For the most part, I didn't like this film. As a Shakespeare scholar, I find it admirable trying to bring Hamlet into contemporary times, since it is a very complicated play.
To be fair, this adaptation does have some strengths. The monolithic coldness of Manhattan set off the isolation and intimidation of the storyline wonderfully. Gertrude and Claudius's affection is just shocking enough without being over the top. And Liev Schreiber's performance was quite good, but that's about where my praise stops. This movie is quite choppy, not only in mixing around the order of the scenes, which isn't really that big of a problem, but also in transition between scenes. Hamlet and Ophelia are almost comical in their sheer moodiness and I didn't believe either character as an art student. their angst made me not care at all about what was happening and Hamlet's filming was quite distracting. The acting is generally horrible, especially Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are really just cringe inducing. Many of the characters seem to be miscast and Claudius can't get through a scene without smiling a little multiple times.
Thumbs down.
To be fair, this adaptation does have some strengths. The monolithic coldness of Manhattan set off the isolation and intimidation of the storyline wonderfully. Gertrude and Claudius's affection is just shocking enough without being over the top. And Liev Schreiber's performance was quite good, but that's about where my praise stops. This movie is quite choppy, not only in mixing around the order of the scenes, which isn't really that big of a problem, but also in transition between scenes. Hamlet and Ophelia are almost comical in their sheer moodiness and I didn't believe either character as an art student. their angst made me not care at all about what was happening and Hamlet's filming was quite distracting. The acting is generally horrible, especially Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are really just cringe inducing. Many of the characters seem to be miscast and Claudius can't get through a scene without smiling a little multiple times.
Thumbs down.