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Movies / On DVD / Hamlet
Hamlet

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Hamlet (1990)

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Reviews Counted:31

Fresh:22

Rotten:9

Average Rating:6.2/10

Consensus: It may lack some of the depth and complexity of the play, but Mel Gibson and Franco Zeffirelli make a surprisingly successful team.

Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Director Franco Zeffirelli and star Mel Gibson combine their talents for this full-blooded adaptation of the classic tragedy. The movie is a concise, trimmed version of the play, as Hamlet returns... Director Franco Zeffirelli and star Mel Gibson combine their talents for this full-blooded adaptation of the classic tragedy. The movie is a concise, trimmed version of the play, as Hamlet returns to Elsinore to finds his mother married to his uncle and his dead father's ghost demanding vengeance. Shot in Northern Scotland amid actual castles and foggy landscapes, the film has a very realistic, rugged feel courtesy of cinematographer David Watkin. Mel Gibson is superb in the title role, burying his movie star persona within a sulking, sometimes completely unsympathetic performance as the prince. Glenn Close as his mother is also disturbingly real--the two share some scenes that are nearly incestuous in their intensity--and Helena Bonham Carter lends Ophelia the perfect note of otherworldly pain. This is a perfect companion to Zeffirelli's earlier Shakespeare films, TAMING OF THE SHREW and ROMEO & JULIET, and proves that he is a true master of poetry and period realism. Shakespeare fans should be very pleased, and beginners will find no better place to start than this accessible and vibrant adaptation. [More]

Starring: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Ian Holm

Starring: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Ian Holm, Paul Scofield, Helena Bonham-Carter, Stephen Dillane, Nathaniel Parker, Michael Maloney, Trevor Peacock, John McEnery, Richard Warwick, Christien Anholt, Vernon Dobtcheff, Pete Postlethwaite, Christopher Fairbank

Director: Franco Zeffirelli

Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Story: William Shakespeare
Composer: Ennio Morricone

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Feb 24, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Hamlet

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Performances all fall in a middle range between the competent and the lackluster.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/04/08
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Offers what amounts to a comic book intro to Shakespeare's classic, retaining few of the play's psychological complexities.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/04/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
02/22/08
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
03/16/07
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

It's a surprisingly successful venture, decked out in Anglo-Saxon styles and with a brooding, robust castle setting which oozes horse muck.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out

No review available.

comment Comment
07/03/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/26/04
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

In retrospect, it's a small jump from Shakespeare to God. What if Gibson had been stopped then?

comment Comment
06/23/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

No review available.

comment Comment
11/04/03
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

No review available.

comment Comment
10/17/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Not only is Mel Gibson much better than you might expect, but Zeffirelli's Hamlet is often entertaining and rarely hard to endure.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/04/03
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Mel Gibson] is by far the best part of Mr. Zeffirelli's sometimes slick but always lucid and beautifully cinematic version of the play.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/04/03
Caryn James
Caryn James
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Zeffirelli does an excellent job at juggling with updating Hamlet, while staying close to the classic play.

comment Comment
07/16/03
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

Gibson and his ego fancy himself as an ideal Hamlet, which is tragic to the film in a different sense.

comment Comment
07/10/03
Greg Muskewitz
Greg Muskewitz
eFilmCritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
03/24/03
Nicolas Lacroix
Nicolas Lacroix
Showbizz.net

Gibson makes a fine, frenzied Hamlet, but Zeffirelli's direction leaves something to be desired.

comment Comment
03/02/03
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
San Francisco Examiner

Gibson's Hamlet is more than respectable, but Helena Bonham Carter's the best Ophelia I've ever seen.

comment Comment
01/06/03
Widgett Walls
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/03/02
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/01/02
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Las Vegas Mercury

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
 
 
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