Visual feast for the eyes - lovely job in the graphics department. And Rhys Ifans - great acting. As for everything else: Rafe Spall reduced Shakespeare down to Pauly Shore in costume. Regardless of where you come down on the author debate, he did not deserve to be portrayed as a boob. Vanessa Redgrave, who is so talented so it pains me to say this, portrayed the multilingual, politically savvy Elizabeth as no more intelligent than a fourteen year old valley girl (and a slutty one). Cecil comes across as a twisted old man instead of the astute head of a brilliant spy ring and his son amounts to a cretin. The movie plays like a love letter to the Earl of Oxford who, according to this movie, was the only intelligent being among a sea of idiots (which historically can be proven to be complete rubbish). But if you look at this movie as pure fiction, you can relax into a fun costume drama. Pity though, this movie could have been so much better than a forgettable bit of tripe.

I'm a sucker for period pieces, even ones that play as fast and loose with facts as this one, but "Anonymous" lacks any of the wit, self-awareness, or remotely likable characters that would make its anachronisms, campy conspiracy theories and inflated sense of seriousness worth-while. There are some fun ideas and some bright spots in the supporting cast, plus a nicely intense and atmospheric sense of court and theater intrigue. But the dialogue is way too bland for a film purporting to be about the power of words to shape the world, and its lack of emotional core renders it instantly forgettable.

I went and saw this film on Sunday and I must say I was very impressed. A good old fashion conspiracy film, filled with drama, lies, betrayals, and romance that only Will Shakespeare could write about. With undertones of a Greek Tragedy or one of Shakespeare's own Romantic Tragedies, Emmerich's Anonymous hooked me from the moment it began. The cast of Anonymous were all amazing. From Vanessa Redgrave's beautifully heartbreaking performance as Queen Elizabeth, to Jamie Campbell Bower's seductive performance as the young Earl of Oxford, the cast brought these characters to life with great ease. Emmerich, though many people may judge him for his previous lackluster films, Anonymous is one of his best films. Unlike his other movies, Anonymous was all about the story and the characters. The non linear storytelling kept the audience intrigued and wanting to uncover the conspiracy and expose the secrets that seem to have spread across England. All in all a great film.

I'm not a Shakespeare scholar and so probably enjoyed the movie more than those who could see all the holes in this screenwriter's theory and make arguments. For pure entertainment value, I thought it was pretty good. The only thing that was a bit confusing at first was the jumps in the timelines of the characters back and forth. It wasn't too hard to follow once you figured out what time periods the movie was changing to and why. Apart from that, it's a good, entertaining movie, good acting, really nice settings. It was fun to see Shakespeare himself made out to be an illiterate boob. Ben Jonson and Kit Marlowe also make appearances. If you have a layman's understanding of the controversy surrounding the authorship of work attributed to Shakespeare and like historical drama, you will probably like Anonymous.

First the idea was interesting.. but the movie was jumping around so much .... tooo fast.... and hard to keep up to know what was going on. it was a bit DARK grey movie.