So Macbeth is a bloody play. We know that. And there's a lot of creepiness, too. But this film played out like a sequel in the SAW franchise at its levels of both.
Based on the stage version (also directed by Goold), this film sets the story somewhere between the two world wars - everything is very tense, politically, and lines of loyalty are not always clear.
More than the overall concept, I found myself ooh-ing over little quirks. The "witches" (dressed as nurses) steal the opening messenger's heart (literally... they rip it from his wounded body while he's still struggling...). The Porter is a disturbed post-war head-case (and also Seyton). Ross is a nerdy bumbling clownish character with no backbone, and his discovery of the MacDuff family post-slaughter is... <shudder>... Also - they made certain Banquo was dead. Like, really really dead. Just letting you know.
However, the banquet scene just made me think of this. (skip to 0:45 if you want.)
It's a very clever adaptation of Macbeth as a horror movie. Tilted camera angles, long tarnished tunnels leading nowhere good, bright white lights which still can't show everything and cast even larger shadows, and weird voice modulations and quick cuts between reality, the supernatural, and the imagined.
It must not be unsaid that Patrick Stewart is top-notch in this film. All the energy, power, and malice I wanted him to have as Claudius in 2009's Hamlet he brings tenfold to this Macbeth. And his Lady M, Kate Fleetwood, is so hard at first you might think she's stone, but she's all glass as events unfold.
And because it's PBS - here's the whole 2.5 hour movie on Youtube! Or, if that stops working, it might still be steaming on Netflix, if they haven't driven themselves under.
Just saw this yesterday--I loved the witches at first, but I thought they wore out their welcome pretty quickly, and their Act IV appearance was just laughable. And I have yet to jump on the Patrick Stewart bandwagon--in every Shakespearean role I've seen him do so far, he's always "acting"--observing and commenting on his performance as he performs. It seems to me he makes all his acting choices during his first encounter with the text and screw everyone else in the rehearsal room.
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