Review of The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) by Rebecca31 — 03 Apr 2022

Yet another retelling of Macbeth comes from director Joel Coen, starring Denzel Washington as Macbeth, Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth, Brendan Gleeson as King Duncan and Corey Hawkins as McDuff. Most of you will already know the plot synopsis but for those of you who weren’t forced to read Macbeth in school, it’s the story of a Scottish lord becoming convinced by a trio of witches that he is destined to become the next King of Scotland. Obsessed by this idea and with the support of his wife he begins to set in motion his plan to seize power.

Artistically I liked the look of The Tragedy of Macbeth, the harshness of the black and white and impressive camera shots were nice to look at and created an eerie atmosphere. But at the same time it felt very stagey, I felt like I was in a theatre watching this on stage. This seemed intentional but for a film adaptation I’m not really in favour of this form of storytelling. It does allow for all the focus towards the actors and the script. The cast are all exceptional, Denzel and Frances particularly. It’s probably the spookiest adaptation of Macbeth you’ll ever see, everything from the cinematography, lighting, soundtrack and the witches are highly effective in creeping you out.

This is the second recent version of Macbeth to appear on the big screen and although both this adaptation and the 2015 version with Michael Fassbender are good in their own way I believe the next adaptation will need to do something different. So whoever decides they want a chance to adapt Macbeth again for the big screen please have a read of Jo Nesbø’s modern take on Macbeth and adapt that instead. Recommended for the Shakespeare fans.