Alex Cox's movies always have to be approached with certain trepidation and his latest offering, Revenger's Tragedy offers yet another example of his searing talent, but infuriating inconsistencies as a director. Based on the Thomas Middleton play, Revenger's Tragedy is set in Liverpool 2011 and juxtaposes the original language of the play with post apocalyptic settings. The south of England has been destroyed by a comet and Liverpool, one of the last great English cities, is ruled with an iron fist by the Duke (Jacobi). A mysterious stranger Vindici (Eccleston) arrives in the city to exact his revenge on the Duke, who we learn was responsible for poisoning his bride a decade earlier. With the help of his own family, Vindici sets out to murder the Duke and his sadistic sons, led by the unwaveringly cruel Lussurioso (Izzard).
A bitter, mean spirited tale of vengeance, Revenger's Tragedy is, at times, a wickedly inventive assault on the senses, a clever satire soaked in a blood lust, and a frenzied, ridiculously overblown farce, which suffers under the weight of its own pretensions. The most obvious reference point is Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange but Cox's vision is far too chaotic, and way too amateurish when it comes to directing his actors (some of whom look like they are reading lines from an autocue) to make a genuine comparison. File under missed opportunities.
