. . . with the help of Mr. Grey's "Anastasia" (Dakota Johnson) is sure to attract more involuntary attendees (that is, students forced to see CYMBELINE by their teachers) than Uncoerced paying customers. The fact that this adaptation, reset to a modern environment featuring the use of ubiquitous TV screens (Barack Obama makes a cameo appearance),note pads, GPS, iPhones, and Selfies at every turn, cannot hold a candle to "Gandalf" (Ian McKellen) as RICHARD III a few years ago in a similar "updating" probably is more the fault of the Bard having provided lesser source material than it is of Ms. Johnson's lackluster "Imogen" here, or any other miscasting decision. I mean, if CYMBELINE is supposed to be a tragedy, LOTS of heads should roll, not just the jester's. The plot is rife with tons of chances for unwitting incest, or at the very least a Romeo\Juliet-style slew of ill-timed suicides, but we only get one self-snuffing, paired with the single rolling Noggin'. Worse yet, both victims deserved to die. Where's the pity in THAT?!

Michael Almereyda offers Shakespeare's play in a modern-dress version. Biker gangs and dirty cops stand in for warring factions shot in New York City and Orange County. It is very ambitious and moderately successful.

CYMBELINE is a tough play. In the 18th Century, it was considered among Shakespeare's best. It has, however, fallen greatly in esteem. A large part of this is, I believe, because it is an example of a genre that no longer exists. Usually, when we consider Shakespeare, we divide his work broadly into the Comedies and the Histories. A few outliers, like KING LEAR and the Scottish Play, seem disjoint and are listed as Tragedies. In fact, Shakespeare seems to have been well acquainted with the Matter of Britain, and these, like this movie, are structurally Histories.

Yet even the Histories tell stories, show an auctorial voice, and when Shakespeare set his sights on the mistier realms of history -- what we would nowadays call legends and myths -- he used a popular form of Elizabethan drama called the Revenge Drama. This fell into desuetude not long afterwards. CYMBELINE lingered, but was eventually overtaken by one of his two other Revenge Dramas: HAMLET. The others, CORIOLANUS and TITUS ANDRONICUS, remains among his least regarded and most rarely performed nowadays.... yet at a performance, the urge for blood rose in the audience, and the final bloodletting in the performance I saw in Central Park.... the audience let out a sigh that was orgasmic in its release.

No one, except a few aging English majors, seem to have heard of the Revenge Drama. We like to think we are too civilized, and it too barbaric; too polite and it too rude. CYMBELINE, with its changing rhythms, its comic relief from dark foreboding, has left modern critics scratching their heads. Is it a comedy? Is it a burlesque of itself? Like Spike Lee's recent modernization of LYSISTRATA, CHI-RAQ, we fail to recognize the context, the anger, and the timelessness of these stories. Great art should lift us out of ourselves, tell us universal truths, which we can then apply to our own sorry times (was ever a time happy in its own reckoning?). We want things dumbed down, and if we don't see it on our front doorstep, it doesn't matter. Every sadness in our lives is a tragedy, because we are the center and most important thing in the universe. We never get what we deserve, and those who oppose us deserve death.

Now, who are the barbarians?

Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich,John Leguizamo and Dakota Johnson star in this story based on the play by William Shakespeare of the same title that had its New York setting at present day modern times entitled Cymbeline.This Shakespearean film directed by Michael Almereyda takes us to a story of an on-going war between corrupt dirty cops and drug-dealing biker gang.Things become more violent when the drug kingpin becomes determined to take desperate measures.

Well,Shakespearean plot does exist in the movie.When King Cymbelinew,who heads the Briton motorcycle gang in a decaying town,decides to resist Roman tax,with police official Caius Lucius the chief collector.On the romantic front,Cymbeline's protégé is Posthumus,a handsome but penniless skateboarder is the secret love of Cymbeline's daughter Imogen.Unfortunately,his second wife the Queen is pursuing a match between Imogen and her son Cloten instead. Then the main villain Iachimo enters.He shows up in town and thinks that Posthumus can deflower Imogen in just one meeting.Posthumus thinks is easy money but Iachime takes of a sleeping Imogen and sends him into extreme rage.One of the gang members Pisanio,a kind thug,is tasked with the task of Imogen's murder.But the truth is that Imogen was assisted to fake her death and to escape town disguised as a man.Later,she stumbles into Belarius and his sons,who happen to be the kidnapped sons of Cymbeline.Then things get complicated as the story progresses.

As the plot is being retold,we get to see lots of confusion in the movie.Obviously,the viewers will have a hard time to keep track of the plot unless they are familiar with the Shakespearean play.Also,the modern retelling of the story seemed out of place especially in today's world considering that the screenplay made very little difference in telling the story.It is rather unfortunate that the director possesses a talent cast in this movie but these actors and actresses have a muddled screenplay to deal with and could not save it from being a bad movie.