Too much of everything

Lack of good storyline.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I have seen some great version of Macbeth. The from 1948 with Orson Welles is a great movie. This has a actors standing in a black back round describing what they have done. This is very boring way to do. It has good actor and a good story. But they did it in a way so that is seems boring. See Thorn of Blood that is a Japanese version of Macbeth. Do not waste time. And do not waste money. Do not see this boring movie. Macbeth from 1971 with Jon Finch is a great movie. See that movie do not bother with this boring remake. The 2006 version of Macbeth Sam Worthington is great. But this is just boring. I need more lines and I am running out of things to say.

In the 1960's and 1970's theatre directors Peter Hall and Trevor Nunn staged what were then ground-breaking productions of Shakespeare. Stripping away the false beards, theatrical make-up and elaborate staging which had been standard in the days of Olivier, Gielgud and Richardson, they brought new approaches to the plays (setting Othello in Victorian times, for example) and went 'back to the text' with simplified productions which let the Bard's language speak for itself.This is one of those productions. It electrified audiences in 1976, but now seems as dated as the over-dressed productions of earlier generations. With no sets whatsoever, the theatre production was staged in the round, and actors just walked into the performance space from a circle of chairs set around the stage. Unfortunately, what works on stage is not right for film or television. The camera has to move to maintain audience engagement and create drama, there have to be close-ups and two-shots. This production seems to want to have its cake and eat it by reaching a wide audience through a new medium while trying to preserve a theatrical event.Shoot me if you like, but I have always felt Shakespeare is over-rated. His use of language is often excellent and he tackles the big themes of human experience, but his plotting often goes to pieces and continuity isn't always his strong point. This play is a good example: we have a swift, fast-moving opening with the witches, and Duncan and Banquo getting bumped off in short order and then... a lot of talk about the nature of kingship and power between Malcom and MacDuff, and reports of Macbeth's increasingly bloodthirsty tyranny. The last third of the play is particularly slow until things liven up a bit toward the end with Lady M going nuts and the climactic confrontation between Macbeth and MacDuff - which is reported rather than shown.Interestingly, in Macbeth's second visit to the witches, Ian McKellen seems to be given given some sort of hallucinogen and then brain-washed into believing the witches prophecies, rather than deluding himself, which sort of shifts the weight of responsibility for his actions.The best performance in the piece comes from Bob Peck as MacDuff - no frills, no 'acting', but a real-life portrayal of a real man you can believe in. Otherwise the acting is in the best RADA theatrical style, far too broad for the camera and all but screaming "Look at me, I'm *acting*!" and using silly drooling and over-emphasised facial expression for shock value.This may have set Stratford on fire 40 years ago, but now looks dated and uncinematic (or untelevisual, if you insist, as it was recorded for television). And if you want to hear how beautifully Shakespeare can be spoken, without theatrical overemphasis, listen to Gielgud's recordings of Macbeth's speeches. (Even better, watch him as Henry IV in Welles's 'Chimes at Midnight').

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's finest plays, and this is a most wonderful version of it. I know that some have disliked the sets, finding them too dark and bare, I can see why, there are more interesting sets elsewhere in regard to productions of this play. But I found that the austerity was fitting with the gloomy tone of the play. Besides despite their look, they are made somewhat interesting by the lighting, which throughout with the light and dark contrasts is very atmospheric. The Witches scenes and the sleepwalking scene are lit brilliantly, but the one that stood out was when Macbeth greeted Duncan, the greens and reds was almost like a reference to what was going to happen later. I found it very foreboding and subtle, yet never predictable either. The costumes are acceptable, and again fitting with the play's tone. There are more traditional ones out there, but also much uglier ones. The camera work is unobtrusive and skillful.The dialogue is as ever brilliant, poetic yet haunting. The stage direction is suitably intense, the Witches scene in Act 4 is chilling as it should be, the Act 4 English scene is very strongly acted and moving and the banqueting scene doesn't fall into the danger of being misconceived. The music is very well-incorporated and quite haunting, yet it is never over-bearing. The acting is really magnificent. The Witches do give you chills(one is younger than the other two but this really did work), Bob Peck is a poignant MacDuff, John Woodvine commands with authority as Banquo-especially in the "Stop, take my sword" speech and in his ghost guise in the banqueting scene- and Ian McDiarmid brings some well-timed comedy amidst the gloom as the Porter. His Ross is also very memorable and very conflicted, more so than I remember the character being. What makes or breaks a Macbeth production(or any production in general) is the quality of the two leads.You cannot ask for a better Macbeth or Lady Macbeth. Ian McKellen has so much intensity in his line delivery- just listen to the famous "Is This a dagger I see before me" soliloquy- and his descent from loyal to indifferent, hubristic madness chills and moves. In regard to the latter, I did find his "Out, Out, brief candle" extraordinarily moving, after seeing actors sounding as though they are just reading this particular part, it was a joy to actually see and hear McKellen live it. It more than makes up for his perhaps too warm(in features) face, which is more a nitpick and hardly an issue when the actual performance was so good. Judi Dench's Lady Macbeth is both fragile and blood-curdling, while she relishes phrases like "murd'ring ministers" as she prays to lose all womanhood she is at her best in the sleepwalking scene. Her harrowing scream is truly unforgettable. The two are just as effective together in their conspiring, exuding sexual passion and increasing intensity.Overall, a Macbeth to remember. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Dead solid perfect handling of the Shakespeare chiller with greats McKellan and Dench giving their all in stellar performances. A brilliant scene involving Dench as Lady Macbeth in a breakdown that is so haunting, but so incredibly real. She lets out this god awful scream that frightens but also conveys to us beautifully the emotion and loss that this character has just endured. An astonishing achievement.