Hamlet

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: Mel Gibson gives a memorable performance as the young prince of Denmark. The movie cut out too much from the original play. It was very different from the Branaugh version of the play. They added some scenes and some lines that I liked. I highly recommend this movie to any Mel Gibson, Historical, or Tradgety film fans.

Rating:
Summary: Quick Fix fo novice Shakespearians
Review: This was a beautiful recreation of one of Shakespeare's greatest works. The studios spared no cost in the design of the costume. It left one's view towards the aesthetics of the era within the Denmark's noble circle. This is an excellent piece of work for anyone interested in a quick fix of Shakespeare. Unfortunately, it was rather chopped up from the original play written in 1601. The film briefly covered each scene of the play -- lasting a mere 135 min. In all actuality it should have lasted over 200 min. The cast of characters was selected well for their roles. Mel Gibson has always played an interesting mad man, which was required for this roll. This is a must see film for any Gibson fans or novice Shakespearians, but not for the student who is truly interested in the aesthetics of this great play. Find the original uncut version for the overall experience.

Rating:
Summary: short and sweet
Review: This was my first time I had experienced Hamlet, so I didn't know what to expect, but after I watched a few other versions, I think this is the most enjoyable to watch. It is fast-paced and I couldn't look away (but with the shrewd editing- if you looked away, you might miss something). This version could even be called 'Hamlet for people with short attention spands'. Mel Gibson's performance is excellent. I suggest to anyone who wants to see a good and enrapturing version of the play to watch this film.

Rating:
Summary: I saw it at least 30 times!
Review: This movie is the greatest Hamlet version on screen, even thou it is really a short-cut from it's original Shakespare version. Zeffirelli is just a genious beyond... Ophelia's character is presented unlike any other Hamlet screen version- It's amazing. I'm shure I can view it 30 more times!

Rating:
Summary: Don't listen to these ignorant anal people, it was great!
Review: The movie was a tad hard to get at first, but that soon changes, as it always does with Shakespeare. The plot line was wondeful, and the charchters (mainly Mel, that is) plaed it out wonderfully. The only fault I can seriously find was that the words were hard to catch, but that truly isn't a fault since it makes me only watch the movie more and more and more. An geuss what that means? Yup! More Mel Gibson, wow, can you ever get enough? Nope, I don't think so either.

Rating:
Summary: Read the Book between the lines...
Review: As a fan of Shakespearian work I can tell you that this movie and it's lead actor Mel Gibson did it justice and perhaps a little more. While watching this movie in an english course I was not ashamed to cry openly at the end and at the beauty it portrayed.

Rating:
Summary: The play's the thing....
Review: ....and the way Hamlet is played by Gibson in this film is what sets it apart positively even in comparison to Branagh's bacalava-rich version. Gibson plays Hamlet with such endearing vigor and projects a sense of hopeful intelligence rather than the usual "sighing and indecisive" Dane. Gibson's Hamlet intends to win at his game, and he makes us believe, even though we know the story inside out, that he might just do it! I enjoy this interpretation very much, and it makes the severe cutting of the script (as opposed to Branagh's ponderous version) even acceptable. Glenn Close is a wonderful Gertrude and Helena Bonham-Carter (who I believe was Branagh's girlfriend at the time of this film), did the part much better than Winslet. I rated this film and the Branagh version both the same--for absolutely different strengths and weaknesses. Both films are fair adaptations, neither is perfect...as if there was any such thing as the perfect adaptation of Hamlet.

Rating:
Summary: I feel ill
Review: Hamlet lying on top of his mom, giving her a steamy kiss. I've gone all through my book, and I can't find that happening anywhere in it. It is possibly the most disturbing image I have ever seen. The acting wasn't horrible (except for Ian Holm's - and I so liked him in "King Lear," too.) Ah, well. Franco makes his actors wear odd costumes which are supposed to add to the authenticity of the production but are actually just distracting. And he shuffles and removes key lines, and even scenes. Not the worst filming of a Shakespeare tragedy I have seen, but most certainly not the best.

Rating:
Summary: The Bard would be turning in his grave!
Review: Mel Gibson's unworthy portrayal of the Prince of Denmark can only be worsened by noting the fact that he broke the iambic pentameter of "Yea, from the table of my memory, I'll wipe away all trivial fond records...." Something is indeed rotten in Denmark! The rest is silence.

Rating:
Summary: What the heck happened to Ophelia?
Review: Having had to compare the relative merits of Zeffirelli's and Branagh's Hamlets, I think that there are a few points which people tend to overlook. Branagh has been criticised for making his version 'too long'. Well, that's only because he includes every line that Shakespeare wrote - it's along play. So if Zeffirelli manages to tell the story in only an hour and a half, what does he miss out, and are those omissions the right ones? Yes, Gibson IS good as Hamlet. What I'm concerned about is a character who constantly gets overlooked in both stage and film adaptation, namely Ophelia. Where is she in Zeffirelli? He omits her only soliloquy, and replaces her account of Hamlet coming to him 'with his doublet all unbrac'd' (2.1.77-84) with a representation of that encounter which draws our attention more to Hamlet's suffering than to hers. The fact that she might have a mind of her own is glossed over repeatedly. For instance...

1. She looks and acts like a girl (Kate Winslet's Ophelia is most definitely a woman). The fact that all the men in her life mess with her mind is detracted from because, as a child, we more or less expect her to be told what to do.

2. Mel Gibson has been quoted as saying he was shocked by the idea that Ophelia and Hamlet might have a sexual relationship - in this film, she's supposed to be fourteen. What exactly is a thirty year old man doing pursuing a girl less than half his age with such passion? Zeffirelli removes the notion that Ophelia might be a sexual person, and with it another element of her independence in a patriarchal world.

The real killer is her appearance. Pale and flowing dress, long romantic hair...do you have any idea how long Ophelia has been played in this way? Over a hundred years, back to the dark times when all the critics were men and thought that Ophelia was 'too exquisitely touching' to examine in depth. So instead we have this romanticised doll, pretty to look at, touching in her madness, but still a thing, not a person. Zeffirelli, like so many before him, more or less uses Ophelia as a way to look at Hamlet, and reduces her character to the bare minimum needed to convey the slightest sense of her tragedy. Check out Branagh, it beats it by a long way. Watch it in two chunks, if you must.