Review: Macbeth gets its UK premiere in Edinburgh tomorrow. Here's our take on the Scottish play
Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard take front and centre as Macbeth and his scheming lady. The lion's share of the drama takes place outdoors (the production shot in Skye and England), which works both for and against the piece. For, in that the setting is so breathtaking they make the picture look stunning; against in as much as Kurzel almost seems too in awe of his surroundings, too reluctant to tear himself away and do what he is strongest at - the action scenes.
These are fittingly blood red in tooth, claw and sword, and definitely not for the squeamish, but they give a sense of the man, his wife, and the madness that descends on them like the mountain mists, never to clear. Less successful is the way the dialogue is handled, with huge slabs of speech punctuating the action and draining the picture of life. Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's shortest plays, should be an adrenaline rush, and not, as too often here, a plod. There is no compromise made with the language either, making one wonder how accessible this most accessible of Shakespeare plays will turn out to be to younger audiences, or those who last read it at school long ago.
When Kurzel and his cast marry the action and dialogue successfully the picture soars as it should. He has taken risks with some of the speeches, moving them around and editing as he goes, and on occasion, as with Lady Macbeth's "out damn spot" speech, he triumphs.
Fassbender has all the makings of a terrific Macbeth - the intensity, the towering melancholy, the warrior attitude and physique - and he duly delivers, as does Cotillard as his partner in medieval crime. They are the beating heart of the film, as they should be, with Kurzel's staging running them a close second. But above all else towers that landscape, so fair, so foul, so awesome.
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