Hamlet

PG-13

12/25/19964h 2m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. ~

Overview:

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$18,000,000.00

Revenue:

$4,700,000.00

Key words:

mother
denmark
loss of loved one
prince
based on play or musical
madness
aggressive
complex
antagonistic

Cast

Kenneth Branagh

~ as ~

Prince Hamlet

Derek Jacobi

~ as ~

King Claudius

Kate Winslet

~ as ~

Ophelia

Julie Christie

~ as ~

Gertrude

Richard Briers

~ as ~

Polonius

Nicholas Farrell

~ as ~

Horatio

Rufus Sewell

~ as ~

Fortinbras

Reece Dinsdale

~ as ~

Guildenstern

Timothy Spall

~ as ~

Rosencrantz

Michael Maloney

~ as ~

Laertes

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

DocTerminus
Written 3 year(s) ago
9
Without a doubt, Branagh's film of HAMLET is the most ambitious Shakespeare film to date. He goes all in on.. well, everything.

He brings aboard a stellar all-star cast, too many to highlight all, but includes Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Jack Lemmon - none of which are known for their Shakespearian pedigree. Branagh takes on Hamlet, the largest role in all of Shakespeare - and most English language literature. His interpretation is - not surprisingly - brilliant and worthy of study. Kate Winslet plays his challenged love Ophelia, and Derek Jacobi is the fraudulent King. Rounding out the largest roles, Julie Christie is the doomed queen and Richard Briers is the fussy Polonius. All excellent in their handle of the language and expression of humanity.

Much of the film takes place inside the castle of Elsinore, a gorgeous and regal stage set lined with mirrors to challenge each individual's intentions and a chess-board floor to accentuate the challenge in the royal battle for checkmate. The Elsinore grounds are widespread and scenes in the snow covered Danish mountains all shown in glorious 65mm film... an extremely detailed film stock that was rarely used because of the extreme expense and cumbersome camera size.

With HENRY V and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Branagh has proven he is a master of adapting Shakespeare's long form story into much more manageable American movie length. Well, here he goes all in and captures the 4 hour play in its uncut full length. The film was shown with a 15 minute intermission.

HAMLET itself is doubtlessly one of the most intelligent character studies ever written by any author, and Branagh does a great job recording that. Even many other productions of the show do as good a job or even better job in relaying that story.

Either way Branagh's film work is filled with many treasures and to this point, his Shakespeare films are close to flawless. For now...