Entertainment

Not taken by storm

Julie Taymor’s star- laden and utterly leaden film version of Shakespeare’s final play, “The Tempest,” was mysteriously chosen as the centerpiece of the New York Film Festival, instead of, say, “Black Swan.”

Finally landing in theaters with a dull thud, “The Tempest” is a surprisingly unengaging and charmless fantasy from a director whose previous films (“Across the Universe,” “Titus,” “Frida”) were, despite their other issues, never boring.

This version’s main twist — never more than a gimmick, really — is to gender-bend the magician Prospero into a sorceress named Prospera. She’s been exiled from Milan with her daughter Miranda (Felicity Jones) to an island through the scheming of her brother (Chris Cooper), who has taken over as duke from Prospera’s late husband.

A dozen years later, Prospera uses her powers to cause a tempest that strands her brother and the King of Milan (David Strathairn) on the island with a party that includes the king’s son (Reeve Carney), who quickly becomes besotted by Miranda, much to Prospera’s consternation.

As enacted by a pair of wooden juveniles, this isn’t exactly a riveting romance. The comedy — though performed by such skilled hands as Russell Brand, Alan Cumming and Alfred Molina — is more tedious than actually funny.

Taymor deploys Djimon Hounsou’s Caliban in a heavy-handed commentary on colonialism, while Ben Whishaw is debatably even more annoying as the androgynous, nude Ariel — whose genitals have been removed using cheesy CGI.

Filmed on volcanic Hawaiian locations that often resemble a studio back lot, this is easily the worst movie version of “The Tempest” I’ve seen.

Paul Mazursky’s 1982 contemporary version “Tempest,” with John Cassavettes and Molly Ringwald, is far better, and the best is “Forbidden Planet” (1956), which transported Shakespeare into the realm of 22nd century-set science fiction.

Taymor’s version is more like a high school production of “Mamma Mia!” with zippered costumes — and minus the immortal songs of ABBA.