Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.4 / 5.0

"Blood will have blood...":

Roman Polanski's notoriously violent film of Shakespeare's notorious "Scottish play" doesn't quite satisfy as it should. His bleak modernist interpretation is ultimately just too limiting, still it's certainly a bruvura piece of moviemaking and can be best appreciated as such. After all, this is not really Shakespeare per se but a Polanski film: the prevailing themes of witchcraft, rampant paranoia, and finally triumphant evil pick up right where "Rosemary's Baby" left off. And life is certainly nasty,... more info

Pretty darn good...:

Very true to the play, clever interpretation of "desert heath."
Several rubuttles: Violence: yes, much violence that occured onscreen was never meant to, but why did Shakespeare write it such in the first place? Realistic onstage death/dismemberment was difficult (if not impossible) in the 16oos. In fact, live violence in modern theatres is still either badly done or heavily stylized. Youy also must remember, this was the first movie Polanski made after the Manson "family" raped and mudured... more info

Vaulting Ambition:

This is a terrific cinematic adaption of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. The film is also known as "The Tragedy of Macbeth", or sometimes "Roman Polanski's Macbeth". Set in early medieval Scotland ( although filmed, I understand, in Wales ), this is a well-known tale of the ruthless ambition of a young noble, Macbeth, who is goaded into acts of evil by his scheming, manipulative wife. Macbeth literally murders his way to the throne of Scotland. Of course, we know what happens to those who "live by the... more info

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