Hamlet

Year: 1996

Genre: Drama

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Richard Briers, Kate Winslet, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie

Dave - 3.5 Stars - Incredible acting, with incredible cinematography and cast. It's just a shame that I couldnt' really pick up on what was going on the whole time. When I did know, you can understand why old Billy has such amazing staying power. Branagh was entrancing....you couldn't keep your eyes off of him.

Lexie - 3.5 Stars - I understand what makes lovers of the craft want to make a film version of a Shakespeare play in its entirety, but as far as adaptations go, I also understand the artform, and, in this case, the necessary editing, that was lost in Branagh's decision not to cut anything from the play. While the acting in this film was exceptional (minus J. Lemmon, R. Williams, and B. Crystal) I thought it was too long to be consistently enjoyable. The difference between seeing a play and watching a movie, is in the physical experience. I believe it is practically impossible to translate the grandeur of theater onto the screen, and vice versa. The grandeur of this movie did not seem to fit in that it did not solicit from me, the emotional reaction I believe it was aiming for. All in all, the movie is okay, but not the awesome rendering I had anticipated.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116477/fullcredits#cast