Macbeth (2015)

 

Directed by: Justin Kurzel

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, David Thewlis, Sean Harris. 

        Or, Magneto, the lady from Inception, Remus Lupin, and the bad guy from Mission Impossible. 

So good. Disclaimer ‘cause there’s violence and some sex stuff at two points, but aside from that it’s excellent. 

The premise is the same - Macbeth, a lord of Scotland, is told he’ll be king by three witches and finds himself compelled to murder first his king, and then the people who oppose him as he inherits the throne and begins his rule. He loses, and eventually falls. End show. 

It’s one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, so it’s not obscure or anything. What the production team decided to do with this is make the setting historically accurate! This got nominated for some of the most prestigious awards in all of film, so they did this right. 

Costumes from the film on display.

 L-R: Macbeth’s armor, the garb of the king, and Lady Macbeth’s coronation dress

Macbeth (2015) accurately portrays the real historical era down to accents, clothing, and weapons to give us something Shakespeare never planned, but that works very well for his purpose; creating a world where Macbeth goes mad. Recreating the era - and more importantly, the poverty and violence of that era - dramatizes better than ever, how a man like Macbeth would go mad. 

Michael Fassbender is made for this role, 'cause he's good at two things - being unrealistically good-looking, and crying. He makes sadness look as intimate and majestic as it could be. His supporting cast is great as well. veteran theater actors filling the story with film-friendly, theatre-loyal performances. The drums-and-wails soundtrack is great, and the Scottish Highlands have never looked so magnificently haunting. While there are a few changes made for screen's sake, the film comes across as a unique, powerful, and hard-hitting telling of the tale that doesn't sacrifice text for screen or vice-versa. 

Recommend. It's rated R for violence, and there are two moments where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth get sexy while clothed, but do so in such an unnerving way that you might just want to skip it like I did. I wouldn't recommend watching it with your kids, but I would recommend watching it. It's available for free on Amazon Prime, and for rent for $4 everywhere else.