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Ranking every Macbeth I have seen

as of 2024

In order of preference

  1. The 1971 Polanksi one - I know, I know, I'm sorry. I know he's a bad man who did bad things (apropos??), but I think this one just hits all the right notes. It's amazing, and a very classic interpretation, and consequently it feels like the gold standard.
  2. The 2006 Aussie one - A surprising pick for 2, but I quite liked this modern adaptation. Logging trucks for Burnham Wood was fun. The Macduff murders included a downright disturbing shot of strangulation, so watch that part with caution. Why does the movie poster make it look like a vampire movie?? This was pre-Twilight…
  3. Scotland, PA - This loose adaptation is undeniably fun. I love the final showdown.
  4. The Patrick Stewart one - I keep misremembering this as being a one-man show. That's the power of Sir Patrick Stewart. I'm actually not sure where exactly this should fall between spots 2-4. I need to re-watch it.
  5. The 2021 one. I SO wanted to love this one, because it's stylish as hell and I love black and white. But… Welllll… I just didn't like Denzel Washington's performance at all… Or Frances McDormand's much either. Kathryn Hunter as all three Weird Sisters, however, will never be topped and is reason alone to watch this version.
  6. My high school's production. It was solid, and it started me down this path. I might even have ranked it higher, except the guy who played Macbeth wasn't able to learn all his lines in time, so he did Act IV reading from a crib sheet stuck in a book. It wasn't that bad, really, but it was extremely distracting.
  7. The 2015 one. Maybe I would have liked this if I had seen it in the theater. Watching it at home, I couldn't hear a damn word anyone said, and I couldn't tell who was who because everyone was covered in dirt. Plus they biffed the Banquo ghost scene, which is my favorite. Forget it.
  8. A local community theater production. I tried to keep my expectations in check, but it was dreadful.

Honorable Mention

Lady Macbeth. I don't see much if any direct connection with Shakespeare's Macbeth, but this was a fantastic (and harrowing, and very dark) movie. I watched it on a plane on a whim… What a weird place to watch it…