Michael's Movie Grade: A+
One of the best film adaptions of Shakespeare's immortal play.
Macbeth has long been my favorite Shakespeare play. Like the best of his work, it touches on themes and story elements that still are prevalent in storytelling today. Though the way the dialogue is written is very differently from how a modern story would be, the actual story could be written today and would not have dated at all. This is true of Macbeth especially. Its dark and violent story and its themes of how lust for power can easily corrupt a man are not that different from the stories of so many films today. Perhaps that is why there have been so many film adaptions of this story, yet very few have had the power of Joel Coen's (his first solo directorial effort (instead of co-directing with his bother Ethan)) new film has. The movie may present a bit of an unbridged version of the classic story, but everything is so spot on, I hardly noticed while watching it. Yes, the cast speaks the lines straight out of Shakespeare. While in some ways this may turn off your average movie goer, it works perfectly to the drama of the film. The action and the events of this movie are clear enough that someone who may get lost with some of the dialogue will still have a good understanding of what is happening. However, the cast speaks each line of dialogue in a way that you can hear every word. Having spent more time reading Shakespeare than listening to it, has made it so that for me the way many people read the words on stage or on film makes me miss some of the dialogue. This is a shame because I truly do view Shakespeare as one of the great poets and his words are very powerful. However here I could hear every word each actor said and therefore truly appreciate this great poetry. The cast also did a great job speaking this dialogue in a way that feels perfectly natural and believable. I have known the Denzel Washington was a great actor for a long time, but his performance here blew me away. He is truly a great Shakespearean actor. This movie is also probably the most visually beautiful movie of 2021. Joel Cohen and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel create a world that is one hand very stylized yet feels more real than if the film was shot in a more realistic manner. In many ways this movie visually reminded me both of American film noir and German expressionism in all the best ways. Yet this look is perfectly in service to the story and pulls you further into the emotion of each moment.
This is a cinematic masterpiece and a top-notch Shakespeare adaption.
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