Film Reviews

Macbeth

• Rating:
• Director: Geoffrey Wright.
• Starring: Sam Worthington, Victoria Hill, Lachy Hulme, Gary Sweet.
• Details: Australia / 109mins (15).

** Preview ** Is this an Uzi 9mm with armour-piercing bullets I see before me? The umpteenth translation of Macbeth to the big screen sees director Geoffrey Wright team up with actorfirst time writer Victoria Hill (who also plays Lady Macbeth here) to bring a somewhat Baz Luhrmann adaptation of the Scottish play. Baz Lurhmann meets Quentin Tarantino that is. Moving the action down under, drug-dealing crime boss Duncan (Sweet) discovers that his tough henchman Macbeth (Worthington) is switching sides and plans to off him post-haste. As you'd expect from the director of Romper Stomper and Cherry Falls, this promises to be a violent and bloody adaptation with random kneecapping, garrotting, shootouts and brawls aplenty. Even tots get in the way of the bullets. Titillation is also the name of the game, as Macbeth gets down and dirty in foursomes while the three witches are scantily clad schoolgirls. The film is apparently a success visually, but dragging the Elizabethan era play (the dialogue is shaved but the language is left untouched) into a contemporary Aussie underworld may have been a bridge too far.

Review by Gavin Burke