Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31380 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-02-03
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
As an entry in the Shakespeare-redone-as-teen-movie stakes, Hamlet has a less obvious hook than most. Though the gloomy prince--played by Ethan Hawke as a 20-something clinging to student status because he can't cope with the grown-up world of power politics--is a youth identification figure, the political background, translated into a big business concern with Old Hamlet as the CEO of the Denmark Corporation, is beyond the gangland simplicities of Romeo and Juliet or the high school pecking order of 10 Things I Hate About You. Michael Almereyda, after two interesting horror movies (Nadja and The Eternal), offers what he calls "a rough draft" of the play, and casts very fine players in a severely abbreviated text: the micro-presence of some (Jeffrey Wright as the grave-digger) suggests a longer version was prepared and slimmed down to this quite tight picture. The actors manage a middle ground between the original and the new context: Sam Shepard's Ghost lingers silently beyond his stage appearances to emphasise the textual theme that Old Hamlet was a sinning villain who deserves his limbo; Kyle MacLachlan's Claudius is smooth, but conscience-struck in the back of his limo after viewing Hamlet's cut-up underground film allegorising the murder; Diane Venora's Gertrude is a radical reading that plays well, drinking the poison on purpose to save her son and at once innocent of her husband's murder but genuinely committed to Claudius's rule; Bill Murray, Liev Schrieber and Julia Stiles make a good unit as Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia respectively, though the text-pruning (and especially Stiles's vulnerable mad child) turns them into victims of a selfish Hamlet rather than culpable collaborators with the something rotten in Denmark. Hawke's prince is the sketchiest reading but his knitted hat and messy student workstation make sense and he is a credible post-adolescent ditherer. This Hamlet, who has to be convinced of his uncle's guilt and that he ought to take revenge, never quite comes round to the brutal eye-for-an-eye logic of his father. The settings are steely hotel ballrooms (the coronation is translated to a press conference) and other inventively co-opted New York locales: Ophelia drowns in a huge lobby fountain, her mad scene is at a reception in the Guggenheim, the "to be or not to be" speech is delivered in the aisles of Blockbuster Video (as Hamlet prowls the Action section). Deliberately imperfect but far more interesting (and exciting) than the recent Mel Gibson and Kenneth Branagh embalmings of the play, this is a rare and welcome Hamlet that sets out to be an addition to the debate rather than a definitive reading. --Kim Newman

Special Features
1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Theatrical Trailer

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 boss (Kyle MacLachlan) manages to take total control of the proceedings. Michael Almereyda's (NADJA) film is another stylized adaptation of the Bard's words, featuring standout performances by the entire cast. For other modern Shakespeare adaptations, see Baz Luhrmann's ROMEO AND JULIET and Julie Taymor's TITUS.

Customer Reviews

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If this had been my first exposure to Hamlet, I'm sure I would not have had a clue as to what the play was about after seeing this updated version.
There are some very talented actors in this film, but for many of them, this is not their shining moment, and some seem acutely ill at ease with the Bard's liquid phrases.
Liev Schreiber as Laertes is one of the exceptions. He rises like cream to the top, and seems very comfortable in the part. Also good is Diane Venora, looking gorgeous as Gertrude, and Sam Shepard is a wonderful Ghost.

Whoever decided that Hamlet should have a "grungy" look, carried it to an unpleasant extreme...and that woolen cap with the earflaps ! I realize this was done to make him look "unhinged", but it bothered me. This film loses a star, just for that hideous woolen cap.
Otherwise, the art direction is good, and the cinematography (John de Borman) is excellent, highlighting some great architecture (it also highlights a lot of "in your face" product placement). Listen for Eartha Kitt's "buckle up" message, it's a welcome chuckle.

This film is an interesting curiosity piece, but I recommend seeing the Zeffirelli/Gibson version afterwards, which is a film that gets better with each viewing, and would be in my "Top 10" list of all time favorites.

To be or not to be?
If you like Hamlet as a play, this is one movie that you sholud certainly watch. If you have watched any of the other versions (Mel Gibson's or Kenneth Branagh's for instance), you will immediately spot the huge differences that it has with the other movies. Although the dialogues are exactly the same, the setting is extremely different, as the movie is settled in New York City of 2000. New things are being introduced in a Shakesperean play, such as an aeroplane, a laptop and a limouzine... This is what makes it realy interesting, mainly because young audiences can easily relate to it, and find out that Hamlet actually haves a very imporatant message to send to nowday's youth, as well as it's extreme significance today. All in all, Hamlet 2000 is a movie worth watching, because it gives the viewers an excellent chance to relate everything what happens in the play to our modern society. Watch it and you will not loose.!

Gimmicky in the extreme
Well, for many months after having seen Kenneth Branagh's four-hour "Hamlet" I felt the need to see a modern, funky Hamlet, with Claudius portrayed as a ruthless businessman and so forth, and I couldn't wait to see this version. I was, however, sadly disappointed.

The interpretation is not at fault, however. "Hamlet" can indeed be transposed very well into a modern-day setting, one only has to watch the Royal Shakespeare Company's superb current production of the play starring Sam West to realise that- the play does work as a business-world drama. But this movie was so filled with unnecessary gimmickry and horrendous abridgement (I often found myself saying "Where did the rest of that line go?!" and no scene lasted longer than two minutes) that the play was smothered underneath it.

So now to the individual cast.

Ethan Hawke as the troubled Dane (or rather, the troubled New Yorker) is entirely one-sided. Often we see Hamlets who are witty, charming, emotional, brooding and twisted. Hawke's Hamlet is brooding. Throughout. And nothing else.

Kyle MacLachlan is slightly better as Claudius, though someone with a more powerful screen presence might have been a bit more suited to the role.

Bill Murray as Polonius isn't too bad, although most of his lines are heavily cut and hence he doesn't get much of a chance to shine. He certainly brings out the "tedious old fool" aspect of the character.

Liev Schreiber, Diane Venora and Sam Shepard as Laertes, Gertrude and the Ghost respectively are all fairly good, and would be very good indeed given the same parts in a better version of the play.

Julia Stiles as Ophelia is uninteresting and frankly unmoving.

On the whole, the majority of these characters are portrayed by Shakespeare as complex three-dimensional characters. Michael Almereyda choses, however, to cut or downplay the third dimension to each (the happy side of Hamlet, the remorseful side of Claudius, the angry side of Polonius) and thus it ends up a play full of caricatures.

It seems to me as if this film is the version designed for people who want to be able to say that they've seen "Hamlet", when actually all they've seen is a gimmicky version in which over half the text is cut.

Oh, and, apart from a novel take on Gertrude's death, the ending is appalling.