Hamlet (DVD)

Is this Hamlet? Depends on who you ask I suppose. There are some who would require the plot and drama: a son whose inheritance is interrupted, so who may be imagining the murder of his father; a vapid, doting, hedonistic mother; a loyal, by the book counselor, his earnest son and brilliant daughter, she smitten by the prince. A scheming king -- wheels turn and everyone dies. Some would consider the language the essential element. This is the poet's most convoluted, and heavily annotated metaphoric fabric. Shakespeare is most often celebrated for his layering and interelating of mental images, and certainly this work is his most globally elaborate ...  Read the complete review

This is the kind of thing that really gets up the nose of Shakespeare purists, especially those who believe that the Bard should only be performed on stage in old-fashioned costume, declaimed in 'theatrical style diction. But the cinematic trend of recent years has been to update Shakespeare as much as possible - we've had a 1930s fascist 'Richard III', a teen gangster 'Romeo and Juliet', and a Cole Porter musical 'Love's Labour's Lost'. But in a way, Michael Almerayda's version of 'Hamlet' is less challenging - the whole thing takes place in modern New York city. Denmark is a company, not a country, and ...  Read the complete review

Hamlet is a wonderful play by Shakespeare, and this is one of the more recent film adaptations of the play. The plot is brilliant: set in Denmark, King Hamlet's ghost visits his son, the prince, telling him he was murdered by his own brother and wants vengeance. The brother, Claudius, has gone onto marry the queen, and it is up to Prince Hamlet to decide whether or not he can trust the ghost. The plot is a tragedy, full of death and despair, yet keeps you interested the whole way through. This is helped by the range of characters that provide sub-plots, such as Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia. The language is Shakespeare's own, and this ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears on Flixster and The Student Room in part There's little doubt that Laurence Olivier is one of the best actors who has ever lived, and his love affair with Shakespeare's works is incredibly well documented. Of all of his adaptations of Shakespeare's work, it is Hamlet that is by far the best-celebrated, for it is a melding of the brilliant source material, amazing performances, and some editing of the original text that, whilst irking literature purists, has been done to make the film compact and accessible to the "average" viewer. Hamlet is a story simply about a man whose indecision cost him more than he could have ...  Read the complete review