The Tragedy of Macbeth Review

 

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a drama film based on the play by William Shakespeare. The movie is produced by A24 and IAC Films and distributed by A24 and Apple TV+. The Tragedy of Macbeth is written and directed by Joel Coen.

The story is after being told by three witches that he would become the next King of Scotland, a Scottish lord sets out to complete this quest. He'll do anything and everything he can to make sure he keeps this power, no matter what.

Why The Delay?

So if any of you read my review for Scream (2022), then you would've saw that I said I would have this uploaded yesterday. Well...mother nature had other plans. I don't know what it was like for any of you, but here in Salem, Ohio we got hit HARD with a huge snow storm. I think it was said that we got somewhere between nine to twelve inches. Because of that I was just shoveling snow all day. To the point where I was tired. So tired that I didn't want to anything else. I didn't want to upload my review, I didn't want to talk about movies, I didn't even feel like watching anything that was on tv. I just wanted to go back inside, sleep and warm up.

Initial Reaction

Why did I want to see this? Simply, Joel Coen and Denzel Washington. I mean how could you not looking forward to Joel Coen? Him and his brother Ethan, have brought us many great movies, whether they directed them or not. Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, the 2010 verison of True Grit, and Bridge of Spies. So I was curious what Joel had up his sleeve. And then you have Denzel Washington. Who's just a phenomenal actor.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

One grey area with the movie was the pacing. Don't get me wrong, for a majority of the movie is the pacing can be flawless. But there were a couple of scenes where I felt like the scene was going on just a little bit too long. Maybe those scenes could've been cut down just a bit, or maybe the story both for this verison and the original couldn't have them cut down?

Pros

One pro to The Tragedy of Macbeth is how everything with this movie is the most likely the same from the original Shakespeare play. Sure something's were change, but the movie still kept a lot of the stuff in that play the same. From the way people talked in that era to the overall look and everything. What I also loved about the movie was Macbeth's decent into madness. Yes, this story has been told a thousand times before but, this movie still found a way to keep your interest about how Macbeth went mad with power, and wasn't planning on losing it. That really deserves credit. When you take a story as old as this, and still make it engaging, you're doing something right. Another aspect that made the movie amazing was the performances. Denzel Washington absolute kills here. But it's not just him. It's Frances McDormand, it's Corey Hawkins, it's Kathryn Hunter, and so many others. This was such a great cast and their acting deserves every bit of praise they're getting. Then we have the cinematography....oh my goodness. This cinematography is just amazing. I'm actually having a hard time putting into words about how gorgeous it truly is. The best thing I can say is every shot truly looks like a work of art. The last thing I'll praise is Joel Coen's directing. I knew both him and his brother [Ethan] were great directors, but if one of them is capable of doing something like this on their own, I'm very curious if Ethan's gonna try to one up is brother (I say that in a joking manner by the way. I don't want these two to have a sibling rivalry (😄)).

2022 has only just started, but as of right now I can say with confidence that The Tragedy of Macbeth will be making a lot of "Best Movies of 2022". It respects Shakespeare's work, Macbeth's decent into madness was handled with great care, everyone's performances were top notch, the cinematography is spectacular, and overall Joel Coen directed it beautifully. Sure the pacing felt off to me in some places, but that didn't bother me too much.

My final rating is Great.

Okay, I'm done. Come back on Saturday, Jan 22nd for my review of the newest Netflix movie, Munich - The Edge of War. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.