I have been outvoted, I see. But I stand by what I said. I have watched Dick 3 around four times, and have been impressed each time with the portability of the Bard into more modern settings. Richard III was an historical enigma, and there have been several attempts to resurrect his image. All of them have fallen short, mainly I believe because he was more than likely a truly evil man, only just short of the evil of the dictators of our last century.
My last encounter with "updating" Shakespeare was Much Ado About Nothing, unchanged except that the setting was moved to America's Wild West of the late 19th century. About five minutes into the play I realized that I liked it even better than in the traditional setting. I had been absolutely prepared to hate it.
Branagh moved Hamlet into the mid-18th century without raising many eyebrows, if I recall correctly, and I found that I "understood" it better than I had any previous version of it. By the way, it's the only film version of the play which contains every word of the "modernized" original text And if I could find the person who absconded with my tape of it!! I will never again lend one of my Branagh films. Speaking of whom, his rendition of Hank V is exquisite. I know several women who have melted at the line "Take a soldier, take a king", never delivered better than by this unparalleled actor and director.
