Hamlet (1996)
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 55
Fresh: 52 | Rotten: 3
Kenneth Branagh's sprawling, finely textured adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece lives up to its source material, using strong performances and a sharp cinematic focus to create a powerfully resonant film that wastes none of its 246 minutes.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 3
Kenneth Branagh's sprawling, finely textured adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece lives up to its source material, using strong performances and a sharp cinematic focus to create a powerfully resonant film that wastes none of its 246 minutes.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
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Movie Info
Kenneth Branagh ("Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," "The Road to El Dorado") writes, directs and stars in this four-time Oscar-nominated classic Shakespeare saga about the melancholy Dane. With an all-star cast, including Oscar-nominee Kate Winslet ("Iris," "Titanic") and Oscar-winner Julie Christie ("Dragonheart," "Dr. Zhivago"), as well as appearances by Charlton Heston, John Gielgud, Jack Lemmon, Gerard Depardieu, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and many others. Branagh received an
Dec 25, 1996 Wide
Aug 14, 2007
Sony Pictures Classics
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All Critics (55) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (3) | DVD (3)
There are many ... instances when you want to run screaming from Elsinore Castle.
Top CriticWith his handsome and compelling Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh brings the Bard's greatest tragedy passionately alive on the screen.
This Hamlet may not be perfect, but it is perfectly engrossing.
As star and ringmaster, Branagh gets to the heart of Hamlet and goes to admirable lengths to take his audience there, too.
Moviegoers who applauded the vigilante justice in such recent films as Joel Schumacher's A Time To Kill and Barry Levinson's Sleepers should be totally in sync with the action and have no trouble surmounting the verbiage.
Every little triumph seems to inspire in Branagh some accompanying act of bad taste or judgment.
It is a wholly new take on Hamlet, with a cast filled with entertaining cameos.
A work of tremendous personal ambition equipped with a budget nearly equal in magnitude.
Shakespeare's great tragedy -- all of it.
To be, or not to be. Kenneth Branagh's seminal Hamlet is as conflicted and vital as life itself.
The play widely regarded as the best piece of dramatic literature ever written...[in] the only unexpurgated big-screen version. [Blu-ray]
Simply gorgeous to look at, and a number of the performances are outstanding...
Brave, yes, but undeniably excessive.
Die-hard Bard students may quibble, but this gargantuan and glorious Hamlet is a movie-lover's paradise.
...when I first saw it on DVD, I wrote that its spectacular sets and costumes cried out for high definition. Apparently, Warner Bros. thought so, too. (Blu-ray Edition)
Branagh combines one of the Bard's best plays with some of the best filmmaking the medium has to offer.
The two-disc special edition DVD release of Hamlet is spectacular.
Branagh has one-upped Olivier again by making his Hamlet a bold spectacle: big and loud and colorful.
Fine version of one of The Bard's best plays.
If you're willing to sit through Branah's 4-hour Hamlet, you'll be rewarded with a lavishly mounted, full-bodied version that brings new dimensions.
The few missteps, mostly in casting, are a drop in the bucket when it comes to this adaptation.
Viewers patient enough to sit through four hours of this film are going to be rewarded with a memorable experience.
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Foreign Titles
- Hamlet (DE)
- Hamlet (1996) (UK)
This is a grand, long, sweeping epic that reaqlly does justice to the Bard and this, his most famous/popular (I'd assume) story. The technical stuff, like the sets, costumes, pageantry, art direction, all of that, is just perfect. This is high art that's also accessible. The camera work and direction are wonderful, and the massive ensemble cast filled with tons of cameos are awesome. Well, Jack Lemmmon (surprisingly) is a bit weak, but the rest are great.
This isn't a film I want to watch too often, mostly because it is a lot to undertake, but it is definitely one of those spectacle films that deserves repeated viewings. I don't know what it is, but Branagh and Shakespeare are just a perfect match, and this is exhibit a to prove that.