Film

Hamlet Review:
Film Released: 2000
Director: Michael Almereyda
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Bill Murray, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora

This film manages to maintain Hamlet’s Shakespearean language while completely changing its time period into that of this century. Michael Almereyda does this rather successfully with many key alteration such as making Hamlet the son to the CEO of Denmark corporations, and setting the play within Hotel Elsinore. The recognizable and visually appealing setting makes it evident that this film’s budget was different from those of many other Shakespearean movies. Hamlet features Ethan Hawke, a very well known actor which is argued upon whether having been the correct choice for this film. New York Times described his performance as “middling” while the Los Angeles Times said completely otherwise.
Obviously, changes from the original play which is very much open to cinematographic and theatrical interpretation, were crucial. Though such changes were needed for creating this film, others were not and may have possibly detracted from the movie. Most if not all of the Fortinbra’s subplot is eliminated, and a soldier of name Marcellus, is turned into a girl with name Marcella. This along with the complete elimination of Hamlet’s meeting with the gravedigger, can either be seen beneficially for the play. Throughout this movie, acting from the cast is not superb, which when accompanied by Shakespearean language can make the play a sufferance.
This is an interesting adaptation of a great piece of literature which is why I would recommend it to any fan of Hamlet or Shakspeare. As I myself do not particularly enjoy shaksperean language in a modern setting due to its distracting and off-putting nature, I would not recommend this film to anyone looking to watch something in their free time and does not have any prior knowledge about the original play.