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Movies / On DVD / Hamlet
Hamlet

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Hamlet (2000)

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Reviews Counted:84

Fresh:47

Rotten:37

Average Rating:5.8/10

Consensus: Stiff performances fail to produce any tension onscreen.

Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Ethan Hawke stars in this modern update of Shakespeare's classic play. He portrays a young filmmaker in New York City who struggles to gain power of his deceased father's company, even as the new... Ethan Hawke stars in this modern update of Shakespeare's classic play. He portrays a young filmmaker in New York City who struggles to gain power of his deceased father's company, even as the new boss (Kyle MacLachlan) manages to take total control of the proceedings. Michael Almereyda's (NADJA) film is another stylized adaptation of the Bard's words, featuring standout performances by the entire cast. For other modern Shakespeare adaptations, see Baz Luhrmann's ROMEO AND JULIET and Julie Taymor's TITUS. [More]

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julia Stiles, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julia Stiles, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, Sam Shepard, Casey Affleck, Karl Geary, Steve Zahn, Jeffrey Wright, Dechen Thurman, Paul Bartel

Director: Michael Almereyda

Director: Michael Almereyda
Screenwriter: Michael Almereyda
Story: William Shakespeare
Producer: Andrew Fierberg, Amy Hobby
Composer: Carter Burwell

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Hamlet

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Almereyda pares the drama down to its bloody core, leaving a potent tale of despair, madness and loss.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
07/06/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Almereyda modernises and streamlines without trivializing, and amplifies poetic melodrama with regular ingenuity and energy.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/03/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[This is] an imaginative and exciting update, lacking only the decent swordfight the ending demands.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
06/03/06
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Visually the film is riveting, using the setting with real style and emotion.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Just not quite daring or spectacular enough.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/12/01
Ben Falk
Ben Falk
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Instead of being a companion to Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet (1996) , this can be filed under wasted opportunities.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/08/01
Angie Errigo
Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
09/10/09
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
At the Movies

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
10/18/08
Janet Branagan
Janet Branagan
Apollo Guide

It could prove almost as definitive -- and far more easily digestible -- than Branagh's textually complete version.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/06/08
Ken Eisner
Ken Eisner
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie is almost playful in its mission to burrow around inside Hamlet and discover what's still relevant about it.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/17/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

The lines are read for the most part with more feeling for the angry-stepchild plot than for the iambic pentameter.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
04/27/07
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

The city becomes a living emblem of the tense coexistence of art and corporatism, an uneasy relationship which Almereyda emphasizes as the core conflict of his picture.

Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | comment Comment
06/03/06
Nick Davis
Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks

I guess Johnny Depp was busy, so they got the one that can't act.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
06/03/06
Chris Gore
Chris Gore
Film Threat

No, Ethan Hawke can't do Shakespeare.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
06/03/06
Merle Bertrand
Merle Bertrand
Film Threat

In a sense, it's B-movie Shakespeare, the same as Orson Welles' inspired version of Macbeth (1948), which was produced on a skimpy budget for a B-picture studio.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Hamlet is supposed to be melancholy, but Hawke plays him as a disturbed loner who is more likely to infect the world's computers with an e-mail virus than avenge his father's murder.

Full Review Source: Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) | comment Comment
06/06/03
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Consider it a primer for Kenneth Branagh's four and a half hour Hamlet opus.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
04/19/03
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

Fear not. This Bard is anything but boring!

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
09/20/02
Robert Nuņez
Robert Nuņez
Hollywood.com

This film is a refreshing contrast to the latest batch of Shakespeare films.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
07/12/02
Hollywood.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Icy-cold in its palette and unwaveringly cool in its application of modern settings and gizmos to a text that stands up to endless reinvention, this is a Hamlet that brings imagination matched by thoughtfulness to its appeal to both eye and ear.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
04/11/02
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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