(This review may contain spoilers).
Although I don’t have a whole lot of interest in Shakespeare (the language is kind of difficult to read), I knew my friend enjoyed it and Macbeth’s her favourite play, so we went to see it today.
There was a lot of bloody violence in this movie. I thought that there were some good effects used, such as when the battle was shown in slow motion and the sound disappeared… though that was harder on my friend, who couldn’t get much of that effect.
I was confused by the appearance of the witches with a baby and a little girl with them and how it linked in with the beginning scene… if it did at all. While I thought it was good the speech in the movie kept to Shakespeare’s original style, I think it could have been changed to make the movie easier to follow… at least for me.
I did find Lady Macbeth a more sympathetic character than Macbeth. While I thought the parts were both extremely well-acted (I’ve seen both of those actors in movies in the past), I thought Lady Macbeth showed more emotion.
While there was a lot of violence in this, some aspects were left to the imagination. I was a bit confused by some of the interactions between King and messenger and if that was normal in those days.
Although the scenes themselves showed emotion, I felt it lacked quite a lot when the characters spoke. I found it very hard to differentiate between some of the minor characters and I wasn’t sure who many of them were supposed to be.
The fight scenes were quite vicious and I thought there were a couple of extra bits added that did help to add more to the play. I did feel that a lot of poetic license was taken and it would have been good if certain things had been expanded upon.
I don’t have any plans to watch this film again. The action was good and I thought it was well-acted… but I found the dialogue difficult to follow and I didn’t get to know many of the minor characters. While it was an interesting film, I think it could have been done a little better.
Ink of Blood 