Macbeth - La tragedia dell'ambizione

An interesting concept turned into carnage...

My first seeing feature from Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper), When i first took interest in it, it seemed at the time an interesting concept...

Shakespere + Aussie Film + Gothic setting + Melbourne Gangland

A very odd mixed that turned into a disastrous piece of Aussie cinema that gives my country a bad name...

Pros: -Interesting concept

Cons: -Waste of a good cast -Stuffed and stupid plot -Crooked camera angles -Not much variety of locations -Crap use of Shakespearian diologue

Overall: Australia's worst attempt of a Shakespere film, Stick to Baz Lurhman...or Romper Stomper (WARNING: That film is dangerous)

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

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).

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.

Perhaps it was the fact that I went to see the movie after reading the (mostly) negative reviews here, but I found that the movie far exceeded my expectations. It's true that the dialog comes off as a little odd when the movie first starts but it was easy to adjust to and by the end, as another reviewer said, it really seems to fit with the movie. Sam Worthington does an excellent job at playing the haunted character of Macbeth. For the most part the other actors do extremely well with their role as well. The action scenes seem to have songs that are actually appropriate as opposed to ones focusing on what big star they can throw in.

All in all, I think it certainly deserves a higher rating than it has been receiving. It may not be the movie of the year but it was extremely enjoyable.