Macbeth

Macbeth

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Movie Reviews of Macbeth

Movie Review: It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood
Summary: 5 Stars

That's another thing -- the nudity. Everybody seems to want to blame the nudity on Hefner and the violence on the Manson family. But, funnily enough, this movie contains the least sexy nudity I've probably seen on film. As for the blood, well, it is an extremely bloody play -- Polanski isn't making it up. This is a film that does not shy away from the darkness that runs through this late play of Shakespeare's. I'd just ask the viewer to try to ignore Polanski's life at the time of filming and the fact that Hefner produced and then try to imagine the film without the blood or the raw nudity. That coven scene is suffocating and near painful to watch. Macbeth looks like he desperately wants to flee, and we can understand why; he stays, however, because of his maddening, driving desire to know what will happen to him.

There are certain scenes of this movie that I just love to watch. I love that Macbeth takes on the entire English army by himself. There's no opposition, they just come in, and there he sits, all replete with himself and his confidence on his throne. Even though he is outnumbered about 10,000 to 1, he places his crown on his head, boldly announces his name, and the soldiers are terrified to fight him. The long battle with Macduff is also fantastic; it's fairly realistic. These men aren't superheroes, they run out of breath and they run out of weapons, eventually forced to resort to tripping and smashing each other into the walls. I'm going to discuss the end assuming that most people know that Macbeth is a tragedy -- anyway, another great effect is the shots we get while Macbeth's severed head on a pike is run through a cheering crowd, and we see shots of the people through an upward angle, as if from Macbeth's eyes, as if his head could still see. Chills. This, dear friends, is a horror movie. Rent it (or buy it), turn off all the lights, and watch it (i cannot stress this enough) without interruption. This is the one of the best Shakespeare adaptations I have ever seen.

Just as a sidenote, what exactly IS banquo doing on the cover of the film (Also on the DVD and the main menu)? One of life's unsolved mysteries....

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
Who struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot; full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Summary of Macbeth