Hamlet (1990)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 8
It may lack some of the depth and complexity of the play, but Mel Gibson and Franco Zeffirelli make a surprisingly successful team.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 2
It may lack some of the depth and complexity of the play, but Mel Gibson and Franco Zeffirelli make a surprisingly successful team.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 37,754
My Rating
Movie Info
Franco Zeffirelli directs his third Shakespeare adaptation (after Romeo and Juliet and Otello) with this film version of the tragedy Hamlet. The titular prince of Denmark (Mel Gibson), returns home to his family's castle of Elsinore after years of attending school in Germany to find out his father has died and his uncle Claudius (Alan Bates) is the new king. To make matters worse, Claudius has married Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude (Glenn Close), whom he has unusually strong feelings for.
Dec 19, 1990 Wide
Feb 24, 2004
Warner Home Video
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Cast
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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 -
Vernon Dobtcheff
Reynaldo -
Pete Postlethwaite
Player King -
Christopher Fairbank
Player Queen -
Marjorie Bell
The Player -
Justin Case
The Player -
Roy Evans
Player -
Roger Low
Player -
Ned Mendez
Player -
Sarah Phillips
Player -
Pamela Sinclair
Player -
Roy York
Player -
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Hamlet Trailer & Photos
All Critics (35) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (8) | DVD (6)
Performances all fall in a middle range between the competent and the lackluster.
It's a surprisingly successful venture, decked out in Anglo-Saxon styles and with a brooding, robust castle setting which oozes horse muck.
[Mel Gibson] is by far the best part of Mr. Zeffirelli's sometimes slick but always lucid and beautifully cinematic version of the play.
Gibson gives the melancholy Dane an earnest but pedestrian reading.
Top CriticThere's nothing embarrassing about Zeffirelli's brisk new version, nor anything particularly remarkable; it's an entirely credible, middle-of-the-road production.
The style of Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet, with Mel Gibson in the title role, is robust and physical and -- don't take this the wrong way -- upbeat.
Starring Mel Gibson, Zeffirelli's Oscar-nominated version is colorful and mildly engaging, but lacking depth and poetry, and the two women are miscast.
Alas, poor Mel Gibson! I knew him when he was on top of the world.
Mel Gibson emotes as the doleful Dane.
Offers what amounts to a comic book intro to Shakespeare's classic, retaining few of the play's psychological complexities.
In retrospect, it's a small jump from Shakespeare to God. What if Gibson had been stopped then?
Not only is Mel Gibson much better than you might expect, but Zeffirelli's Hamlet is often entertaining and rarely hard to endure.
Zeffirelli does an excellent job at juggling with updating Hamlet, while staying close to the classic play.
Gibson and his ego fancy himself as an ideal Hamlet, which is tragic to the film in a different sense.
Gibson makes a fine, frenzied Hamlet, but Zeffirelli's direction leaves something to be desired.
Audience Reviews for Hamlet
Super Reviewer
"Shakespeare's classic tale of vengeance and tragedy."
I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare, when it comes to the movie adaptions or just the original plays, but I can enjoy a well made Shakespeare adaption from time to time. The only two I've seen that I've liked are both from Zefferelli. He made the ultimate classic, Romeo and Juliet and then his version of Hamlet was pretty good as well. It is the only version I have seen, so I have nothing to compare it to. Still, while I can appreciate this movie, I still can't fully say I like because it just isn't to my taste.
There's really no reason going over plot because everyone knows the plot before going in. Mel Gibson does do a pretty good job as Hamlet. His soliloquies are pretty good and most of the time when I see an actor do a soliloquy, I want to kill myself. This has all the necessary and annoying elements that come along with Shakespeare. It's overly dramatic and its acting is way over the top in the drama department as well. But that just comes with the territory. Glenn Close and Helena Bonham Carter were also good in their respected roles as Gertrude and Ophelia.
Going in you should probably know if this movie is for you or not. Shakespeare fans should adore it, although I guess some of the previous ones are considered better. People who hate Shakespeare will hate it. As far as the few adaptions I've seen of Shakespeare, this would have to be my second favorite. The major scenes of Hamlet are well done, so that in itself makes the movie worth a look.
Super Reviewer
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Foreign Titles
- Hamlet (1990) (DE)
- Hamlet (1990) (UK)
