Hamlet (2000)
Country: US
Technical: DuArt 111m
Director: Michael Almereyda
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora, Sam Shepard, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles
Synopsis:
The King of Denmark Corporation is dead, and his brother takes his place, and his wife...
Review:
The tragedy transposed to the sleek world of New York high finance, with references to England, Fortinbras, kings and so on sounding rather strained as a consequence. Hotel Elsinore is okay, and Hamlet's video diary is a nice touch, providing a pretext for the film's particular spin on the play within the play: a home movie projection. The wires and cctv surveillance also work well. But much of the poetry which isn't lost in cuts is rendered semi-audible by 'modern' modes of delivery, Shepard being the chief culprit, and the raison d'être of this modernisation, one or two flourishes aside, is more than offset by the losses: the substitution of guns for poignards, the historical setting with its potential for justifying Hamlet Snr's heroic status, Polonius's courtier, whose position in the King's retinue is somewhat vague (executive sycophant? - Not really). Enjoyment rests on the acting, which is okay, but neither it nor the production is the equal of Titus, Richard III (1995), or for that matter Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.
Country: US
Technical: DuArt 111m
Director: Michael Almereyda
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora, Sam Shepard, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles
Synopsis:
The King of Denmark Corporation is dead, and his brother takes his place, and his wife...
Review:
The tragedy transposed to the sleek world of New York high finance, with references to England, Fortinbras, kings and so on sounding rather strained as a consequence. Hotel Elsinore is okay, and Hamlet's video diary is a nice touch, providing a pretext for the film's particular spin on the play within the play: a home movie projection. The wires and cctv surveillance also work well. But much of the poetry which isn't lost in cuts is rendered semi-audible by 'modern' modes of delivery, Shepard being the chief culprit, and the raison d'être of this modernisation, one or two flourishes aside, is more than offset by the losses: the substitution of guns for poignards, the historical setting with its potential for justifying Hamlet Snr's heroic status, Polonius's courtier, whose position in the King's retinue is somewhat vague (executive sycophant? - Not really). Enjoyment rests on the acting, which is okay, but neither it nor the production is the equal of Titus, Richard III (1995), or for that matter Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.
Country: US
Technical: DuArt 111m
Director: Michael Almereyda
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora, Sam Shepard, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles
Synopsis:
The King of Denmark Corporation is dead, and his brother takes his place, and his wife...
Review:
The tragedy transposed to the sleek world of New York high finance, with references to England, Fortinbras, kings and so on sounding rather strained as a consequence. Hotel Elsinore is okay, and Hamlet's video diary is a nice touch, providing a pretext for the film's particular spin on the play within the play: a home movie projection. The wires and cctv surveillance also work well. But much of the poetry which isn't lost in cuts is rendered semi-audible by 'modern' modes of delivery, Shepard being the chief culprit, and the raison d'être of this modernisation, one or two flourishes aside, is more than offset by the losses: the substitution of guns for poignards, the historical setting with its potential for justifying Hamlet Snr's heroic status, Polonius's courtier, whose position in the King's retinue is somewhat vague (executive sycophant? - Not really). Enjoyment rests on the acting, which is okay, but neither it nor the production is the equal of Titus, Richard III (1995), or for that matter Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.