HAMLET

2000

I've seen five excellent Hamlets on stage(Richard Burton, Kevin Kline, Sam Waterston, Richard Chamberlin, and Diane Venora,) and three even better ones on film(Lawrence Olivier, Mel Gibson, and Kenneth Brannagh.) Does this new one add anything to the others? On the contrary...it subtracts! For one, it subtracts literally half of the play(2 hours, instead of the uncut four.) It also subtracts believability. Shakespeare's words sound foolish when spoken in the Guggenheim Museum, Trump Tower, and a Blockbuster Video store! Some good actors(Liev Shreiber, Diane Venora, Bill Murray, and Kyle Maclachlan) get a chance to do some good acting, but Ethan Hawke(as Hamlet,) is not one of them. He doesn't speak the lines well, and he looks ridiculous in a stupid ski cap. The only positive thing about him is that he's the right age for a young Hamlet, just back from college. I can't help thinking that the whole idea behind this stunt was to make the play more accessible to the MTV crowd. One more example of "dumbing down." Why bother? In a couple of years, will there be "Hamlet, the Musical?"

2.5 Stars

NJB

Yet another HAMLET? Yup, and this time in NYC 2000 and Hamlet is the young college student whose father, the CEO of the Denmark Corporation, has just been murdered. It seems clever enough, but you can tell that the folks who made this weren't clever enough to adapt the entire play into this format. There is a considerable amount of the play cut out. Bill Murray had a few strong moments as Polonius, Liev Schrieber soaked up the screen as Laertes, and here is one more reason to dislike Ethan Hawke- he plays a whiny Hamlet. I'm sorry, but there is something wrong with Hamlet delivering his suicide speech in a Blockbuster Video. Hey, I know its tough with all those choices, but... It would've been a lot more effective with him at least delivering it in front of a dusty rack of Pauly Shore movies.

2 Stars

CDF