'Macbeth': Director Justin Kurzel is big on bluster and broadsword battles
鈥淢acbeth鈥� is one of Shakespeare鈥檚 most 鈥渃inematic鈥� plays, and it has聽thus far received three movie adaptations of note: the Orson Welles and Roman Polanski versions and, perhaps best of all, Akira Kurosawa鈥檚聽鈥淭hrone of Blood,鈥� which dispenses with the language but has a visual聽poetry at times equal to the Bard鈥檚 words. (Criterion, by the way, has just聽issued a stunning DVD of Kurosawa鈥檚 film.)聽
The latest entry is Justin Kurzel鈥檚 adaption, starring Michael聽Fassbender as the thane who would be king, and Marion Cotillard as聽Lady Macbeth. The screenplay is credited to Todd Louiso, Jacob Koskoff, and Michael Lesslie, who trimmed the play and added some dialogueless聽busywork. You would think Shakespeare would get top billing here, not to聽mention in the ads for the film.聽
Kurzel is big on bluster and the clangor of slo-mo broadsword battles.聽Mud-caked Dark Ages vistas predominate. Fassbender has to fight all this聽sound and fury to get a word in edgewise, but he鈥檚 impressively staunch,聽though, like most Macbeths on stage and in film, his psychological聽complexities diminish as his bloodlust expands. Marion Cotillard鈥檚 Lady聽Macbeth, however, is a triumph. She seems transfixed by her own capacity聽for evil, and her mad scene is one of the most unhistrionic, and therefore聽spookiest, ever filmed. Grade:聽B (Rated R for strong violence and brief sexuality)聽
