Is this the best Shakespeare film adaptation ever made?

Great film but no not close just off the top of my head Othello, Throne of Blood, Henry V & Ran are far superior.

Despite sporting two of the most impressive actors of their generation, featuring some remarkable images, and containing moments of real promise, it's ultimately unsatisfying.

I don't mind directors and screenwriters taking a scalpel to Shakespeare, but in this case, they didn't seem to have a sense of the "big picture" -- in other words, they were cutting to make it shorter, but the cuts didn't lend the story more momentum or impact; instead they imparted a rather meandering air to the proceedings, particularly in the second half.

The banquet scene was good though, and it really made me despair that we won't see Fassbender play the role in a more complete rendering, one that's less interested in using red filters to connote hell and more focused on the hell of the character's soul.

Absolutely not! Romilar is correct. There are superior adaptations of Shakespeare on film. This is slow and far to low key for a production of this play. As Michael Fassbinder himself said, Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is the best adaptation of The Scots Tragedy. If you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for? The actress who plays Lady Macbeth is amazing. She rarely moves a muscle as she motivates her husband toward his bloody acts and Toshiro Mufune is astounding in the leading role.

Laurence Olivier's breathtaking Henry V, filmed toward the end of World War II, is absolutely beautiful, shot in deep, rich technicolor, which the British used far better than the Americans, it begins in the Globe Theater and moves into the atmosphere of the story, filmed against painted backdrops.

Olivier's Richard III is one of the best performances ever captured on film. Again, shot with rich, deep technicolor, it's a beautifully imagined production. His 1948 Hamlet is superb, filmed in black and white and filled with Danish philosophies in the style it's staged in. Having actually been to Hamlet's Castle in Elsinore, well could you believe a brooding prince would wander the halls and a young lady would drown in the moat.

Re: Hamlet, don't discount the Zefferelli production starring Mel Gibson. It is a remarkable film, with an outstanding cast including Glenn Close, Alan Bates and Helena Bonham Carter is the best Ophelia of all time. Her mad scene is especially striking.

Now available on disc, Richard Burton in John Gielgud's production of Hamlet is worth seeing simply to hear that remarkable voice speak the speeches. That rich Welsh tongue and Hamlet were made for one another.

The Orson Welles Othello is short and filled with obvious sequences, but the acting is quite good and he gives a stellar performance in the leading role. Welles' film of the Scots Tragedy, filmed on the set for Outcasts of Poker Flat in ten days is also superb, but of his Shakespeare films, Orson Welles poured his heart, soul, and evidently bank account into Chimes at Midnight, based on the Falstaff plays. Margaret Rutherford is magnificent as Mistress Quickly.

One of Kurosawa's last films, Ran, an adaptation of King Lear rightly won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of the year. Here, too, the technicolor is beautiful and the acting outstanding. Don't miss it.

I'm a half hour into this version, and frankly, doubt I'll finish it. Nothing has grabbed me. I'll wait to see the scene with Banquo's ghost and decide whether or not I turn it off and send it back to Netflix unfinished or not.

Not the best...that has to be Olivier's 'Hamlet' or Kurosawa's 'Throne Of Blood'...but this one is clearly one of the best...

I cannot understand what exactly were the audiences referring when they said they could not understand the language. What were they expecting- stiff dialogue to explain all the proceedings? It is the Bard for god's sake and it has to be complex, poetic and hard-hitting all at the same time.

Some even complain about the fact that the lines are all whispered. Hello, what are we watching here, an Al Pacino gangster film or a Shakespeare adaptation? The key punch of 'Macbeth' the play is the secret whispers between Lady Macbeth and her husband in their blind bid for ambition. If the movie did not get that right, it would make for a really bad time at the movies for us Bard lovers.

The film experiments with the template indeed- Lady Macbeth comes across as more subdued and vulnerable in the film than in the original play. I actually loved this new twist and this itself made Macbeth himself a more of a domineering force and stripped out all his cowardice which was in the play. Fassbender is unquestionably brilliant as Macbeth and it is a shame that the Oscar juries, who normally look forward to such thespian performances, did not take notice of him. For the first time in my life, I really felt like smacking away Leonardo DiCaprio away from the scene of awards.

Loved the film. And those, who did not watch it yet, please do so on Blu-Ray with subtitles and a copy of the book by your side and be stunned.

While I didn't hate it, I liked Polanski's adaptation more. In terms of Shakespeare adaptations overall, I also preferred Branaugh's Hamlet, John Gielgud's Hamlet, Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, and Olivier's Richard III. I'd probably rank this along side Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. Some parts I liked, and other parts just didn't quite click with me.

Time to make up a new signature.

Do you know how many Shakespeare adaptations there are? Me neither. But tons. One would be hard pressed to pick the best one.

From the adaptations I remember seeing, my best to worse:

Macbeth (Polanski, 1971)
Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli, 1968)
Hamlet (Olivier, 1948)
Kumonosu-jo (Kurosawa, 1957) (Macbeth)
Julius Caesar (Mankievicz, 1953)
Ran (Kurosawa, 1985) (King Lear)
Henry V (Branagh, 1989)
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (Welles, 1951)
Much Ado about Nothing (Branagh, 1993)
Hamlet (Branagh, 1996)
Men of Respect (Reilly, 1990) (Macbeth)
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Macbeth (2015)
Hamlet (Zeffirelli, 1990)
Coriolanus (2011)
Titus (1999)
Much Ado About Nothing (2012)


This list made me realize I've never seen Macbeth (1948) by Orson Welles, or if I have I forgot to write it down...

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Brilliant film! the guy that plays Angus is really good, played by James Harkness a small part but very natural actor, one to look out for in the future!

no it was terrible - I explained why in another post and I so much wanted to like it - they ruined all the speeches with the beautiful language, had no humour but dropping the porter - a shame really/ if you've never seen Shakespeare don't let this put you off watch Richard III with Laurence Olivier; from the 50s if you can get a copy.