Themes: Self-Destructive Romance, Haunted By the Past
Main Cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Sam Shepard, Diane Venora, Bill Murray, Julia Stiles
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
William Shakespeare's classic tale is brought to the screen for the third time in ten years in this modernized interpretation. Writer/director Michael Almereyda updates the story to the present day, where Hamlet (Ethan Hawke) is a struggling filmmaker whose personal and familial trials are set against the machinations of a huge production firm called the Denmark Corporation. Joining Hamlet as he seeks revenge for the death of his father and the wedding of his mother to an enemy are Kyle MacLachlan as Claudius, Julia Stiles as Ophelia, Bill Murray as Polonius, Sam Shepard as the ghost of Hamlet's father, Diane Venora as Gertrude, Steve Zahn as Rosencrantz, and Dechen Thurman as Guildenstern. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Setting Hamlet in modern times wasn't exactly a new idea, on the heels of Baz Luhrmann's MTV-ready Romeo+Juliet and such loose updates as 10 Things I Hate About You, which tried to inject literary hipness into bland teenage fare. But Michael Almereyda's film is quite different from these in both substance and style -- it's quiet and starkly fascinating, with none of Luhrmann's busy color blasts or Gen-X hooks, although it does star teen-friendly Ethan Hawke and Julia Stiles. This 2000 version is a thoughtful re-imagining of Hamlet in a washed-out New York City run by corporate raiders instead of kings, in which iambic pentameter is spoken over cell phones, and information transferred via fax rather than messenger. What saves this setup from mere gimmick is that it gives viewers a vastly improved understanding of the issues at the heart of the play. As portrayed by Hawke, Hamlet is a shiftless trust fund baby with artsy ambitions, who thinks too much while sitting around his apartment or leaving on world travels that utterly bore him. Rarely is Hamlet's essence distilled in a way so familiar to modern audiences. Detractors might criticize the decision to stage the classic "To be or not to be" speech in a Blockbuster video store -- and truth be told, it is a rather cheeky comment on consumerism. But many of Almereyda's decisions are brilliant, such as having Steve Zahn's Rosencrantz act like a lethargic stoner, and giving the chorus lines to news anchors commenting on takeover rumors. It's clear that the actors, including a stand-out Bill Murray, relish the opportunity to work with the material. They bring credibility to the smart concept, making for a thoroughly engrossing film. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Instead of carrying around actual flowers, Ophelia carries polaroid photographs of various flowers. In the film, Ophelia is an amateur photographer.
Fortinbras' conquests are not military, but corporate takeovers with the aid of his "armies" of lawyers.
Laertes doesn't organize a revolution. He merely confronts Claudius.
As opposed to drowning in a brook, Ophelia is found to have drowned in a fountain in front of the Hotel Elsinore.
The Ghost of King Hamlet appears in Horatio's apartment, sitting in his bedroom as Marcella sleeps, before Hamlet and Horatio enter it.
The first intervention of Osric is re-imagined as a fax machine in Hamlet and Horatio's apartment, delivering Laertes' message right before the duel. However, Osric does appear during the duel between Hamlet and Laertes.
Laertes doesn't kill Hamlet with a poisoned rapier. Instead he shoots Hamlet with a pistol, then is shot himself. Hamlet then uses the same pistol to shoot Claudius.
The reviews of this film have been somewhat divisive. Metacritic, a review collection website, assigned the film a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 32 critic reviews.[1] According to Rotten Tomatoes, 56% of critics gave positive reviews based on 82 reviews, while 67% of major critics (listed as "Top Critics") gave favorable reviews.[2]
