I’m not a fan of Shakespeare, never have been. A couple of years ago I tried to watch the Best Picture-winning film Hamlet starring Laurence Olivier from 1948 and it drove me batty. Of course, I didn’t finish it. Since then, I’ve found absolutely no interest in Shakespeare’s work…until Denzel Washington starred in The Tragedy of Macbeth.

As I continuously heard the buzz about this new film adapted from one of Shakespeare’s greatest hits, I decided, what the heck, let me watch it. And I’ve got to say, it was pretty good.

More than anything the film is absolutely stunning. Joel Coen, who wrote and directed the film, brought such a vivid beauty to the black-and-white cinematography of the piece that I found myself invested simply because the directing was stellar.

The execution of the story wasn’t half-bad either. At first, I found it a bit hard to follow but it wasn’t long before I understood what was transpiring perfectly and from thereon I was sucked in.

This movie will definitely get a bunch of Oscar nominations, including another Oscar nomination for Denzel Washington as Macbeth. He won’t win because he’s got a lot of competition this year; Will Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Andrew Garfield, but he did do a great job.

All in all, if either one of the Coen Brothers makes a movie I’m always excited, and for good reason. This film was fantastic.

I’m giving it 95 out of 100 and 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.