Macbeth
Ever since explorer turned film director Christopher Columbus achieved moderate success with his sleeper hit Harry Potter & The Secret Chamber, all the big studios have been swept up in a craze of adapting successful books into big-screen dramas for the teen audience. After the Hunger Games series (which proved only two out of four films in a story need to be at all interesting), the Twilight series (which proved only zero out of five films in a story need to be at all interesting), and the ongoing Divergent series (which proves that people need to not write books if they have no ideas), The Weinstein Company has decided to reach into the past and adapt a REALLY old book.
But the result?
No amount of pretty cinematography can save this ham-fisted film that goes so far to satisfy fans of the book, it literally lifts all of the dialogue from the source material. I don’t see how the filmmakers could have ever thought this would play well to the YA crowd; sure, the battles look pretty cool and stylish, like 300 dialed up a notch, but the action is mostly pushed aside for more and more and more talking. Sometimes characters aren’t even talking to anyone, but instead stare off into space, or talk to children that look like they’re both confused and not paying attention!
A hallmark of teen films is their romance plots, but Macbeth tries (and fails) to get away with as little romance as possible. Besides for a couple strange, un-steamy sex scenes involving Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the closest thing to romance in this film is dirty, sweaty guys talking so close to each other that they might be about to kiss. Alas, they never do.
It’s a well-known fact that younger, untrained ears have a difficult time with foreign accents. Somehow this problem did not hamper the aforementioned Harry Potter series, but I’m afraid the same will not be said for Macbeth. The actually-Scottish actors have accents so thick you could cut them with a knife and still not understand them, while most of the non-Scottish actors put on fake accents that will still only be understandable to adults. Marion Cottilard just struggles to not sound French, and succeeds, but doesn’t sound Scottish at all. Maybe the filmmakers should actually have taken a risk and done a French Lady Macbeth.
All in all, I’m afraid Mr. Weinstein has gambled poorly. Perhaps a daring filmmaker could make changes to this same story and make it work for the modern audience, but in this iteration Macbeth seems like it came from someone who had absolutely no grasp on what plays to teens and what does not.
Zero out of Five Stars.
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The entirety of this review has been a case of JK Lolling.
In actuality, the new Macbeth makes for an enjoyable watch if only for the beautiful cinematography and full commitment to its historic setting in costuming and location detailing. All of the actors give powerful performances, though Marion Cotillard’s accent is seriously atrocious, but the film still doesn’t feel like it adds much to the Macbeth table, making its existence somewhat unnecessary.
