Ralph Fiennes flexes directorial muscle in this meaty Shakespeare adaptation as well as performing the title role of warrior Coriolanus, whose abrasive pride and love of battle are his downfall.
Transposed to mid-1990s in the Balkans, the warfare is close and furious, which alongside the chorus of television news pundits, gives a contemporary action vocabulary to proceedings, though original verse is spoken throughout.
While Fiennes reaches new heights of bloodthirsty blue-eyed intensity, his performance is bolstered by a pedigree cast including Brian Cox as his persuasive political ally, Gerard Butler as his sworn enemy, and James Nesbitt putting in an ultra-weaselly turn as a cynical MP.
But it is Vanessa Redgrave who draws the gaze with a simmering, measured performance as Volumnia, the kind of mother who would stop a playground of kids and teachers dead in their tracks simply by calling out your full name (particularly if it was Caius Martius Coriolanus).
Strong buzz after Toronto and London Film Festival premieres will surely be followed through with an Awards push.