The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.

  • Released: 2021-12-25
  • Runtime: 105 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, Thrillers, War
  • Stars: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Brendan Gleeson, Corey Hawkins, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling, Ralph Ineson, Alex Hassell, Brian Thompson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Miles Anderson, Max Baker, James Udom, Ethan Hutchison, Jacob McCarthy, Matt Helm, Scott Subiono, Lucas Barker, Nancy Daly, Robert Gilbert, Richard Short, Kathryn Hunter, T.K. Weaver, Kayden Alexander Koshelev, Wayne T. Carr, Edward Headington, Tim Oakes, Peter Janov, Madison Randolph, Phil DiGennaro, Bertie Carvel, Stephen Root, Jefferson Mays, Olivia Washington, Susan James Berger, Ledger Fuller
  • Director: Joel Coen
 Comments
  • gustavojensen-98259 - 18 September 2023
    SURREALISM + EXPRESSIONISM + BEST WITCH + ...
    Surrealism (theatrical performances sometimes seem like we are spectators in a theater with actors coming from the background sometimes to the foreground) with a large pinch of German Expressionism, all in a studio with a completely clean look but at the same time with a lot of contrast of light in a wonderful photography actors sometimes in shadow sometimes in light everything depending on human evil, lots of smoke giving a sinister and suspenseful air) a proportion that captures the characters on the screen with unparalleled beauty in black and white with above normal sharpness, the lines in long shots of a castle look like paintings to be studied for decades. The theatrical performances are wonderful in all the characters with language as close as possible to the original Sheakspire in an adapted script with a work of art in every way, a slightly complex script for those who don't know it but otherwise everything is perfect. We have Oscar-winning performances from DENZEL WASHINGTON playing Macbeth, FRANCIS MACDOMARD, as Lady Macbeth, but we still have the best witch in the history of cinema (or the best three, with a little spoiler) here KATRHIN HUNTER steals the show in a stupendous performance!
  • rachel-elizabeth-nolan - 8 January 2023
    Stunning cinematography, disappointing in other aspects
    By far the best thing about this rendition of Macbeth is the stunning visuals created through meticulous set design, lighting, VFX, and cinematography. The aspect ratio, black and white palette, and highly abstracted setting work together to tell the story in a new and fascinating way. However, in a story primarily concerned with the main characters' descent into madness, I would have liked to see a less restrained performance from the principal actors. Another aspect that fell flat for me was the several instances of very obvious ADR-a more minor detail, but one that really took me out of the fantastical world Coen has so carefully crafted. Certainly a film worth watching, but not one that will become a personal classic for me.
  • qkgyrvnf - 18 July 2022
    It's a dud.
    Some of these reviews are funny, people that have no experience with Shakespeare leaving bad ratings because they cannot understand the words, lmao put your work in and stop being a nitwit. This is Shakespeare people download the smartpass audiobook on audible, they are great intros to these plays.

    That being said this interpretation is poorly made in my opinion. Washington literally just mumbles most of his lines and puts no emotional effort into the part at all. They try to get cameras and props to to do what the actors should be doing with their face and voice, it's really bad. The words and how the actors express them is what really moves me in these Shakespeare plays, Ian Mcklellen did a really good job imo. It just doesn't seem like it works all that well in our post creative world where actors put little effort in and cameras, music, and props do all the work. All the eye candy and bad music and camera magic puts the beautiful words into the background, sometimes I cannot even hear what they are saying they say it so fast and without any emotion. I'm just a layman I'm not a Shakespeare scholar by any means; but it just seem like that it was sloppily put together and put out there just to make quick cash, just like everything else that is made these days.

    I'll give it 3 stars though I guess it was at least watchable, it did have its good moments.
  • GIJoel6 - 12 April 2022
    Stupidly brilliant
    Joel Coen is a brilliant auteur who is going to bring his own stamp to any production. His ideas for this one are typically big, but not always right.

    The first choice, to film in grayscale makes a great deal of sense. It heightens the darkness of the drama, and doesn't let an audience used to color on film forget the time period of the story. In spite of the lack of color, Coen manages to give this story a look absolutely spectacular for its uniqueness. He achieves this with expansive yet crisply chilled architecture of the sets. But at the same time, his next idea detracts from the look, as he deliberately removes virtually all furniture and decoration from the set. He chooses to give us castles built for landlords and royalty that contain none of the opulent comforts such folks would typically avail themselves of. This winds up being a visual distraction when our focus really needs to be on the dialog in order to follow the story, an unnecessary and vain error.

    The story is introduced, and several subsequent scenes also precursed, by a sky full of angry birds. It's another stroke of contextual brilliance the first time we see it, but by the third and fourth time, it has become merely comical.

    Shakespeare's text is always dense with language that is difficult to parse due to the words no longer in use and the floridity of the construction that uses familiar words. I remember from my school days (50 years ago) finding it utterly wonderful to read with a glossary handy, but often hard to listen to; thus the stylistic choice to have much of the lines read in somewhat hushed tones makes it even more difficult to hear properly. Perhaps it would have been easier in a theater with Dolby Surround-Sound(tm); alas I watched it on my computer.

    Needless to say, Washington and McDormand were at their usual high levels of professional dramatic proficiency. They had superb support from Stephen Root, Brendan Gleeson, Corey Hawkins, and particularly, from Kathryn Hunter as the witches. The pace is nicely brisk, interesting camera angles, excellent costuming. It's a film no fan of movies or Shakespeare or Coen or Washington should miss, but it's oddly far from perfect.