ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

Shakespeare’s Scottish play has inspired some of the most illustrious names in the film world, from Roman Polanski to Orson Welles and Akira Kurosawa.

There is no reason that ‘Macbeth’ could not withstand a fresh telling, but a new version from ‘Romper Stomper’ director Geoffrey Wright is an awkward, unpersuasive hybrid that really tests the patience of the viewer.

Set among the gangland warfare in modern day Melbourne, this ‘Macbeth’ has all the trappings of a contemporary thriller from the brutal gunplay to the casual drug-taking.

It also retains a good deal of Shakespeare’s dialogue although in a heavily edited version. The oppressive visuals always dominate the words in an adaptation that feels like a demented pop promo complete with oodles of dry ice, colour filters and impenetrable gloom.

Rising Australian star Sam Worthington is merely adequate as Macbeth, an ambitious cog in the wheel of crime boss Duncan (Gary Sweet). His jealousy of Duncan’s son Malcolm (Matt Doran) is the spur to his savage acts, along with the enthusiastic support of his coke-snorting wife Lady Macbeth (Victoria Hill) who seems like a refugee from ‘Footballers’ Wives’.

A dinner in honour of Duncan provides the occasion for bloody murder and the chain of lethal, tragic consequences that follow. A heavyhanded fusion of ancient and modern, ‘Macbeth’ is a soulless, empty exercise that is never engaging because we feel no real connection to the characters and the emotions that drive them.

It is all surface dazzle with no depth or grandeur and few of the actors appear comfortable with the dialogue they have to deliver. A brave experiment that simply doesn’t succeed.

Selected release

Director: Geoffrey Wright
Stars: Sam Worthington, Gary Sweet, Victoria Hill, Steve Bastoni, Lachy Hume
Screenwriter: Victoria Hill from the Shakespeare play
Certificate: 15
Running time: 109 mins
Country: Australia
Year: 2006