Something Awful This Way Comes

Rating: 2/10 (15 June 2016)

I have to hand it to director Justin Kurzel. It takes a special kind of talent to reduce one of the greatest plays in the English language to the near-incomprehensible mess we see here on the screen.
First, I guess, you begin by expunging half of the dialogue. (Who cares about stuff like plot or character motivation or coherence, anyway?) Then, you direct your actors to deliver most of their lines in either breathless whispers or marble-mouthed mumbles. (Since you apparently don't understand Shakespeare's language, why should anyone else?) Then, you make sure that your brother's score continually drones on in the background, competing with what dialogue remains. (Did you hope that lots of strings would disguise the fact that there is no real emotion happening up on the screen?)
However -- and this is key! -- now that you're done stomping Shakespeare's verse into the dirt, make sure you throw in a lot of foggy moors, raging fires, moody lighting, slow-motion battles, overhead shots, and hand-held camera moves so that people can be tricked into thinking they are seeing something "artistic" and worthwhile.
On paper, this film had so much potential. In actuality, it turned out to be nothing but an abominable waste of time and resources.
My advice: Skip this piece of crap and watch Polanski's infinitely superior version instead.