Good film in most areas

Rating: 6/10 (1 November 2015)

"Macbeth" is the newest take on the famous work by William Shakespeare and director Justin Kurzel got 2 of the finest actors from their generation to play the main characters in this one: Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. We read Macbeth at school and I must say I did not like it at all. Then again, I am generally not too big on Shakespeare. Anyway, compared to what I remember from the book, this movie was certainly a positive surprise. I probably only watched it because Cotillard is in here and I truly adore her. Huge fan. I think from what you see and what you hear, this is a really good film. Music, cinematography, acting, costumes and makeup are all pretty impressive aspects and what can you say about the story. It's pretty legendary and certainly memorable. Initially, it seems Cotillard's character may be as evil as her husband, but that changes as the film goes on. Macbeth descends slowly, but steadily into an abyss of lust for blood and paranoia that results in uncountable deaths.
The only thing I really remembered from reading the book was the murder of the King, but he is not the only one who gets it. Also Macbeth's closest friend is targeted and killed because he may have been a danger in the long run with the witches' predictions. At least his son lived. My only problem with this movies was a crucial problem, however: the language. Some may disagree, but I definitely would have preferred them to not take the Shakespearian words, but make it actually more modern, so everybody would understand what was going on. Luckily, I had subtitles and they really helped a lot. Without them, it would have been impossible to understand 50% of the dialogue probably and the meaning that came with these 50%. So, in terms of the words, for my taste they stayed too close on the book. Apart from that, it was a pretty good watch. I also liked the strong metaphoric use of the color red throughout the entire movie, but especially at the end. Thumbs up and I recommend it.