Movie Review: Macbeth

By Kelly Norman

If you’re a fan of Shakespeare and therefore can probably understand the “Shakespearean” language, then you might enjoy Macbeth. Although I pretty much knew what to expect when I walked into the theater, I was still a little bit annoyed that I couldn’t understand a word of what was said during the entire movie. Okay, that’s not true, I understood “murder” and “Macbeth”. But seriously, the entire movie could have been spoken in Yiddish and I wouldn’t have known the difference. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a score of 80 percent because it’s an art film about Shakespeare and had good acting. My point is that most art films get a high percentage just because they are “artsy,” which means they are different. I doubt very seriously that any of those critics knew what was said during the movie; they probably left scratching their heads and wondering what they just watched.

Although it was hard to understand the language, I did understand the plot of the film. Michael Fassbender stars as Macbeth and Marion Cotillard stars as his wife, Lady Macbeth. She is so consumed with greed and has such a thirst for power, that she persuades and pressures Macbeth to murder the king of Scotland so that he can take over the throne. After he does, Macbeth becomes increasingly consumed with guilt and takes even more turns for the worst. The two did an awesome job in the film, but that was already expected since they are both awesome actors.

Listen, if you are a fan of Shakespeare, then I’m sure you will really enjoy this movie. Although I’m not a huge fan of him, I appreciate Shakespeare so much and give a lot of credit to him since he is arguably the most famous playwright in history. I have to say that there have definitely been other Shakespeare movies that I have enjoyed much more than this one. Yes the acting is great and you can certainly follow the movie just by looking at the screen, but if you really enjoy dialogue and being able to understand it, then you might have some issues.