It was good, could've been great

Rating: 6/10 (1 March 2016)

Your enjoyment of this particular movie, will rely heavily on a few things. 1. You have to appreciate Shakespeare. 2. You don't mind a slow pace and heavy dialogue and 3. Your familiarity of the Shakespearean language. I'm not trying to scare anyone off. This is an amazingly well shot, well acted and in my humble opinion, one of the best versions of Macbeth put to screen I have ever seen. Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard are the backbone of this film in their roles of Lord and Lady Macbeth, I felt so much, for the almost eternal sadness that seemed to surround them. The visual style of this movie is also very bleak (reflecting the inner turmoil of the peeps on screen), with only a few scenes where there seemed to be color and light. The costumes and scenery fit very well into what I've always considered, a horror story and the themes of grief, emptiness, greed and its destructive nature are all present. My main (really only) complaint is a big one and honestly this prevented me from enjoying what could've been a truly strong movie. The language. Don't get me wrong, I can handle Shakespearean dialog, but it HAS TO BE pronounced properly! I honestly couldn't understand a lot of what was being said. Not because of the words, but because of the way they were said! I don't know if it was because of their accents, but Fassbender especially ate up his dialogue and I had to turn the volume up and pay close attention to catch the details. Maybe the fault lay with Sound Editing. Either way, it spoils what could've been a truly solid movie. I can't recommend this for everyone as I'm certain the average movie watcher is not gonna like this movie. Please don't expect this to be Magneto in 12th Century. But for the more discerning lover of film, even if you aren't familiar with Macbeth (my favorite play of WS BTW), there is so much here to appreciate and enjoy.