Macbeth

I agree there is something lacking in this Macbeth, but i don't think its in Sam Worthington's acting. I thought Macbeth was suitably insane and very hot. wasn't so impressed with lady Macbeth, or the gratuitous nudity. also, Mick malloy was downright odd trying to be serious... maybe we just can't get our head around it because we know what he's usually like. i don't know. and yes, it is very bloody, but how exactly you're meant to make Macbeth without a large amount of blood is beyond me. some graphic violence is involved, not for the very faint of stomach. best character i reckon was Fleance, even thought he doesn't really say much. all in all, i thought it was worth seeing, good, but not mindbogglingly fantastic. i gave it 7.

Geoffrey Wright, who did Romper Stomper and brought Russell Crowe to the attention of the world, brings Shakespeare's Scottish play up to date by setting it in the under world of Melbourne (or is it Sydney?). the speeches are there and so is the flashy trash of Silk Stalkings or one of the other cable (before cable was cool) series that surfaced in the wake of Miami Vice. Its an odd mix of guns and iambic pentameter, which works as well as that description. Not "bad" as such, the mix just doesn't work and the result is more grating then ingratiating. Part of the problem is the need to fit the plot into a new surroundings while retaining the language. the result is some odd sequences with no dialog and music that are suppose to get things across the dialog really can't because it doesn't pertain to now. The longish opening sequence before Macbeth meets the witches (Goth School girls in Catholic School Girl Uniforms) sets up the scenario which is changed from battling lords to battling crime families. This leads into the awkward meeting in an empty disco where Macbeth is holding a hostage. Turning on the lights and fog machine- for no real reason, Macbeth finds the girls coming out of the fog. My interest began to wane almost immediately and the scene where Macbeth's friend tells the drug lord of Macbeth's heroics kind of sealed the deal and I stopped watching and instead began to listen rather than watch(or were the scenes reversed, I don't know I don't care). despite its awards down under the film just doesn't really work especially when the idea isn't a new one with earlier films like Joe Macbeth and Men of Respect floating around. If you must see it it wait for cable.

Well actually it is adapted from a play from Shakespeare, but it's not your typical Shakespearian adaptation you'll get here. Although the dialog seems to be spoken as it stood in the book (I don't know it word for word, but they use Shakespearian "language"), the whole thing is brought into a more modern world. It's not the first movie to do so, but I guess it's the first to be quite so brutal about it (literally speaking in this case).

The acting is quite good and with a bit of settling in time, you'll not even notice that this is done after a Shakespeare play, but see it as an action-drama (movie). And if you can do that, than you can enjoy it too (as much as it is possible for you).

It is refreshing to rest assured that Shakespeare remains a viable writer and no matter how his plays are manipulated or 'updated' or altered or interpreted, his majesty of the English language remains intact and the impact of his ideas and words sustain even the most bizarre reconsiderations. Such, for this viewer, is the case of MACBETH as condensed for the screen by writer/actress Victoria Hill and directed with intensity and sensitivity of communication by Geoffrey Wright. The result may seem to be a bloody mad feud suggesting a majority of the teen driven films of today, but consider the source: imagining Shakespeare's MACBETH without the gore would mean the meat had been removed.

Transferred from Scotland to Melbourne, Australia, the well-known fight for kingship among the Scots is transposed to be the turf struggle for supremacy in the underworld gangland of Melbourne. The script and the direction make this transposition work, using the original dialog from the play, placing it in the voices and bodies of an all-Australian cast, to the point that the allegiance of the actors as to place is far less important than the telling of a powerful tale of ambition. Sam Worthington makes an enigmatic yet strong Macbeth, well paired by Victoria Hill as his conniving and ultimately mad wife Lady Macbeth: the two form a chemistry that serves the original intent of the author well. The many characters who rise and fall in the wake of the ambition of Macbeth tend to blend a bit because of the condensation of the script, but Gary Sweet as the doomed Duncan, Steve Batoni as Banquo, and Lachy Hulme as Macduff are particularly fine. The three witches whose predictions drive the play here become nude seductresses and are well interpreted by Miranda Nation, Chloe Armstrong, and Kate Bell.

The battle scenes are appropriately gruesome and the musical score that accompanies this film is an odd mixture of rock and piano transcriptions of Beethoven symphony movements. With the bracing cinematography by Will Gibson it all works well. Unfortunately the Shakespearean language can become lost with the heavy Aussie accents and subtitles would have been helpful. But if your television set has that subtitle option available, this small defect can be overcome. Yes, it helps to know the original play well in order to fully appreciate the transposition, but the script and cast and director make a fine case for involving even the uninitiated into the power of MACBETH. Worth your time, this. Grady Harp

The famous Macbeth play is uprooted from old Britain to 2005 Melbourne. The transplant is only successful with immunosuppressant drugs, i.e. & e.g. I was quite melancholy depressed when I saw this movie. The front half of the theatre was empty; sitting in the first occupied row in the centre of the theatre, the view of the dark emptiness blended with the mood of the film.

Rather than the cloud world of kings and queens and nobles, this Macbeth is set in the glamorously untouchable underworld. Guns and drugs and lots of unhappy good-looking people. That kind of stuff. A modern day tyrant king and his world could have been paralleled with a representation of some of the most powerful and wealthy people in the modern world, rather than a petty crime lord. Oh well.

Initially the movie is violent nasty crime. As it goes on it becomes more and more surreal. The hit men and thugs that play for modern lords and nobles seem to more and more live in an enchanted mediaeval world albeit decorated with guns and motorcycles and televisions and security cameras and mobile phones. The strange Shakespeare speech seems less and less ridiculous, more fitting and real. This is true for the weaker actors and stronger actors both.

Macbeth is played by Sam Worthington. He struggles with the Shakespeare dialogue sometimes but he is charismatic, enticing; he does seem like a brave champion with a dark side. Victoria Hill does a similar job as his wife, the Lady Macbeth. She splutters the dialogue sometimes yet always seems to actually be the Lady Macbeth. She's unhappy and cold and charming and manipulative. Gary Sweet is very good as Duncan. Steve Bastoni, Lachy Hulme and Kat Stewart all are very convincing. Mick Molloy drew unintentional laughs of recognition even though he is very good. A famous Australian comedian, he is just right as one of the menacing cutthroats. Bob Franklin and Kym Gyngell are two other famous Australian comedians with small roles well performed.

The film looks very polished and professional from a production standpoint. The film is actually a bit too flashy and aesthetically oriented. The famous psychological struggles of Macbeth and the Lady Macbeth are skimped over and caricatured. Ambiguous things are made unequivocal and one of the most memorable parts of the entire play, involving Lady Macbeth and her hands, is rushed by so quickly that it's almost skipped by entirely.

Overall this production has the same depth of a poor adaptation of a famous book, comic or TV show. Most everything famous about the play is included in some form but not in an emotionally involving or mentally engrossing way. At all. This film is worth seeing once.