Review: Macbeth (2006)


Set in Melbourne’s gangland territory, this modernised version of the familiar tale of murder, ambition and revenge, stars Sam Worthington in the title role, and Victoria Hill as his Lady, who plot the murder of drug kingpin Gary Sweet (looking entirely embarrassed), to move Macbeth further up the criminal ladder (as three seductive schoolgirl witches predict for him). But things start to go awry as MacBoofhead becomes a tortured soul, Lady Macbeth goes completely bonkers, and Sweet’s sons (Steve Bastoni and Lachy Hulme, as Banquo and MacDuff- who along with younger cohort Matt Doran, are all pretty interchangeable, despite the actors looking nothing alike) wise up, resulting in one overextended bloodbath between a bunch of boring, posturing gangsters.


Completely botched, modern-set (and irritatingly stylised) 2006 Aussie version of the Bard’s play (never a favourite of mine in the first place) is revolting, ham-fisted, turgid, incoherent (even to those who are familiar with the story, maybe especially so). I had read the play a long time ago at school and endured the even worse Roman Polanski version of the tale, and yet I couldn’t follow this one for a moment. Writer-director Geoffrey Wright (the “Romper Stomper” guy doing Shakespeare? Great, why not dig up the late Russ Meyer and get him to direct a version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”? Actually, that’d be a helluva thing to see, come to think of it!), and his co-screenwriter/actress Victoria Hill (yeah, the chick with the annoyingly precise diction from the HCF ads on Aussie TV) make the whole thing bloody boring too (and cut a few things out, apparently).


The cast is full of familiar names and faces (mostly in the Aussie TV industry), almost all of whom have absolutely no business spouting the Bard’s dialogue (it was nice to see hot former “Blue Water High” star Kate Bell nuding up as one of the schoolgirl witches, though. What? I’m just saying...), and probably even less understanding of it. I mean, what the fuck are comedians Mick Molloy and Bob Franklin doing playing tough guys here? And Matt Doran? The little dork from “Home and Away” as a trigger-happy, vengeful type? Hardly. But the worst would have to be Worthington. The guy has talent (well, a bit anyway), but he’s all wrong in the title role. His boofy, gravel-voiced, inarticulate line readings almost single-handedly derail this entire film (the casting director should’ve been fired for this decision alone), which makes the overrated Baz Luhrmann modernisation of “Romeo + Juliet” seem like a masterpiece in comparison (and believe me, it’s not!).


It doesn’t work for even a second (the violence would be offensive if it weren’t so exceedingly monotonous), though Hill, as Lady Macbeth seems to have at least some familiarity with her role and the language.


Rating: D-

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