Review of The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) by Drios1908 — 06 Feb 2022

The Tragedy of Macbeth is yet another film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, and like many before it, it misses the mark. The movie is amateurish and quite frankly underwhelming, which is surprising considering it features gruesome deaths and over dramatic performances.

The film’s biggest shortcoming is no doubt the absolutely horrible dialogue. The conversations in the movie are hard to follow, not just because of the atrocious delivery of already difficult-to-understand Shakespearean lines but because of how strained every relationship feels.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth often feel like they are not talking to but through each other. In fact, there are times when it feels like the characters are all acting in different movies. With the exception of Denzel Washington, who delivers some of his lines well, everyone seems to either be reading off of a lifeless script or worse, reciting lines for the first time in their lives.

The film being in black and white does not help smooth things over and although many reviews like to argue that the lack of color helps convey a sense of foreboding or the “dark mood” of the original play, the only thing it actually does is emphasize how truly boring, and monotone at times, the film is.

The only scenes that were even remotely interesting were the ones closer to the end and maybe that is because Macduff’s son was called an “egg” or maybe I was just happy it was almost over. I would give the film a C- since it really wasn’t great but I hope more people hate-watch it.