Greatest Epic Heroes of Myth and Folklore

I'm sick of superheroes. The heroes of mythology and ancient epic poems were essentially the superheroes of their times, but somehow are so much more interesting and heroic to me. A lot of their appeal comes in the fact that their origins are unclear; some of them are clearly fictitious, and others may have basis in fact. Nevertheless, this is a list of the greatest of them, indicating what land created their myth.

1. King Arthur (England)
2. Beowulf (England)
3. Hercules/Heracles (Greece)
4. Robin Hood (England)
5. Sinbad (Persia)
6. Odysseus (Greese)
7. Gilgamesh (Mesopotamia)
8. Aeneas (Rome)
9. Achilles (Greece)
10. Perseus (Greece)
11. Paul Bunyan (USA)
12. Kaurava (India)
13. Fionn mac Cumhaill (Ireland)
14. Theseus (Greece)
15. Chingachgook (USA)

The Best Movie of the Year That You Almost Certainly Haven't Seen

In a year of comic book blockbusters, sequels, and reboots that have been largely good, the best movie of the year may very well be a British film adapted from one of Shakespeare’s least memorable plays.

Coriolanus is not your average Shakespeare adaptation, and I don’t mean that just because it’s in a modern-day context. Just about all Shakespeare movies nowadays need to be in a modern or very stylistically visual style just to get people to watch them, which is a bit unfortunate. Nevertheless this is a no-holds-barred action movie, more or less. Its war scenes may evoke memories of a movie like The Hurt Locker or some of the very realistic scenes in Children of Men, and if you ask me, I’d say this was actually done better.

At the heart of this film is Ralph Fiennes. If you only know him for playing Voldemort, see some other movies, because this guy has been one of the world’s greatest actors since he broke out in Schindler’s List. Not only does he play the prideful and tragic General Martius, but he makes his directorial debut. One is reminded of the great actors of all time, with Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, and Kenneth Branagh all starring and directing a few Shakespeare films.

What made this movie so entertaining for me is the story primarily, although the performances gave it much more depth. It’s the story of a great general who is an enemy of the people only to become a hero in his victory over Volscia, only to be banished from Rome after the people are reminded of his denying of their liberties. It’s a basic story, but General Martius has quite an amazing arc, and is able to be sympathetic, tragic, and despicable all at the same time, which I credit much to Mr. Fiennes’s performance.

Also featured in the film is the Volscian general, played by Gerard Butler. This was one of the best aspects of the film: the way it pitted the two main characters against each other as arch-enemies. They share a good deal of screen time together for opposing generals, and they aren’t even always villains, but it’s done well. It’s set up early and it pays off big in the end. Interesting to note, Gerard Butler’s first acting job came about fifteen years ago in a London play version of Coriolanus, so his familiarity and understanding of the work adds a lot here.

The film starts out really fast, the opening scene giving you all the background information you need that was no doubt delivered over multiple scenes in the play. While I’ve read about half of Shakespeare’s plays, I have not yet read this one and before seeing this movie, it was one of the last plays I was looking forward to reading. The middle portion of the film takes a break from the action as it looks more at the politics of Rome, setting up Martius’s banishment. This portion, while not as visually exciting as the first and last thirds of the movie, features some outstanding dramatic performances, particularly from Vanessa Redgrave, playing Fiennes’s mother. I’d say she’s a lock for the supporting actress Oscar, but with non-wide release films, I guess you never know.

While I’m not sure this is true, I’d like to say that if you’re not a Shakespeare fan, you would still like this movie. I’m thinking of the battle scenes and the hand-to-hand combat when I say this, of course, because I don’t think there’s anyway someone couldn’t enjoy that.

This movie was absolutely great, beautifully shot (with surprisingly effective shaky cam) and amazing performances. I saw this twice in two nights, which is something I never do, so that should say something about how provocative I found this film.