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”New York 2000: the king and CEO of Denmark Corporation is dead.” So begins a concept – draping Shakespeare’s oft-filmed (75 movie and TV adaptations, at last count) tragedy with the trappings of contemporary Wall Street – that could easily have degenerated into a self-indulgent mess. But despite the prerequisite limos, sunglasses, USA Today, fax machines, coffee shops, cell phones, Polaroids, laptops, transatlantic flights, electronic eavesdropping, Harleys, and nickel-plated semiauto handguns, it works in compelling fashion. Ethan Hawke, the titular Dane, is capably aided by inspired casting that includes Bill Murray as fey, doting Polonius; Liev Schreiber as taciturn – to the extent any Shakespearean character can be – Laertes; Steven Zahn as a Ramones-ish Rosencratz; Sam Shepard as the ghost of Hamlet Sr.; and Julia Stiles (who starred in the Taming of the Shrew adaptation 10 Things I Hate About You) as tortured, petulant, manipulated Ophelia.
This is the highest-profile film yet from lesser-known indie director Michael Almereyda. Some of his details are questionable, such as giving Hamlet a strangely symbiotic relationship with an earflap hat that could have been swiped from Holden Caufield, and intrusive brand-namedropping that dilutes Shepard’s otherwise riveting performance by having him first appear in the reflection of a drink machine bearing a big Pepsi One logo. But he wisely uses the opportunity film provides to allow some of the most introspective dialogue, such as the celebrated soliloquy (delivered while browsing in Blockbuster), to occur internally rather than aloud. And for stagecraft fans, the climactic sword duel is largely intact, although with a creative twist. My only major complaint is that the gravedigger’s scene, featuring Jeffrey Wright (Basquiat), has been entirely excised. B
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