Really did like that the witches weren't portrayed in a way that was too reliant on witch cliches, and were spooky underneath their deceptive exteriors. The action is both exciting and ferociously harrowing, pulling no punches without being too unnecessarily over the top (seeing as 'Macbeth' is already a dramatically brutal play). The story takes time to get going but does get more compelling and remarkably ambitious, at its most emotionally investable from the point where Macduff learning of his family's murder (which has always been a very moving part of the plot) up to the end. Moreover, although it would have been nice if it was more consistently intelligible, Shakespeare's text is still powerful and hard to forget. The music is still haunting and Kurzel's direction is bolder and less muddled than it was in 'Assassins Creed' from the following year. The photography to me was some of the best of that year, especially in the act and those locations are hugely effective in their atmosphere, uncompromising but also oddly beautiful and dark without taking it to extremes. Other than the slow motion, it is quite an amazing looking film, with hugely atmospheric and grandiose visuals (from the suitably myterious fog early on right up to the boldly bloodthirsty climax). For all those drawbacks, there are a lot of positives with this 'Macbeth'. There are cuts and some of the omissions do affect the drama where the storytelling becomes less coherent. Especially in the first 10 minutes or so, which were more sluggish than arresting. While the film a vast majority of the time looked absolutely great, there is a gratuitous overuse of slow-motion. It is agreed not always easy to understand the dialogue, which didn't need to be as hushed or as muttered. It is not the definitive version of the play, either on film or filmed production, and did have room for improvement, but for all its flaws the film on the whole surprisingly impressed me.

Luckily, this 'Macbeth' lived up to expectations on the whole if not exceeding them. Was a little worried though too, seeing that it was directed by Justin Kurzel who directed the big misfire and huge waste of potential that was 'Assassins Creed'. The cast is a talented one, having often admired Michael Fassbender, Marion Cottilard and David Thewlis and ever since seeing him in 'The Borgias' Sean Harris struck me as one to watch. The play is one of Shakespeare's best, most famous and most quotable and has leant itself to film, with Roman Polanski, Orson Welles and Akira Kurosawa all giving it splendid treatment. Was actually really looking forward to seeing this 2015 film version of 'Macbeth'.

Macbeth summary