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Movies / On DVD / Macbeth
Macbeth

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Macbeth (1971)

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Reviews Counted:22

Fresh:19

Rotten:3

Average Rating:8/10

Consensus: Roman Polanski's Macbeth is unsettling and uneven, but also undeniably compelling.

Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: William Shakespeare's immortal play about a Scottish warrior (Jon Finch) whose wife's lust for power transforms him into inhuman monster is given it's rawest, most brutal screen treatment in this... William Shakespeare's immortal play about a Scottish warrior (Jon Finch) whose wife's lust for power transforms him into inhuman monster is given it's rawest, most brutal screen treatment in this version by Roman Polanski (ROSEMARY'S BABY, CHINATOWN). Filmed in suitably bleak locales and imbued with nudity not usually seen in the works of Shakespeare--along with realistically gory murders--this MACBETH is singular and sensational, but is not for the young or faint of heart. [More]

Starring: Jon Finch, Nicholas Selby, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw

Starring: Jon Finch, Nicholas Selby, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw

Director: Roman Polanski

Director: Roman Polanski

[See More Credits]

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Release:

May 7, 2002

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Macbeth

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
10/18/08
AV Club
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
10/18/08
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Polanski elicited naturalistic understated performances from his actors which bolstered the play's realism while bringing the poetry down to earth. Some would argue he brought it too far down.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/03/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The wide-screen visuals swamp the dialogue, and the thematics have been turned inside out -- but that's what movie adaptations ought to do.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/03/08
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Polanski has increased the film's barbaric realism and fills the screen with blood, mud and brooding atmosphere.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
07/02/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

a bloody, rip-roaring good time

Full Review Source: Perihelion Journal | comment Comment
08/27/06
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Perihelion Journal

Polanski's evident desire to elicit understated, naturalistic performances from his cast also underplays the poetry of the play...

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out

Released just two years after Polanski's then pregnant wife was brutally murdered by members of the Manson family, and morbidly preoccupied with violence and cruelty

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
03/24/06
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Something of a disappointment.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
12/06/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Polanski's movie is the quintessential film version of the Scottish play.

comment Comment
11/07/05
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
06/16/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

An over-the-top bu highly effective adaption of the Shakespeare classic with Polanski's disctinctive touches.

comment Comment
03/25/05
Dan Lybarger
Dan Lybarger
Nitrate Online

With its apparent fixation on murder and cruelty, it is difficult to overlook a number of the unsettling autobiographical details in the film.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
11/01/04
Rumsey Taylor
Rumsey Taylor
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

This is an original film by an original film artist, and not an 'interpretation.'

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
10/20/04
Enrique Buchichio
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

The film's bear-baiting, barnyard pageantry is less convincing than its clammy locations.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
05/04/04
J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Forces Shakespeare into the modern terrain of sickly spiralling sensibilities, with blood, lust, and madness at the forefront.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
03/16/04
Patrick Byrne
Patrick Byrne
Apollo Guide

No review available.

comment Comment
11/14/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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