Macbeth

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not for the faint of heart.
Review: Macbeth may be studied in school by children, but this movie goes beyond what most children would expect of Shakespeare. Compared to the Expressionistic Orson Welles version (1948), this version is completely in-your-face and doesn't flinch from showing cruelty close up. The killing scenes are enough to make you cover your eyes, although it's hard to imagine they are also in the play itself. For young people who think Shakespeare is boring, this is the film to show them, even if it isn't as emotional and poetic as the Welles version. Be warned, however, don't watch this on an empty stomach.

Rating:
Summary: A very personal version of the classic play.
Review: This version is not for everybody. Polanski has directed a very realistic film which at times is quite brutal. The opening sequence with the witches is brilliant. Unfortunately, the video version of this film is not widescreen. This is one film which really needs a DVD widescreen release.

Rating:
Summary: great movie~
Review: The most important thing in this movie is, that the director shows you all the murders and that's not recomended to sensitive people!!! Great movie!!! Buy it now!!!

Rating:
Summary: "Blood will have blood..."
Review: Roman Polanski's notoriously violent film of Shakespeare's notorious "Scottish play" doesn't quite satisfy as it should. His bleak modernist interpretation is ultimately just too limiting, still it's certainly a bruvura piece of moviemaking and can be best appreciated as such. After all, this is not really Shakespeare per se but a Polanski film: the prevailing themes of witchcraft, rampant paranoia, and finally triumphant evil pick up right where "Rosemary's Baby" left off. And life is certainly nasty, brutish, and short in this movie--Shakespeare's poetry takes a backseat to a surfeit of excruciatingly detailed mutilations with plenty of blades slashing through jugular veins, culminating in a truly epic decapitation. This "Macbeth" is a relentless homicidal debauch: Polanski displays the same technical virtuosity and gruesome inventiveness in staging the numerous murders here as he did in "Repulsion." All of Shakespeare's famous metaphors (e.g., "is this a dagger I see before me?") are garishly literalized and deliberately engineered as part of an escalating series of spectacular, cathartic, bloodier-than-hell set-pieces. Visually, the film is rich and vivid: the forbidding images of rain-swept moors and twilit horizons possess a spellbinding primeval quality. And there are a few brilliant, inspired moments such as when our murderous Scot, whilst lying in his bed-chamber, broods "I am so stepped in blood..." and the whole room is bathed in an eerie crimson light. But the scene that truly stands out is when he visits the witches in their lair and is shown his fate: it's a gorgeous, thrilling, and strikingly imaginative surrealist reverie. The actors--nearly all British stage pros--are solid and reliable. As Macbeth, morose, dark-eyed Jon Finch is really quite good--and he certainly does have the diction for the role. But Francesca Annis's sickly nymphet Lady Macbeth is a glaring (and oh-so-characteristic) lapse in judgement on the director's part. Weak-voiced, pasty-faced, and generally irritating, this petulant little urchin has neither the skill nor the presence to adequately bring off one of Shakespeare's most formidable women. Annis's feeble performance renders the basic psychological premise of the play--Lady Macbeth's manipulation of her husband to fulfill her delusions of grandeur--unconvincing to say the least. Finch just looks uncomfortably stricken while Annis acts coy and childish. All in all, Polanski's "Macbeth" is a decidedly thorny piece of work: since it was his first film following the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and friends by members of the Charles Manson cult, he seems to have had too much to prove here. By dispensing with the Bard's customary knot-tying closing speech and ending instead with an abrupt silent scene suggesting basically that the cycle of treachery and murder will spiral forever through the ages, Polanski overstates his case.

Rating:
Summary: Good detail, yet it doesn't do justice to the tragic play.
Review: Lady Macbeth was awful

Rating:
Summary: "Blood will have blood..."
Review: Roman Polanski's notoriously violent film of Shakespeare's notorious "Scottish play" doesn't quite satisfy as it should. His bleak modernist interpretation is ultimately just too limiting, still it's certainly a bruvura piece of moviemaking and can be best appreciated as such. After all, this is not really Shakespeare per se but a Polanski film: the prevailing themes of witchcraft, rampant paranoia, and finally triumphant evil pick up right where "Rosemary's Baby" left off. And life is certainly nasty, brutish, and short in this movie--Shakespeare's poetry takes a backseat to a surfeit of excruciatingly detailed mutilations with plenty of blades slashing through jugular veins, culminating in a truly epic decapitation. This "Macbeth" is a relentless homicidal debauch: Polanski displays the same technical virtuosity and gruesome inventiveness in staging the numerous murders here as he did in "Repulsion." All of Shakespeare's famous metaphors (e.g., "is this a dagger I see before me?") are garishly literalized and deliberately engineered as part of an escalating series of spectacular, cathartic, bloodier-than-hell set-pieces. Visually, the film is rich and vivid: the forbidding images of rain-swept moors and twilit horizons possess a spellbinding primeval quality. And there are a few brilliant, inspired moments such as when our murderous Scot, whilst lying in his bed-chamber, broods "I am so stepped in blood..." and the whole room is bathed in an eerie crimson light. But the scene that truly stands out is when he visits the witches in their lair and is shown his fate: it's a gorgeous, thrilling, and strikingly imaginative surrealist reverie. The actors--nearly all British stage pros--are solid and reliable. As Macbeth, morose, dark-eyed Jon Finch is really quite good--and he certainly does have the diction for the role. But Francesca Annis's sickly nymphet Lady Macbeth is a glaring (and oh-so-characteristic) lapse in judgement on the director's part. Weak-voiced, pasty-faced, and generally irritating, this petulant little urchin has neither the skill nor the presence to adequately bring off one of Shakespeare's most formidable women. Annis's feeble performance renders the basic psychological premise of the play--Lady Macbeth's manipulation of her husband to fulfill her delusions of grandeur--unconvincing to say the least. Finch just looks uncomfortably stricken while Annis acts coy and childish. All in all, Polanski's "Macbeth" is a decidedly thorny piece of work: since it was his first film following the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and friends by members of the Charles Manson cult, he seems to have had too much to prove here. By dispensing with the Bard's customary knot-tying closing speech and ending instead with an abrupt silent scene suggesting basically that the cycle of treachery and murder will spiral forever through the ages, Polanski overstates his case.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Awesome, with a Great Twist
Review: If you have never seen a film of Macbeth, start with this one.
You must surely know at least part of the plot ( if not, you can check the text on line easily enough); however, polanski takes this film and adds a final twist in the only manner Polanski can... and its awesome, and to be honest, I think a logical extension of the story.
Polanski scores high points again.

Rating:
Summary: Medieval accuracy, good Shakespeare
Review: A few years after the film was released in the US, I convinced my high school English teacher to take our class to see it. (In the days before video, this involved renting a theater and print.) I was glad I did. It is certainly the most real and immediate film of the play. The sets, costumes (or lack thereof), and casting all work to create an accurate depiction of "nasty, brutal, and short" 11th century life. And of course, there is the wonderful insight of Shakespeare's language to engage our modern sensibilities.
One can only thank Polanski for casting such relatively young actors as his leads. Kings lived and died young then, and had to be both excellent generals as well as administrators to succeed. Jon Finch is both athletic and impassioned enough to carry off the soldiering, and young and introspective enough to be moved by his wife both as a woman and co-conspirator. Of course, Francesca Annis made a splash by doing the mad scene in the nude--but in medieval times, everyone slept in the nude!! so the film is certainly accurate to the time. (And if queen's did, why not covens?)
And has been noted elsewhere, at least the castle keeps are cold, dark, and dirty. The communal sleeping arrangements, straw bedding, flaring smoky torches, seeping walls, and muddy yards all contribute to the historical accuracy of this production. And keeping with Shakespeare's light vs. dark metaphors, the misty rain and lowering skies combine to enhance the mood.
What happens in this "Macbeth" is as realistic as possible. So what happens offstage in the play, happens onstage in the film: the murders of Duncan, Banquo, Macduff's family. Murder is nasty and bloody and Polanski (having much experience of its results) makes sure we know it. Medieval Scotland was nasty and bloody as well, and if the film is accurate in depicting its setting, why not the action? And only Polanski has an ending that hints that violence and ambition did not die with Macbeth's overthrow. All said, Polanski's film still has the most accurate medieval setting, engaging performances, and thrilling/shocking battles.
PS. For those interested in the real historical Macbeth, read Dorothy Dunnett's excellent biographical novel "King Hereafter". Dunnett is world renowned for her historical accuracy, and did much research to create not only a plausible rendition, but a thoroughly interesting and entertaining story as well.

Rating:
Summary: Middle Age tragedy
Review: This is a serious attempt to Macbeth's story. In spite of being a Playboy production and some perhaps unnecessary nudes, the tragedy is faithfully told. Shakespeare love for violence and the supernatural is well known and this film makes justice, I believe, to the playwright's intentions. In his stage he could not show much of the actual violence such as is depicted in the movie, but this was more because of the limitations of the time, rather than because the audience did not love blood. Remember that public executions were commonplace in Shakespeare's England.

One of the best aspects of the film is the geography, the atmosphere, the gray and hostile texture. Tragedy is implicit in the rainy weather, the bleak stones, the barren fields.

An aesthetic experience not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Colosal adaptation !
Review: This was the first issue in what we should call the second age of Polanski . In this case his deep inspiration carried him to play this powerful work of William Shakespeare. Many people consider ths film too violent and bloody , but we are talking about Macbeth , and precisely this violence is part of the story . The visual language needs it , to express the raise and the decay of Macbeth . The greed and ambition feed his soul and will carry him to commit the required murders to reach his goals . This is a maquiavelian statement .
The art direction is eloquent . The cast is first rate , the atmosphere is by far convincing .
Polansnki developed one of the most fortunate versions in the screen , but keep in mind the previous releases of Welles and Kurosawa (Throne of blood) , however , this movie is fundamental in your collection.
The hands are filled of blood!