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Hamlet
EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Christopher De Vore
Franco Zeffirelli
William Shakespeare (play)
Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 18, 1991
DVD: February 24, 2004
Running Time: 130 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG
Starring Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, and Stephen Dillane
Franco Zeffirelli's version of Shakespeare's Hamlet - the Dane prince (Gibson) who seeks vengence for his father's death.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Callas Forever Tea with Mussolini
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's a strong, intelligent performance [by Gibson], filled with life, and it makes this into a surprisingly robust Hamlet.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
Zeffirelli's production is neither high art nor lowbrow pandering, but something in between.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
This great Elizabethean masterpiece comes alive in a rich cinematic version that proves the past 400 years have done nothing to dim its uncanny power to mirror the human condition. [18 jan 1991]
Washington Post Jeanne Cooper
Thanks to director Franco Zeffirelli and an impressive cast, both the tale and the telling are strikingly fresh.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Caryn James
Mel Gibson's Hamlet is strong, intelligent and safely beyond ridicule.... He is by far the best part of Mr. Zeffirelli's sometimes slick but always lucid and beautifully cinematic version of the play.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott
The cinematic strategies are energetic without being vulgar, the words are plain-spoken, and moony Mel's melancholy is what matinee idols are made of. [18 Jan 1991]
Portland Oregonian Ted Mahar
Zeffirelli's Hamlet is lively, energetic and suspenseful. [18 Jan 1991]
Time Staff (Not Credited)
Franco Zeffirelli's film is plenty pretty. It almost works as a cloak-and-bodkin adventure
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Michael Wilmington
Most of the rest of this Hamlet effective or lovely as parts of it may be, just keeps sawing at the air in a drafty hall and pouring all its light on Mel Gibson and his angelic stubble. [18 Jan 1991]
Washington Post Hal Hinson
There's nothing embarrassing about Zeffirelli's brisk new version, nor anything particularly remarkable; it's an entirely credible, middle-of-the-road production.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Stephen Hunter
Zeffirelli has managed to make Shakespeare's greatest and most modern play one-dimensional. [13 Jan 1991]
Boston Globe Jay Carr
It's acceptable Shakespeare - no more arbitrary than most stage productions, especially the willfully anachronistic ones, or the ones with political agendas thrust upon them. [18 Jan 1991]
Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr
If Zeffirelli's Hamlet does resemble an actual movie at several points, it's thanks almost entirely to the inventive and atmospheric lighting of veteran cinematographer David Watkin, whose somber, gray-green palette gives the film a dignity and substance it would otherwise lack. [18 Jan 1991]
Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
This Hamlet elevates plot to a height that retains the play's atmosphere but squanders its thematic richness in a welter of "Mommy, how could you?" melodrama.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
This big-screen Hamlet, pumped up to operatic scale by overkill director Franco Zeffirelli, exposes Gibson's shortcomings.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The rest of Franco Zeffirelli's latest Shakespearean outing is so eager to be cinematic, with its peripatetic camera and souped-up screenplay, that it forgets to make sense.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet, a senselessly adapted, ill-conceived, poorly acted mess of a film that's guaranteed to frustrate anyone who loves the play and to put everybody else to sleep. [18 Jan 1991]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jim R. gave it a10:
Energetic, entertaining presentation. Perfect casting.
