Movie Info
Movie Name: Macbeth
Studio: StudioCanal
Genre(s): Drama
Release Date(s): May 23, 2015 (Cannes)/October 2, 2015 (UK)/December 4, 2015 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
Double, double toil & trouble!
Being king is a heavy burden. When Macbeth (Michael Fassbender) and his friend Banquo (Paddy Considine) encounter witches who predict Macbeth will be king, but Banquo will be the father of kings, a plot is launched in Macbeth’s mind. Urged on by his wife Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard), Macbeth is about to do the unthinkable and commit regicide against his king Duncan (David Thewlis). The warning that his kingdom is temporary creates a problem for Macbeth…and he wants to secure his position at any cost!
Directed by Justin Kurzel, Macbeth is an action-drama based on the William Shakespeare play. The film premiered at Cannes and was released later in the year in the United Kingdom and United States. It received mostly positive reviews.
Listen, Lady…I’m falling apart. Help me out!
Macbeth was one of the first Shakespeare plays you were assigned in school. With violence, witches, and ghosts, the story is one that can keep “younger” readers involved. This adaptation of the famous play doesn’t do much to modernize the tale but tells the story in striking visuals.
Macbeth is what it is. If you know Macbeth and like Macbeth, you are given the play in relatively faithful terms. There is little playing with the story or dialogue, and the themes of the play hold true. With that being said, if a person were to go into Macbeth with the expectations of a modernized version, they could be sorely disappointed.
Fassbender’s Macbeth is what it needs to be. The character is both maniacal and brooding while continuously being egged on by his wife played smartly by Marion Cotillard. I wish David Thewlis could have had a larger role, but he plays out King Duncan as King Duncan is meant to be played out. I love how the witches (played by Seylan Mhairi Baxter, Lynn Kennedy, Amber Rissmann, and Kayla Fallon) are presented and always found them compelling oddities in Shakespeare.
This isn’t going to end well for you, Macbeth
The film looks great. It is gritty and grueling. The battles are bloody, and it tries to borrow from other war films like Braveheart to show how intense the fighting could be at the time. The film plays a lot with colors as the movie courses on and the final battle as the forest burns is a red-hued climax.
Macbeth could probably get a kid a passing grade if he watched it instead of reading the play, but reading the play does give you more insight into the lines and dialogue that might be missed in the performance. The story has been filmed multiple times and will continue to be filmed. This is a strong entry in Shakespeare’s time on camera, and I always look forward to seeing how other will interpret it.
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