I'm a wild fan when it comes to Shakespeare, the kind of fan that buys the action figures and bookbags and grins like an idiot at the most random obscure quotes. I anticipate movie versions with a personal excitement that surpasses Star Wars, Marvel, and Lord of the Rings. I'm happy to recommend the best examples of why I love it, why people of all ages should love it and everyone should get on the Shakespeare train. The "franchise" is resilient to anything that can be thrown at it. But there are times I'm left thinking, if only they'd done this version differently... if only so I could recommend it more widely.
This latest Macbeth (2015) starring Michael Fassbender and directed by relative newcomer Justin Kurzel, prompted some marathon watching before we saw it, even including some House of Cards with the spiritual successors of Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth, Frank and Claire Underwood. Even as more of a casual fan, my partner is used to this by now, and will stop in as I take over the TV for a week. We both went in with a fairly good background on the play, ready to enjoy it.
What we weren't ready for was the arthouse film style. Playing like "300" for an experimental film audience, grisly violence intercut with intricate madness are painstakingly portrayed. There are frames of the battle sequences and actors on the rocky, foggy landscape that could be surreal paintings. However, every single moment is emphasized with music, pauses, and close-ups, anxious to give climactic underttones to the entire 2+ hours. There's little chance to get caught up in the narrative, and there's a lot of time to get tired of the seriousness of everyone's silent looks. For a good portion of the film I wondered if characters were supposed to be sleepwalking or suffering from PTSD, but I have to conclude they'd simply made the mistake of acting too meta-aware, sapping the tension by already knowing how it all ended (with rare exceptions - see below).
A play with a popular actor like Michael Fassbender can be an opportunity to bring Shakespeare to a wider audience. There are versions of the plays that handily counter the popular perception of Shakespeare as boring, arrogant, and too cerebral. Oddly, even with the lavishly produced violence, this is not one of them. I dread hearing actors constantly declaim their lines. There's dialogue, wittiness, humanity, and dark humor in Macbeth that make a huge difference in pace, tension, and excitement, but deep cuts to the script are missed in this version.
I wish I could say more good things about Lady Macbeth, one of my favorite characters, played by Marion Cotillard. Except for an appreciated twist on her story, she felt ill-fitted to the world, a reaction to Macbeth's madness rather than a force with an arc of her own. For all the prolonged grisly violence, grime, and dramatic speeches, she felt oddly constrained. It felt like she was cheated, considering the source material.
There are a few stand-out scenes and performances. The ghosts and visions have traditionally been troublesome, and often risk being silly. Here, they were handled in an inspired way that left me imagining what the movie could have been like. MacDuff cuts right to the heart; at times he seems to be the only person actually living in this strange and violent world. Fassbender as Macbeth manages to break out of the ponderous line-to-line pace and bring his character to life, portraying his arc and descent into madness with chilling humanity and clarity. Taken apart, there are some impressive monologues.
Taken together, impressive monologues and grand visuals do not a story make. This is a film I can only recommend to a niche audience of arthouse fans. There are worthwhile moments if you have patience for the pace and can forgive the over-seriousness. If you're looking for an accessible, modern version of Macbeth with dramatic tension that you can widely recommend, try House of Cards.