Macbeth review

The Scottish play gets an Aussie makeover in this present-day adap from Geoffrey Romper Stomper Wright, though any hopes we have of another Romeo + Juliet are soon dashed by a film that's far more foul than fair. Relocating the Bard's shortest tragedy to Melbourne's criminal underworld pays dividends in a blistering prelude that stages the opening battle as a bullet-ballet between opposing drug gangs. The moment the actors start speaking, however, it's evident they know as much about iambic pentameter as Kath and Kim. Wright holds the interest by peppering the action with schoolgirl witches, a cocaine-snorting Lady M (Victoria Hill) and a naked orgy. Ultimately, though, it's just a load of sound and fury, indifferently played by a Neighbours-lite cast and fatally compromised by graphic violence that makes Roman Polanski's 1971 version seem tame by comparison. Strewth…