After seeing the impressive trailers fro this film, not to mention my admiration for Shakespeare, I had some high expectations for this film when I bought my ticket for it. So imagine the terrific standard of this film when I say this film heavily exceeded my expectations with flying colours! This film is perhaps the best Shakespeare film adaptation that audiences have seen in a while. Not since the time of Kenneth Branagh has it been this good!
The part where the film excels the most is the visuals. Believe it or not it's actually rare for a film set in Scotland to be filmed in Scotland. Braveheart was mostly filmed in Northern Ireland. Which is really strange due to how beautiful Scotland is. This is something that the film captures indefinitely, as director Justin Kurzel and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw making every shot look more like a painting rather than any ordinary film, capturing the majestic look of the Scottish terrain. This is perhaps the closest a film has been to portraying how Medieval Scotland would have looked like.
Another thing about the visuals, and the story itself, is that the film doesn't shy away from the gore and filthiness of the medieval times. With blood soaked battlefields and gritty set pieces. Whenever a blow lands on a soldier the audience is absolutely convinced that they're in extreme pain. And this works incredibly well for the final battle between Macbeth and Macduff.
Whilst the film's visuals are fantastic they're not the only things that carry it. The two main actors, Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard act out amazing performances as one of literature's most psychotic married couples. Fassbender seems perfect for the role as he already has that look of a stone-cold leader and warrior, and his portrayal of Macbeth's slow descent into madness is mesmerising. Audiences genuinely feel for this tyrant as he loses his mind and then grip over Scotland. However, Fassbender's performance is equally matched by Cotillard's Lady Macbeth, who also descends into madness but mainly due to the loss of her child. Which is a new feature added to the film that I actually liked as the loss of a child is such a traumatising experience that it would make sense that it would break her and force her to go on this dark path. I also really liked that they let Cotillard keep her French accent, keeping it more historically accurate as it was common practice for British lords to marry women from France. Overall, these two performances were so enchanting that you can't help but feel sorry for the evil power couple.
Whilst the film is just about flawless as an adaptation I did have one problem with it and that was casting. with the exception of Michael Fassbender Marion Cotillard, I believe that the film might have been a bit more authentic if the main cast was completely Scottish. Most of the main cast were English, such as David Thewlis playing king Duncan, Paddy Considine playing Banquo and Sean Harris as Macduff. These are all fine actors however, it is extremely difficult to do a Scottish accent if you're not from Scotland. Although the actors do a fairly decent job, this sadly shows whenever they talk. However, for global audiences this won't be much of a problem so it shouldn't bother them so much. But, personally, as someone who's lived in Scotland for more than two years now, it took me out of the film on occasion.
Overall this film is everything you'd want a Shakespeare adaptation to be: Loyal to the source material and to the time period it was set in. It captures the beauty of Scotland perfectly, more than any other film. The main actors give out terrific portrayals of their roles and add more to the dark and gruesome atmosphere of the film.
9/10
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