Superficial Treatment of a Classic

Rating: Null/10 (21 February 2016)

This film adaptation of "Macbeth" failed to engage due to the overwhelming understatement in Shakespeare's text. The actors mumbled their way through Shakespeare's brilliant verse and imagery. And the cut-and-paste treatment of the play truncated the great speeches and scenes. This was a Cliff's Notes version of "Macbeth."
On the positive side, there was some great location filming with isolated, barren landscapes that evoked the true sense of medieval Scotland. But the restrained performances of the leads played by Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard made the film an exercise in overly subtle responses to a concatenation of violence. Where was the emotional life in this brutally violently narrative of history?
Yet another curious artistic decision was the treatment of the supernatural. Once again, the filmmakers downplayed Macbeth's interaction with the Weird Sisters, as well as the banquet scene where Macbeth is visited by the Ghost of Banquo. It was as if the director was afraid that any histrionics would destroy the credibility of the character relationships.
Viewers would be advised to revisit the acclaimed film version of "Macbeth," as directed by Roman Polanski in 1971. The artistic choices were broader and more creative, and Polanski had a way of making everything clear from Macbeth's visit to the witches to the botched assassination of Duncan to the descent into madness of the two protagonists. The more recent film never delved into the next to discover Shakespeare's profound insights into greed, power, and political assassination.