Almereyda pares the drama down to its bloody core, leaving a potent tale of despair, madness and loss.
Comment
07/06/08
Hamlet (2000)
56
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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... [More]
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julia Stiles, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora
Director: Michael Almereyda
Reviews for Hamlet
Top CriticInstead of being a companion to Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet (1996) , this can be filed under wasted opportunities.
03/08/01
Top CriticJust not quite daring or spectacular enough.
06/12/01
Top CriticAlmereyda modernises and streamlines without trivializing, and amplifies poetic melodrama with regular ingenuity and energy.
06/03/06
Top Critic[This is] an imaginative and exciting update, lacking only the decent swordfight the ending demands.
06/03/06
Visually the film is riveting, using the setting with real style and emotion.
12/10/01
This film is a refreshing contrast to the latest batch of Shakespeare films.
07/12/02
Top CriticA disappointment because it failed to peak my interest like Baz Luhrman's Romeo & Juliet did.
11/03/01
The lines are read for the most part with more feeling for the angry-stepchild plot than for the iambic pentameter.
04/27/07
Shakespeare gets buried in a barrage of faxes, videos, jumpcuts, and product placements.
01/01/00
Almereyda's Hamlet is just a superficial treatment, uncomplicated and often unfathomable.
01/01/00
A perfect example of how a director with real vision can liberate the Bard for the times
10/22/01
Hamlet is a drama that should be larger than life. This version plays like a Fox network soap opera.
01/01/00
You'll probably wish this 21st-century Hamlet will make his moves sooner than most previous incarnations, if only to cut short the droning.
01/01/00
Hawke is very trying as he spouts Shakespeare's 16th-century wisdom in the setting of 21st century New York in this Hamlet.
03/12/01
I guess Johnny Depp was busy, so they got the one that can't act.
06/03/06
[Hawke's] very lack of polish and overt skills make him a particular kind of tragic hero, that is, not heroic or even very compelling.
01/01/00
Jitteringly paced and awkwardly edited with a brace of vapid performances. Only Sam Shephard gives a performance worthy of the material.
01/01/00
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