Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Boring

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I recently viewed this moving picture (whatever that is--I don't know because I was born in 1570), with my childhood comrades Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. We thoroughly enjoyed the film, finding that its "humours" are perfectly balanced. M. Zeffirelli has endowed our story with the perfect mix of suspense, comedy, and sheer stupidity. I was overjoyed to have been played by such a competent actor as Mel Gibson. He was kind of ugly and his hair was a stupid color (Shouldn't someone have done some fact-checking and realized that my hair is brown?). But I digress--it's all water under the bridge to me. The director definitely took some liberties in adapting the REAL story of my life. I mean, my dad's not even dead!There was one aspect of the film with which I truly took offense, and that was the depiction of my relationship with my late mother, rest her soul. There was this one scene in which, M. Zeffirelli, in what I am sure was merely a case of oversight, had M. Gibson proceed to kiss the actress playing my late mother in a most sensual manner! This was both offensive and ludicrous. Not to mention the whole thing was incredibly uncomfortable. Tell me, M. Zeffireli, do you often kiss your mother in such a way?!?!?! I beseech all who view this film to take it with a grain of salt--do not be fooled by this grave act of trickery. The story is a fallacy. I hereby call for the destruction of all extant copies of this pathetic excuse for a play upon a screen!

Hamlet (1990) stars Mel Gibson. The film was directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Mel Gibson ranks at the top of my list of unlikeable Hollywood stars. However, as as reviewer, I have to give him credit for doing a creditable job in the demanding role of Hamlet. Film Hamlets don't have to be skilled Shakespearean actors. The ability to murmur a soliloquy that can be heard in the back row of an auditorium isn't required in the movies. The director can order numerous takes until one turns out well. He can use close-ups--as Zeffirelli does--to make sure we understand the actor's emotions. I don't think Gibson would have managed the role onstage, but on the screen he carries it off.Glenn Close, as Gertrude, is excellent. This is especially evident in the bedroom ("closet") scene. She really does portray Gertrude's mixture of fear and shame in a convincing manner.However, in my opinion, acting honors go to Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia. Bonham Carter's Ophelia is shy and innocent. She is flattered and frightened by Hamlet's professions of love, and she is crushed by his violent rejection. Most impressive is her portrayal of the mad scenes. She acts these so well that you actually are convinced that you are watching a young woman who has had a descent into mental illness.I've watched several Hamlets as part of a Shakespeare on film honors course. Each movie has it's strengths and weaknesses. This Hamlet deserves to be seen. Zeffirelli Is a brilliant director, Mel Gibson is a satisfactory Hamlet, and Helena Bonham Carter is the perfect Ophelia.I watched this movie on DVD, but it would do better in a theater. It's worth watching it in whatever format is available.

On the surface, one might reasonably conclude that Mel Gibson and Glenn Close starring in Hamlet may be some kind of joke, a parody of the Shakespeare play, but there is no joke. This movie is for real and both Mr. Gibson and Ms. Close give commanding performances in their respective roles. This movie is proof that when given quality material under excellent direction, talented actors will flourish. The rest of the cast is stellar too, but this movie squarely revolves around the two lead characters and if their performances fail, then the whole movie fails. In recent years, Mel Gibson's reputation has taken hits, but there can be no denying that he is a gifted actor and in this movie presents a novel, dynamic interpretation of Hamlet that brings new life to the character, transforming a brooding young man into a man of action who takes charge and pays the price, wherein lays the tragedy. For Hamlet is a tragedy. However, unlike previous renditions of the play, which focus on the murky and somber, this rendition is lit up, the characters are active, Gertrude is young and beautiful, all of which make the ending even more provocative and powerful. This movie should have been nominated for an Academy Award in every major category; that it wasn't is perplexing. All in all, this movie represents another triumph for Franco Zefirrelli, once again who proves that Shakespeare can be produced for the screen, if you do it right.

Prince Hamlet of Denmark is overcome with grief at the sudden death of his father, and is appalled when his mother quickly marries her brother-in-law Claudius. But worse is to come when the dead king's ghost appears and reveals a ghastly murder ...William Shakespeare's Hamlet, written around 1600, is pretty untouchable as a property. I could say I think it's a bit long (especially Act IV), Ophelia has bugger all to do with the plot, and the ending is the old scribbler's trick of killing everybody off because you can't think of anything better, but there's not too much point because you probably either don't like Old Billy much or worse, are a Culture Snob who thinks he's a paragon. This movie version is very good all round really; the main difficulty in adapting Shakespeare to film is the stage direction, which is heavy on speeches and short on action. Gibson imbues it with energy and Zeffirelli wisely abridges it down to two hours, focussing on the passion and the agonising doubt at the core of the story. Fundamentally, the play is really about the essence of death; the horror of the King's murder, the damnation of Claudius, the tragedy of Ophelia, the bones of Yorick. His father's killing forces Hamlet to stare the horror of death straight in the face and he doesn't know how to live - to sleep, perchance to dream. Gibson is great in the lead, ably supported by Bates, Holm and Scofield (all of whom played Hamlet on stage to great acclaim) and he makes the tough-going dialogue surprisingly palatable and mellow. There's also a fine incidental score by Ennio Morricone and excellent production design by Dante Ferretti (most exteriors were shot at Dunnottar Castle on the east coast of Scotland), and it was the first film made by Gibson's respected Icon production company. I like this movie a lot, as I do any movie which tries to take the illustrious High Arts and turn them into something anyone can appreciate. I think it's the best movie adaptation of the classic tale - the 1948 Laurence Olivier and 1996 Kenneth Branagh versions are both a bit stodgy, but the cheapie 1969 one with Nicol Williamson is not bad. Weirdly, the best movie versions of Hamlet (as with most of Shakespeare's plays) are the ones that are cagily disguised as something else, such as Akira Kurosawa's corporate killer drama Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru / The Bad Sleep Well, Tom Stoppard's whimsical Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis' hilarious The Adventures Of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew (which mostly involves beer and ice-hockey, two crucial elements Shakespeare left out), and Aki Kaurismäki's lovably nutty Hamlet Liikemaailmassa / Hamlet Goes Business, in which Hamlet is the heir to a rubber-duck manufacturing company. Also, this movie is perhaps the perfect example of an international movie with no homeland; it was funded by French money, distributed by Americans, stars an Australian, was made by an Italian, filmed in the UK and is set in Denmark ! Don't be put off by the intellectual pedigree; this is the world's oldest revenger's tragedy and a great thought-provoking film.