A visually breathtaking vision of the classic tale

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2016)

In what's a film that's sure to delight the eyes and tickle the ears of Shakespearian fans the world over, Australian director Justin Kurzel has for his 2nd feature film (following on from the grizzly Australian crime classic Snowtown) showcased a love and a care for one of the great Bard's most beloved tales that remains faithfully in tune with its source material to at times its own determinate but also showcases the up and coming directors incredible visual flair and ability with actors that will likely see him prosper in the industry for years to come.
Kurzel's Snowtown was a gritty, grungy and downright dirty retelling of one of Australia's most notorious mass murderers and while Macbeth is much larger in scale, the realism mixed with a sense of the otherworldly that was prevalent in his 2011 debut is on show once more here in the stunning backdrops of rural Scotland that at times feel drenched in the surreal.
A downright masterful opening that throws the viewer into a brutal and bloody battle or soldiers wondering through the waterlogged moors of the countryside with a blood orange haze of nearby fires raging about them, Kurzel and his cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (another standout Australian export) have created something truly special here and with a moody provocative score from Kurzel's brother Jed, Macbeth is one of 2015's most astutely produced features.
Front and centre to this immaculately designed drama is another powerhouse performance from Michael Fassbender who seems custom made for the world of Shakespeare. Thriving on the multilayered character of Macbeth, a man driven to insanity and battling his true nature, Fassbender is outstanding and is arguably one of the best seen incarnations of the famous solider who became king. With solid support from Marion Cotillard as Macbeth's equally tormented wife Lady Macbeth and character actors such as Paddy Considine, Sean Harris and David Thewlis, Macbeth's cast is universally excellent and almost make the ye olde English dialogue work.
While Shakespearian faithful will be twirling their perfectly pointed moustaches with delight, the often jarring and hard to decipher nature of much of Shakespeare's wordsmithing is at times to much to bare and while it's commendable that the filmmakers here backed themselves and their cast in to deliver, moments of emotion and tension are often held back by dialect that is both hard to deconstruct and difficult to take in over one viewing. At the heart and soul of Macbeth lies a rather uncomplicated narrative and it would've been a relief to see the story treated so in a scripted sense considering what's lost here through frustratingly jarring dialogue.
A constantly impressive feature that is often stunningly well filmed and acted, Macbeth is a seriously well acted and directed drama that suggests Kurzel could well become one of Australia's finest filmmaking exports and with his next film the potentially franchise starting Assassin's Creed with his Macbeth stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, it's highly likely that those in Hollywood are thinking the very same thing.
4 tension riddled dinner banquets out of 5