger 12/27/04
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
 93% |
Iron Man |
| 85% |
Forgetting Sarah Marshall |
 50% |
Sex and the City - The… |
| 52% |
Leatherheads |
| 12% |
Made of Honor |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% |
Indiana Jones and the … |
| 97% |
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days |
| 88% |
Mongol |
| 78% |
Standard Operating Procedure |
| 30% |
War, Inc. |
