Review of Hamlet (1990) by Stuart K — 05 Aug 2013

Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, who had directed Shakespeare adaptations like The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Romeo and Juliet (1968), he had wanted to do Hamlet in the early 1970's, but Tony Richardson had beat him to it with his 1969 adaptation, so Zeffirelli sat on it, and it was revived 20 years later when Mel Gibson took an interest.

It's a good adaptation, one that's close in style to Olivier's 1948 take, but this one has a very good cast. In Denmark, Prince Hamlet (Gibson) returns home to Castle Elsinore when news that his father has died, but his mother Gertrude (Glenn Close), marries Hamlet's uncle Claudius (Alan Bates), who is now the new king, and they both urge Hamlet to marry his long time sweetheart Ophelia (Helena Bonham Carter).

But then the ghost of Hamlet's father (Paul Scofield) appears to Hamlet, telling him his brother Claudius had murdered him, Hamlet is torn whether to just let it lie, knowing he has no evidence that Claudius did it, or plan an elaborate revenge.

He chooses the latter, and he plans to get the truth out of Claudius, with the staging of a play called The Mousetrap. It's a well made film, even if it is cold and sparse, with very quick editing you would normally expect from an action film, but Gibson relishes the part, and it's a pity he hasn't done more parts like this, as this is a reminder of what a good actor he can be with the right material.