Review of Macbeth (2015) by Johnathan D — 12 Dec 2015

I love Shakespeare! I really do! I don't understand all of it, but I love it! The Bard's timeless themes and insights into human nature still ring true 500 years after his death. His sense of tragedy, drama and humor still entertain. Then there's the language, as beautiful as it is challenging to most modern ears. Many stage, screen and film Shakespeare adaptations have tried to make his plays more accessible by translating them to a more up-to-date way of speaking and some of those adaptations have been excellent, but there's no substitute for the real thing. It helps if you know enough history and literature to understand what you're hearing, but even if you can only catch a line here and there, if you're watching great actors and they're working for a great director, you should be able to follow and enjoy most productions of Shakespeare. A very good example of this is 2015's "Macbeth" (R, 1:53).

Wait a minute. I doubt this is the situation of anyone out there, but just in case, if you happen to be reading this review aloud inside a theater, please stop now, go outside, turn around three times and wait for someone to invite you back in. And for the rest of this review, every time you come upon the name of the play, just be sure to refer to it as "The Scottish Play". Got it? Good. Onward and upward.

The play "Macbeth" was probably written around the middle of Shakespeare's career as a playwright. It's the shortest of his tragedies, perhaps indicating that the version we have today is an abridged version of the original. Possibility due to its brevity, but probably owing more to its compelling story, the Scottish play has been one of the Bard's most popular. Struggling theaters have often turned to it as insurance against financial ruin (even though some of them went under anyway, possibly fueling the superstition to which I eluded in my previous paragraph). The play's action (with more fights and combat than most of Shakespeare's plays) and its popular themes of the desire for power and the price we pay for our decisions have entertained audiences for five centuries and spawned nearly 100 films.

In the 2015 film version, previous Oscar nominee and future Oscar winner Daniel Fassbender (yeah, I just predicted something there) plays the titular anti-hero, and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard plays the scheming Lady MacBeth. MacBeth is a general in the army of the Scottish King Duncan I (David Thewlis) who is in the midst of fighting a civil war. After winning a major battle for his king, three mysterious women (witches) approach MacBeth on the battlefield and prophesy that he will get a promotion (which he finds out about right after this encounter) - and that he will be king! When MacBeth returns home and tells his wife about the prophecy and that Duncan will be their guest for one night, she encourages MacBeth to kill Duncan and claim the crown. MacBeth is conflicted, but ultimately agrees.

MacBeth steals into Duncan's tent and brutally stabs him, then Lady MacBeth disposes of the two daggers her husband used in the murder, framing the king's (drugged) guards. Duncan's son, Malcolm (Jack Reynor), discovers his father's body and flees in fear. This makes him look guilty of something, so after MacBeth kills the king's sleeping guards in a fit of mock rage, he is crowned King of Scotland in Duncan's place. As hard as Lady MacBeth tries to assure her husband that "it's over", it's anything but. MacBeth's lies compound and his murders multiply as he struggles to hold on to power - and his sanity.

This "Macbeth" is an excellent adaptation of Shakespeare's play. Writers Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie and Todd Louiso stick very close to their source material, in the film's language and its major plot points. Fassbender and Cotillard are perfectly cast and wonderfully matched in the main roles. They seem to actually live the lives of MacBeth and his Lady as they use every intellectual, emotional and physical tool they have to make these characters real. Throughout the movie, the actors are framed and the script is supported by the confident direction of Justin Kurzel, the amazing cinematography of Adam Arkapaw and the magnificent score of actor/composer (and the director's younger brother) Jed Kurzel.

I admit that I didn't catch some (a lot) of the dialog, but I appreciated the movie more after I read a summary of the story. (I'd advise anyone who doesn't know the play, but is thinking of seeing the movie to do the same. What you might lose in terms of surprises, you'll make up in overall appreciation of the film.) Still, I would have liked to understand more of the dialog on first viewing and I think that there were ways to accomplish that without losing the beauty of the language, but this adaptation is outstanding either way. It would be unfortunate if the characters speaking in old English kept anyone from choosing to see this film, which excels on multiple levels. "A-".