Plot
Modern day adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal story about Hamlet's plight to avenge his father's murder in New York City.
Release Year: 2000
Rating: 6.0/10 (5,703 voted)
Critic's Score: 70/100
Director:
Michael Almereyda
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora
Storyline New York, 2000. A specter in the guise of the newly-dead CEO of Denmark Corporation appears to Hamlet, tells of murder most foul, demands revenge, and identifies the killer as Claudius, the new head of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle and now step-father. Hamlet must determine if the ghost is truly his father, and if Claudius did the deed. To buy time, Hamlet feigns madness; to catch his uncle's conscience, he invites him to watch a film he's made that shows a tale of murder. Finally convinced of Claudius's guilt, Hamlet must avenge his father. Claudius now knows Hamlet is a threat and even uses Ophelia, Hamlet's love, in his own plots against the young man. Murder will out?
Writers: William Shakespeare, Michael Almereyda
Cast: Ethan Hawke
-
Hamlet
Kyle MacLachlan
-
Claudius
Diane Venora
-
Gertrude
Sam Shepard
-
Ghost
Bill Murray
-
Polonius
Liev Schreiber
-
Laertes
Julia Stiles
-
Ophelia
Karl Geary
-
Horatio
Paula Malcomson
-
Marcella
Steve Zahn
-
Rosencrantz
Dechen Thurman
-
Guildenstern
Rome Neal
-
Barnardo
Jeffrey Wright
-
Gravedigger
Paul Bartel
-
Osric
Casey Affleck
-
Fortinbras
Release Date: 12 July 2000
Filming Locations: New York City, New York, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $2,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $62,253
(USA)
(14 May 2000)
(4 Screens)
Gross: $1,568,749
(USA)
(13 August 2000)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The Fax machine seen near the end of the film is the "Osric.". Osric is the name of the messenger in the play that informs Hamlet Laertes has challenged him.
Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized:
When we first see Claudius speaking, his mouth is obviously saying something other than what we hear. It lasts for about five seconds.
Quotes: Ghost:
I am thy father's spirit.
User Review
A potent translation
Rating: 10/10
With his stunning new vision of the most revered of Shakespeare's plays,
director Michael Almereyda has effectively transposed many of the enduring
themes of that classic work to our contemporary hi-tech era. Even if you
are
not very familiar with Shakespeare's plays or have always been confounded
by
his verse, one can still appreciate this film for the tremendously
inventive
ways by which Almereyda has interpreted the core scenes of Hamlet in the
context of corporate America. His visually striking translation of scenes
like Ophelia's drowning and Hamlet's famous `to be or not to be' soliloquy
are a delight and true brain candy. The cast is all around superb, with
the
classically delivered lines from actors Liev Schreiber (Laertes) and Sam
Shepard (Ghost) nicely counterbalancing the very contemporary style of
delivery from Ethan Hawk (Hamlet), Bill Murray (Polonius), and Julia
Stiles
(Ophelia).
There will no doubt be much comparison between this film and Baz
Luhrmann's
flashy modern remake of Romeo and Juliet. However, whereas Luhrmann's film
ultimately fails in going beyond the boundaries of its visually striking
presentation, Almereyda's Hamlet proves to be far more than a mere
spectacle
for the senses. In fact, this is the serious flaw that plagues most of the
films coming from young, talented independent filmmakers these days: all
style, no substance. Well, this Hamlet has both. By setting the film deep
in
the heart of a very real and very modern steel and concrete American
jungle
like New York City, which is infused with the relics of the mass media and
cold capitalistic consumerism, Almereyda powerfully enhances for the
audience the sense of the desolation of his characters that results from
urban isolation. This is a theme that Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai has
so
masterfully examined with his films Fallen Angels and Chungking Express.
In
Hamlet, we get a powerful dose of both Kar-Wai's visual flair and the
sensitive, crumbling heart that it sheathes.
Storyline Hamlet, son of the king of Denmark, is summoned home for his father's funeral and his mother's wedding to his uncle. In a supernatural episode, he discovers that his uncle, whom he hates anyway, murdered his father. In an incredibly convoluted plot--the most complicated and most interesting in all literature--he manages to (impossible to put this in exact order) feign (or perhaps not to feign) madness, murder the "prime minister," love and then unlove an innocent whom he drives to madness, plot and then unplot against the uncle, direct a play within a play, successfully conspire against the lives of two well-meaning friends, and finally take his revenge on the uncle, but only at the cost of almost every life on stage, including his own and his mother's.
Writers: William Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Riz Abbasi
-
Attendant to Claudius
Richard Attenborough
-
English Ambassador
David Blair
-
Attendant to Claudius
Brian Blessed
-
Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Kenneth Branagh
-
Hamlet
Richard Briers
-
Polonius
Michael Bryant
-
Priest
Peter Bygott
-
Attendant to Claudius
Julie Christie
-
Gertrude
Billy Crystal
-
First Gravedigger
Charles Daish
-
Stage Manager
Judi Dench
-
Hecuba
Gérard Depardieu
-
Reynaldo
Reece Dinsdale
-
Guildenstern
Ken Dodd
-
Yorick
Release Date: 25 December 1996
Filming Locations: Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Box Office Details
Budget: $18,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $148,321
(USA)
(29 December 1996)
(3 Screens)
Gross: $4,414,535
(USA)
(13 April 1997)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
(cut version)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Part of the movie was shot at Blenheim Palace, which is owned by the Duke Of Marlborough. He had a very small role in the movie as Fortinbras' General.
Goofs:
Continuity:
Spot of blood on Osric's lip when speaking to Hamlet.
Quotes: Gertrude:
One woe doth tread upon another's heels so fast they follow.
User Review
Not to be missed
Rating: 10/10
Part of the genius of Branagh's interpretation of Hamlet is in the use
of the techniques of the cinema to enhance the production. Branagh has
not condensed the acts like some mass market soup, as was done in
Olivier's 1948 Oscar-winning production, or in, say, Zeffirelli's 1989
Hamlet lite starring Mel Gibson (both excellent, though, within their
scope), but has kept every word while directing our understanding so
that even those only casually familiar with the play might follow the
intent and purpose with discernment. Recall that for Shakespeare--the
ultimate actor's playwright who wrote with precious few stage
directions--interpretation was left to the direction and the actors, an
open invitation that Branagh rightly accepts.
The use of flashback scenes of things implied, such as the amorous
union of Ophelia and her Lord Hamlet abed, or of a vast expanse of snow
darkened with distant soldiers to represent the threat of Fortinbras'
army from without, and especially the vivid remembrance in the mind's
eye of the new king's dastardly deed of murder most foul, helps us all
to more keenly appreciate just what it is that torments Hamlet's soul.
I also liked the intense closeups. How they would have bemused and
delighted an Elizabethan audience.
Branagh's ambitious Hamlet is also one of the most accessible and
entertaining, yet without the faintest hint of any dumbing down or
abbreviation. A play is to divert, to entertain, to allow us to
identify with others who trials and tribulations are so like our own.
And so first the playwright seeks to engage his audience, and only
then, by happenstance and indirection, to inspire and to inform.
Shakespeare did this unconsciously, we might say. He wrote for the
popular audience of his time, a broad audience, it should be noted,
that included kings and queens as well as knaves and beggars, and he
reached them, one and all. We are much removed from those times, and
yet, this play, this singular achievement in theatre, still has the
power to transcend mere entertainment, to fuse poetry and story, as
well as the high and the low, and speak once again to a new audience
twenty generations removed.
Branagh himself is a wonderful Hamlet, perhaps a bit of a ham at times
(as I think was Shakespeare's intent), a prince who is the friend of
itinerant players. He also lacks somewhat in statute (as we conceive
our great heroes); nonetheless his interpretation of the great prince's
torment and his singular obsession to avenge his father's murder speaks
strongly to us all. Branagh, more than any other Hamlet, makes us
understand the distracted, anguished and tortured prince, and guides us
to not only an appreciation of his actions, wild and crazy as they
sometimes are, but to an identification and an understanding of why
(the eternal query) Hamlet is so long in assuming the name of action.
In Branagh's production, this old quibble with Hamlet's character
dissolves itself into a dew, and we realize that he was acting
strongly, purposely all the while. He had to know the truth without
doubt so that he might act in concert with it.
I was also very much impressed with Derek Jacobi's Claudius. One
recalls that Jacobi played Hamlet in the only other full cinematic
production of the play that I know of, produced in 1980 by the BBC with
Claire Bloom as Gertrude; and he was an excellent Hamlet, although
perhaps like Branagh something less than a massive presence. His
Claudius combines second son ambition with a Machiavellian heart, whose
words go up but whose thoughts remind below, as is the way of villains
everywhere.
Kate Winslet is a remarkable Ophelia, lending an unusual strength to
the role (strength of character is part of what Kate Winslet brings to
any role), but with the poor, sweet girl's vulnerability intact. She
does the mad scene with Claudius as well as I have seen it done, and of
course her personal charisma and beauty embellish the production.
Richard Briers as Polonius, proves that that officious fool is indeed
that, and yet something more so that we can see why he was a counselor
to the king. The famous speech he gives to Laertes as his son departs
for France, is really ancient wisdom even though it comes from a fool.
Julie Christie was a delight as the besmirched and wretched queen. In
the bedroom scene with Hamlet she becomes transparent to not only her
son, but to us all, and we feel that the camera is reaching into her
soul. She is outstanding.
The bit players had their time upon the stage and did middling well to
very good. I liked Charlton Heston's player king (although I think he
and John Gielgud might have switched roles to good effect) and Billy
Crystal's gravedigger was finely etched. Only Jack Lemon's Marcellus
really disappointed, but I think that was mainly because he was so
poorly cast in such a role. Not once was he able to flash the Jack
Lemon grin that we have come to know so well.
The idea of doing a Shakespearean play with nineteenth century dress in
the late twentieth century worked wonderfully well, but I know not why.
Perhaps the place and dress are just enough removed from our lives that
they are somewhat strange but recognizable in a pleasing way. And
perhaps it is just another tribute to the timeless nature of
Shakespeare's play.
There is so much more to say about this wonderful cinematic production.
It is, all things considered, one of the best Hamlets ever done.
Perhaps it is the best. See it, by all means, see it for yourself.
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut
to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it
at Amazon!)
Plot
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.
Release Year: 1990
Rating: 6.8/10 (11,527 voted)
Critic's Score: 53/100
Director:
Franco Zeffirelli
Stars: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates
Storyline Hamlet returns to Denmark when his father, the King, dies. His mother Gertrude has already married Hamlet's uncle Claudius, the new King. They urge Hamlet to marry his beloved Ophelia. But soon the ghost of Hamlet's father appears and tells Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet must choose between passive acquiescence and the need for a vengeance which might lead to tragedy.
Writers: William Shakespeare, Christopher De Vore
Cast: Mel Gibson
-
Hamlet
Glenn Close
-
Gertrude
Alan Bates
-
Claudius
Paul Scofield
-
The Ghost
Ian Holm
-
Polonius
Helena Bonham Carter
-
Ophelia
Stephen Dillane
-
Horatio
Nathaniel Parker
-
Laertes
Sean Murray
-
Guildenstern
Michael Maloney
-
Rosencrantz
Trevor Peacock
-
The Gravedigger
John McEnery
-
Osric
Richard Warwick
-
Bernardo
Christien Anholt
-
Marcellus
Dave Duffy
-
Francisco
Taglines:
The extraordinary adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tale of vengeance and tragedy.
Release Date: 18 January 1991
Filming Locations: Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
Gross: $20,710,451
(USA)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The only known example of a UK U-certificate film to feature the C-word. Mel Gibson as mad-Hamlet talks of "country matters" to Ophelia. He is not referring to farms.
Goofs:
Continuity:
During Ophelia's lament, she reaches out with one arm to anyone who will help. In the next shot, the opposite arm is outstretched.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Claudius:
Hamlet! Think of us as of a father. For let the world take note: you are the most immediate to our throne. And with no less nobility of love than that which dearest father bears his son do I impart toward you.
User Review
To Define True Madness, What Is't But To Be Nothing Else But Mad?
Rating:
I'd put off viewing this version of "Hamlet" for a long time, because
I'd heard that they'd turned this most cerebral of plays into an
"action movie", but I ended up quite liking it.
I should begin by saying that I approve of ALL interpretations, because
each choice reflects different possibilities all of which are
supportable by the text; no one vision can encompass every potentiality
inherent in the play. And the text per se, of course, will always exist
in absolute form despite the number of hands that manipulate it.
All productions (except Branagh's) cut certain elements as a sacrifice
to tighter (though narrower) focus. And the use of film rather than
stage allows (even necessitates) different types of dramatic
development. Films unfold at a different pace than stage plays.
Zefirelli's adaptations WORK as film-making, without detracting from (or
unnecessarily supplementing) Shakespeare's language. For instance, the
little "prologue" scene showing the internment of the dead king. It is
original to the movie, and yet the dialogue is still from the play; it
doesn't misrepresent anything about the characters in its new context.
And perhaps most importantly, it "works" in the movie that the director
is making. But on to the substantive comment...
Mel Gibson was, in my opinion, too old to be Hamlet (making Glenn
Close, by extension, too young to be Gertrude), but the issue of
Hamlet's age has always been a problem. He's 30 in the text (this
version leaves out that calculation), but that makes some of his
relationships (with Ophelia, for instance) seem a little... immature.
And yet if he's portrayed too young, his depth of thought is almost
impossibly precocious. But I thought he was convincing nonetheless,
particularly in expressing something that I've found central to my
understanding of the play but I all too rarely see dealt with in
Hamlet's portrayal, which is this:
Hamlet IS quite mad. 'Tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis
true. From his first meeting with the ghost onwards, he is profoundly
disturbed. It is irony that he then puts an 'antic disposition' on,
because he has in actuality gone quite 'round the bend.
Mel Gibson not only gives the first convincing portrayal of Hamlet's
"pretended" madness that I've seen, but he also shows us the
desperation of the character in his quiet moments. Hamlet is not, as
Olivier posited in his 1948 version, merely "a man who could not make
up his mind." Gibson's Hamlet spends much of the film alternating
between mania-induced impulsiveness and paralyzing inability to act.
The Dane is not merely melancholy, he is certifiably manic-depressive.
(Claudius, I believe, sees this.)
Over all, I believe that this would be a good introduction to the story
of Hamlet for those who otherwise would have had no contact with it,
although as I said it can then be supplemented by other adaptations
(and of course there's no substitute for, ultimately, reading the
text).
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