Okay, this is the last of my London Film Festival reviews, I promise, but as a lot of these films probably won't be released until next year or even the year after...I'll be back.Here, Joel Coen takes on the Bard. Expectations, to say the least, were high, but as I watched all I could think was, "Didn't Orson Welles do this already?" Because back in 1948, Welles did a low-budget, studio-set, pared-back black-and-white version of the play. Coen's version, like Welles' is in black and white and also filmed entirely on studio sets and even shown in 1:33 aspect, giving it an old-fashioned look. The monochrome cinematography is pretty dazzling, using the towering sets and deep shadows in almost Expressionistic style, and it's packed with what...well, what should have been a great cast. Unfortunately, Denzel Washington, as Macbeth, is dismal. I'm no Shakespeare purist, and don't have time for those who wax fervently about spondees, trochees and how you have to hit the right pentameter (blah, blah, blah) but I DO ask that the lines make sense and convey a meaning. Washington, who I know has stage experience, just reduced everything to a meaningless string of words. At first I liked his lugubrious, war-weary take, but as the film went on, everything suffered. The post-Duncan murder scene (oh, yeah: spoilers!) which should crackle with fear and tension, here has all the fervor of a suburban couple discussing who lost the TV remote. And it goes on: Birnam Wood on the march? Not born of woman? Whatevs. I also, watching the studio sets and wooden battlements roll by, kept wishing it was a bit more inventive, but there were occasional inspired moments: the mercurial and very, very flexible Kathryn Hunter does all Wyrd sisters and their appearances are nicely spooky and imaginative. There are some good peformances and it all does look really, really great. It's a fair go at the story, but there are already many others out there that do it better.
Adam Kimmel ● 920d