Subtitles, Please

Rating: 6/10 (14 October 2015)

Regardless of some impenetrable accents, the population of medieval Scotland seem to be subject to an asthma epidemic which means it can only communicate in whispers. Very slow whispers. And no wonder Mrs Glamis is so desperate to be queen. Whilst the king lives in a huge castle which encompasses the vast Ely Cathedral with its beautiful stained glass, the most senior aristocracy dwell in one room wooden huts, worryingly lit by dozens of naked candles. Mme Macbeth's French accent would imply that she's maybe been used to something more chic. When Mac Jnr (the director's addition to the story) dies in battle, dad doesn't think to include the news in his letter home but when he arrives back at the cabin, wifey doesn't enquire as to the whereabouts of young Hamish so it's probably no big deal. Having become boss, nobody takes much notice of Mac the Knife's orders - even his wife, who ignores his instruction to get the single malt flowing whilst he confers with a murderer within earshot of the dinner guests.
You can't put Shakespeare on screen without taking a few liberties and some ruthless editing but why bother keeping any of the original dialogue unless you're going to utilise it ? I want to HEAR that bitch say "Unsex me here ... Come to my woman's breasts and take my milk for gall" otherwise just cut the damn line. Kurosawa ditched all the Shakespeare text for his magnificent 'Throne of Blood'. Orson Welles and Roman Polanski stuck with it and whilst both of their films are flawed, the narrative is clear. Can those who don't know the play follow the plot in a version where Lady M's "damned spot" isn't a bloodstain but the windswept location of her old hovel and the four witches' (yes, four) predictions are often inaudible ? And why retain the lines about Macduff's wife (another Frenchwoman) and kids being murdered in his castle when we've seen them sent into hiding and then slaughtered in a forest ? I worry that people unfamiliar with Shakespeare will think it's a potentially good action movie slowed down by a lot of olde worlde gibberish. I don't think anyone has ever spoken so slowly whilst making so little sense and the breakneck speed of the author's shortest and most frightening tragedy is further impeded by lengthy shots of figures traversing landscape.
Fassbender is pretty good and there's an impressive Macduff from Sean Harris (pilloried for mumbling in the BBC 'Jamaica Inn' but here the most consistently intelligible person on screen). It's visually stunning and there are several great innovations : Macbeth's slain son offers the ghostly dagger for the big soliloquy and Banquo's son, Fleance reappears at the end, adding an unsettling note. Birnam Wood.... well I won't spoil that bit as it's particularly clever. Now go watch the Orson Welles version. It even has the guy who used to play Batman's butler in it.