Blood and guts version of the Scottish play. The best features are visual, with good use made of the lowering Scottish countryside (though some scenes are filmed in Northern England). Fassbender is a suitably macho Macbeth, but handles the introspection well. Marion Cotillard does well enough but does not dominate the film sufficiently – probably not her fault.
The witches, all too easily a laughable aspect, are presented effectively with the addition of an eerie child. Difficult to understand large parts of the text due to the large variety of accents and intonations on display. The final scenes are well staged, and the interpolated opening scene helps makes sense of the rest of the story. Worth watching as an adaptation, but there are better ones available on film. ( )