‘Macbeth’ comes to us from director Justin Kurzel, whose previous projects include the critically acclaimed ‘The Snowtown Murders’. Kurzel is also working on the Assassins Creed movie, scheduled for release next year as is ‘Macbeth’ himself, starring Michael Fassbender in the lead role. The casting for Macbeth is excellent, with Marion Cotillard as Lady MacBeth, David Thewlis as King Duncan and Sean Harris as MacDuff.
The movie plot stays true to Shakespeare, to an extent. Macbeth (Michael Fassbender) is a Thane of Scotland loyal to King Duncan who is visited by four witches in battle and is manipulated by both the witches prophecies and the ambition of his wife.
While this adaptation of Macbeth is certainly not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination, I don’t really believe it deserves the acclaim critics have heaped upon it (a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes flatters the movie). Yes, the actors all put in good performances, particularly Thewlis as Duncan and Harris as MacDuff, but do they have to murmur at each other with their faces 5 centimetres apart? The cinematography is quite good, but not excellent. Seen one long-range shot of a gloomy moor, seen ’em all, which is an issue as that’s all the scenery we see besides the occasional scene in a castle. The battle scenes are done excellently, with the use of coloured mist being a particularly brilliant addition from Kurzel.
However, the movie has too many obvious flaws. The sound mixing is a disaster on ‘Interstellar’ proportions, with most lines being muffled or completely inaudible thanks to the grizzled macho whisper it seems obligatory to speak in. The decision to use the Scottish isle of Skye, Surrey, Cambridgeshire and Bamburgh castle in Northumberland seems unfathomably stupid since Cawdor castle, Glamis castle and Dunsinane, actual locations from the play, would be perfectly suitable, it feels like another ‘Braveheart’ where the movie lazily casts dark ages Scotland as a hilly, desolate place with one big castle. The true madness of Macbeth is never conveyed, especially in the pivotal scene where the ghost of Banquo appears. Numerous changes to the script, such as Banquo sitting among the courtiers rather than in Macbeth’s seat, and the omission of some key lines (no ‘Do not shake thy gory locks at me’ which is a shame) leave Macbeth conveyed as a mildly annoyed king, rather than a paranoid despot as intended.
In summary, ‘Macbeth’ is okay. I found the movie bearable, but it feels like a wasted opportunity, especially when you see the ridiculous conclusion and how much time it self-indulgently wastes. You would think having Shakespeare as a writer would make the job easy, but Kurzel somehow hashes it up, omitting some scenes completely and cutting and pasting dialogue all over the film. This creates a Macbeth that feels incoherent and dull when you get mid-way through, even for a Shakespeare lover like myself. It entertained me, but I wouldn’t buy the Blu-Ray.
Rating: 5.5/10
Words by Gabriel Rutherford