Movie Review: Macbeth (2006)

When I first read "Macbeth" in middle school, I instantly fell in love with it. When I read it again in high school, I thought to myself... it would be the coolest thing ever if they could make a modern movie out of this somehow. The fall into madness, the tragic twists, and the murderous plots would make a fantastic modern movie, I thought. This is also around the time when Baz Luhrmann came out with his rendition of "Romeo and Juliet", which I thought was wonderfully done. So when I saw that director Geoffrey Wright had taken on the challenge of making a modern day Macbeth, I was all about it. I snatched that shiz up faster than you can say, "something wicked this way comes" (yes, I'm a bit of a Shakespeare geek). Well, even though I was hoping for something great, I wasn't surprised that it was kind of... well, not good.

While I loved watching Macbeth get acted out, and seeing the words come to life in a movie setting, I couldn't get past how the way it was portrayed didn't make complete sense. The idea of drugs and gangs was used by Baz Luhrmann, but I think this was easier to do with Romeo and Juliet than in Macbeth. I just didn't see how being the head of a drug gang was like being a king, and how becoming the "king" of a gang worked in a succession. I wanted to believe that King Duncan and Banquo were good guys, but it was hard to do when they were obviously drug-taking criminals. So, while I was trying to get past my mild disappointment with that (even though I started to understand why it may have been necessary), more things started to bother me. Like all the unnecessary action. I think instead of trying to make Macbeth into an action movie, Wright should have just stuck with making it modern. A little action is good, a lot is boring. I just think it all could have been constructed a little better, even though it was obviously thought out. Other than that, the movie was enjoyable. I especially like Lady Macbeth; I thought her role was performed beautifully. It was just hard to imagine Macbeth's motives in this setting.

One of the funniest things about this movie was how the director obviously needed some extra scenes to make the storyline work, but since everyone was spouting Shakespeare it would've been weird to add lines; so in these scenes everyone is just completely silent. It doesn't really work, and it looks so awkward that it's funny. The second funniest thing was Macbeth's outfits.

By the way, the witches were pretty cool, a little creepy... and extremely slutty! I know you're witches and all, but keep some clothes on girls! (I suddenly have a feeling all the male readers will be renting this soon...).