Review of Hamlet (1996) by Ricardo V — 30 Oct 2007
Finally, arriving in dvd stores it's branagh's hamlet. I had heard about this film quite a bit, was familiar with how ambitious the film was but was unprepared with how stunning and vigorous the film and its leading protagonist was.
I loved branagh, his passion for the play, his passion for the movie is evident, it's as clear as water when you see him onscreen. in an age where some people phone in their performances, this man is literally acting as if his life depended on it, as if his whole professional career has led to this moment, he does not want to ruin it, he wants to ram a knife of excitement into your heart, and does so.
as for the story, I give ample respect to branagh for providing a shakespeare play that surprising never really lost me. even with all the language of shakespeare intact. for the first 30 minutes of the film I was lost, as if I had forgotten how he wrote, how confusing and incomprehensible I sometimes found it, but I decided to place the english subtitles under it and i'll be damned if it didn't help me a lot and suddenly I started understanding what people were saying and how they were feeling.
the film looks fantastic, the acting is amazing, again the enthusiasm and pure love of the shakespeare play and confidence in its excellence is awe-inspiring. this is a film that even though is 4 hours long, which is long, I wanted to watch the movie again right after it finished.
I wanted to revisit it, see what I missed. there were times in the film where I would just be dumbfounded as to shakespeare choice of words, how on earth could one man (whether it be shakespeare or the guy who posed as shakespeare according to urban legend) how could any human being write so beautifully and not just a line here or there, but for an entire play write wonderfully and still have the capabilities to write another 30 odd plays and have them all be incredibly well written with verses that stay in the conscious of the world.
fantastic vision, fantastic experience.
This review of Hamlet (1996) was written by Ricardo V on 30 Oct 2007.
Hamlet has generally received positive reviews.
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