'MACBETH' INHABITS A BLOODY WORLD DOWN UNDER.

Byline: EVAN HENERSON

>LA.COM

Well, the man did famously say "blood will have blood."

And there's plenty of the red stuff being spilled in Geoffrey Wright and Victoria Hill's cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" opening its exclusive L.A.-area engagement tonight at the Landmark.

Transplanting the action of feudal Scotland to the present-day Melbourne underworld, Wright has left Shakespeare's dialogue alone. Thus, we get well-dressed Aussies uttering some rather famous lines before -- and after -- snorting a line of cocaine or blowing someone away with an automatic weapon.

That's the tricky thing about crime warfare, apparently. It doesn't come to an end until you've blasted or garotted your way to a seat of power. Then someone will be coming after you. Blood, as previously stated, will have blood.

Wright -- who 15 years ago directed an unknown Russell Crowe in the skinhead drama "Romper Stomper" -- certainly loves his visuals, and he does have a take. The Macbeths, Macduffs and the warring factions of Scot-stralia are in and out of clubs, alleyways, waterfronts, heavily guarded mansions and spooky forests.

There's no great need for Macbeth (Sam Worthington) to seek out the prophesying witches. They come to him. Often naked, and occasionally brewing ghoulish-looking concoctions in his multimillion-dollar kitchen.

About those "hags": They're actually sexy nymphets (Kate Bell, Chloe Armstrong and Miranda Nation) first seen wearing Catholic schoolgirl outfits in a graveyard and later on the dry-ice-strewn floor of the Club Cawdor. If Wright and co-writer Hill's conceit is that the witches are the living embodiment of the temptation (as in, "Go on Mac! Go do the King, then come back and see us!"), the point is driven home with a pile driver.

Far less come-hither-minded is Lady M. (screenwriter Hill) who is drugged to the gills when Macbeth first suggests that he might have a shot at Duncan's seat. "I fear thy nature," she mumbles. "It is too full o' the milk of human kindness." A couple of scenes later, when Duncan actually arrives, she wakes up and turns into an assassination-plotting tigress. Ambition aside, Lady Macbeth is working on some serious guilt even before. (Hill's writer's essay on the Web site http://officialmacbethmovie.com suggests grief over a lost child.)

Still, Lady Macbeth is wrong about that "human kindness" flimflam. Wright has tightened the plot to eliminate any diversions no matter how mild ("Macbeth is already Shakespeare's most streamlined play), but he depicts Macbeth's murder both of Duncan (Gary Sweet) and Duncan's two bodyguards. Worthington's Macbeth, his vaguely bored face contorted and rock-star hair in disarray, doesn't hesitate. In fact, he goes for overkill.

Wright's "Macbeth" does much the same. Grunge and slickness substitute for eeriness or any hint of psychological terror. Then again, if you're going to gore up any Shakespeare play, "Macbeth" is the obvious choice.

evan henerson, [phone]

[e-mail]

MACBETH - Two and one half stars

>Not rated: violence, nudity.

>Starring: Sam Worthington, Victoria Hill, Lachy Hulme, Steve Bastoni.

>Director: Geoffrey Wright.

>Running time: 1 hr. 39 min.

>Playing: Landmark Theatre, Los Angeles.

>In a nutshell: Bloody but not especially bold modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Sam Worthington and Victoria Hill are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the Bard's classic drama, relocated from feudal Scotland to Melbourne, Australia.