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Hamlet Customer Reviews (37 - 39 of 46 Reviews)

A fine interpretation of Shakespear'es Masterpiece
Of course, the best version is Olivier's 1948 version. No one could master Shakespeare as well as he did, with an ease of voice and command of language and drama. But this modern version is excellent. Fine performances, great cinematography as is always the case under the direction of Franco Zefferelli. He had done of course the 1968 Romeo and Juliet and when his name along with Mel Gibson came out... it was sure to be a great film. And it is. There is not much emphasis on the ghost, nevertheless, only appearing once when he is originally supposed to come out twice, second time in the bedroom scene between Hamlet and his mother. That scene in particular is very distorted in this version. Mel Gibson and Glen Close actually have an incestuous intimate moment that any audience may find disturbing. The tragic endings are well performed. Helena Bohham Carter is a great Ophelia gone mad and Glen Close a pretentious, hypocritical queen. Mel Gibson.. for an actor who has done roles in the Lethal Weapon movies is quite good. Most of the Hamlets in the past, Olivier (though the best) and others are elderly and do not truly fit the original Hamlet the Bard envisioned- a young man out for revenge and that is what we see with Mel Gibson's performace.. a younger and more vigorous character.. not the "depressed, weak " Hamlet many have recreated in Romanticism. We can see even Hamlet's influence in Braveheart when it comes to Mel Gibson. Hamlet is very much a hero even if a tragic hero. And when people think of hero.. they think of Gibson. The Patriot is another reminder. Great film.

My Very Favorite Mel Gibson Film!
Mel Gibson just SHINES as the ambivalent (but Oedipal) prince Hamlet in this adaptation as does Glenn (I boil baby rabbits) Close cast as his mother Gertrude, Helena (Fight Club) Bonham-Carter as the tragic, suicidal and drowning, Ophelia, and the great Shakespearian actor Paul Scofield as the ghost of Hamlet's father.

This version of Hamlet is for the rank and file as it is stripped down, easy to understand & watch.

To Thine Own Self Be True...
While this is a complex movie that demands your full attention, this has to be one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. It is beautifully acted out in a gorgeous castle filled with tapestries and everything you would imagine a castle to be from the candlelight to the dimly lit spiral staircases.

The most enjoyable scenes are when Hamlet expresses his thoughts in soliloquies and gives insight into what his character is feeling. Mel Gibson becomes Hamlet and I thought this was perhaps some of his best acting ever! Glenn Close is exceptional as Gertrude, the incestuous mother. The uneasiness and distrust in Denmark since King Hamlet's death and Queen Gertrude's remarriage sets the mood for the rest of the movie.

The story begins on the outer ramparts of Elsinore castle. A ghost appears and Hamlet, speaks to his deceased father. The ghost asks Hamlet to revenge his "most foul, strange, and unnatural murder." Hamlet then deviously plots a psychological revenge by putting on a play in which a scene portrays the actual murder of his father.

"I'll have grounds
More relative than this-the play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." -Hamlet, Act 2, 603-605

Once guilt takes hold of the King, the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together and you realize that one immoral action only makes another wrong even more probable.

Throughout the play, Hamlet shows his intellectual superiority and states his case by saying: "Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?" While he desires to have the upper hand until the end, he cannot of course know all the intentions of those around him nor can he escape his own fate.

An Unforgettable story that made an impression on me in school and still holds a
certain fascination for me. Did Hamlet ever really love Ophelia? That is the question.

"It is in my memory locked." -Ophelia

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