Flowery words of bloody battlefield and treacherous kingship.

Rating: 7/10 (20 February 2016)

Shakespeare is not the easiest material to translate to silver screen, it's quite complicated even for native speaker and the narrative is told mostly on poetry. Luckily for Macbeth, the movie has talented cast and astounding visual to present a tale of treachery. It's fluid in delivery, varied in meaning and the contrast of sultry voice and brutal war game is beautifully appealing.
First and foremost, it's a gorgeous display throughout. There are not many movies which shift between styles so easily, the colors look vivid even in the most morbid events. This also works in a continuous narrative, akin to flipping across chapters as the tint alters from dawn till dusk. The view of carnage is also shown in its fullness yet lacking no delicate effort.
Michael Fassbender as Macbeth is probably the best lead one could hope for. There are glints of his Spartan time, although he doesn't falter when the movie demands an elegant banter. The acting is definitely different that most, it's an acquired taste as characters tell their pleas with underlying or double meaning. This is certainly not the kind of straight full blown carnage typical war movies would offer.
While it has its perks of being artistic, it can be unapproachable even if there's attempt to make it the contrary. The dialogues are expectedly ancient, some words might have different delivery than we have today. Furthermore, the delivery itself is often either too rapid or too quiet, maybe both at the same time. Alas, this can be remedied by investing in subtitles. As it deals with heavy narrative the pace can stutter to make room for admittedly poetic exclamation.
Macbeth is certainly vibrant in his vainglory, as his tragic rise is witnessed in grand visual, yet the archaic style might prove repelling for those unaccustomed to it.