The William Shakespeare play about a easily influenced and conniving man, who mercilessly killed many due to his greed for power, was well played out in this rendition of the original play. The film was quite accurate in comparison to the original play. The plot events were played out well, all the discussions, even the shortest ones, were played out perfectly. The film was impactful, and the characters were easily remembered when re-reading the play. The characters in this film were accurate, and realistic. A personal flaw I found in this movie was the length of the film, a lot of things were dragged on, and other parts went too fast, which resulted in me missing the important bits of information. But other then that, the film was actually quite interesting. (P.S. this review is for a class project, my teacher is kind of cruel, so just ignore this review altogether pls n thnx)

Macbeth is the film which is more Polanski than Shakespeare from the late 70s. The story might be faithful to the play but there are few changes and few little disturbing points. It is starred by John Finch as Macbeth and Francesca Anis as Lady Macbeth. As Polanski directed it, the darker part of the play was shown much of it. For the family audiences or the student audiences the censored version should be shown. The plot is about a thane of Cawdor, Scotland whose encounter with the witches and support of his mistress let his ambition to misguidance. Therefore it leads through such tragedy that creates a disturbingly painful tone. The acting is the important part of the Shakespeare play. John Finch and Anis played justice to their roles. The disturbing point for us Asians is the nudity of the witches; the little child who was showering nude plus the epic battle scenes in which Macbeth's head was cut. The soliloquy was replaced as inner monologues to make it more realistic. The scenes foreshadow the cut from the text. There are some characters which were developed rather than the play. The music were suitable at the 70s but a weak point if you go to the post-modern period. The music shows the dramatic picture and the film made more historical. It shows from the protagonist's view as most Polanski's films do. The set design was rough and dry as the atmosphere of the play. The rain also symbolizes dark prediction of the film. Lady Macbeth's acting was brilliant. The direction was superb and the camera angle grabs the attention of the viewers. Overall, the story is more of the play but it's not for the family audiences. But it was the best Macbeth adaptation and there was no option to find the alternatives. It's a four hour film like Hamlet. It's also a must watch for adult Shakespearean viewers.

Vehement and inch-perfect approach of Roman Polanski towards Shakespeare's greatest play "Macbeth". Polanski's absolute narrative technique and profound direction set the heinous deed of Macbeth and his tragic fate with elegance. He brilliantly represents all Shakespearean symbols on the screen--- especially the floating "dagger", apparitions in the witches' den. Jon Finch powerfully portrays the downfall of Macbeth while Annis appears vivid struggling with her greed and conscience. Vibrantly, one of the mightiest adaptations from Shakespeare's :p8/10__:D

To say that this adaptation is a bit of a bloodbath is a bit of an understatement, but you cannot deny that this film from Roman Polanski is quite possibly the definitive film version of Shakespeare's play, which is very complicated to even contemplate transcribing to screen. The cinematography is excellent, as is the script. It is true that there are a lot of disturbing scenes, chiefly Lady Macbeth's nude sleepwalker scene and King Duncan's death. Roman Polanski should be commended for how much he managed to get into the film, and he somehow made it all effective. Any scene with the three witches, the murder of Macduff's family, plus the part when Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost was very well done.(I saw an amateur production of this, and not only was it disappointing, but that particular scene was the worst aspect of it) The performances were brilliant, Jon Finch(who did start off uncomfortable) is great on the whole as the treacherous thane-turned-king, and Francessca Annis was nigh-on-perfect as Lady Macbeth. And Martin Shaw was excellent as Banquo. From the suitably eerie opening scene, to the superb climax, this is a near-perfect adaptation, there were just some bits that were really disturbing to watch, that deserves more recognition. 9/10 Bethany Cox