Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Brian Cox, Steven Waddington Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: August 05, 2003 Running Time: 85 minutes Studio: Miramax Theatrical Release Date: 1994
I Loved It... I Hated It... ^ Shakespeare wrote a play which had a title that would be perfect for this film production. My personal feelings about the story, the Actors and the support team has a 50/50 point spread between Nirvana and Hell. The background "chatter track" was infuriating. The voices had dreadful British accents and the phrases were not appropriate for the time the story was set.
The play I refer to above is: "Much Ado About Nothing"
Not Exactly Shakespeare, But Very Entertaining ^ Royal Deceit is two things I love. First, it's based on the story on which William Shakespeare based Hamlet, and I love all things related to the Bard. It's especially interesting seeing an alternative work from the same source material. Second, it's one of the lesser-known works of Gabriel Byrne, who's done so much good work other than The Usual Suspects (see Into the West, Smilla's Sense of Snow. And yes, I'll confess to harboring a certain affection for his portrayal of Father Andrew Kiernan in Stigmata).
Netflix describes this film as Hamlet "with a more Viking feel," and that description is fairly accurate. It makes Hamlet/Amled less English and more Danish than Shakespeare's telling, a change for the better. It also makes him less conflicted and more cunning. Christian Bale plays him fearlessly, barking like a dog, crowing like a rooster and all. Oh, and by the way, apologies to Robert Pattinson, but Teenage Christian Bale is still the prettiest underaged thing to walk this planet.
Hails from source material, but feels awkward ^ The movie manages to diminish good actors, and to unwittingly showcase their performances in a mocking tone. It's not bad acting, it's unintentionally bad filmmaking. Rough and tumble. I think the most succinct way to describe this movie would be to cite its conventional cinematography which attempts to belie it's low-budget, but only reveals it in a pointed and relentlessly awkward way. I rented this film because of its superb cast (Helen Mirren! Christian Bayle! Tom Wilkinson! Gabriel Byrne! Brian Cox! Kate Beckinsale!) and because of the exciting prospect of seeing a film based on the actual legend of Hamlet, as historically penned by the Danes, which inspired Shakespeare's play. However, this is a case of great performances that are slighted by awkward camera angles, misdirection, and a very low-budget. I was astonished to see the film was made in 1994. The film stock quality had convinced me that this was made for television in the early 1980s. This film is good to see if you are a filmmaker yourself, and trying to learn the craft, which often times can benefit from seeing a badly shot film as much as a well shot film.
Quick ship - Perfect Condition ^ What an awful "play" on Hamlet. With such good acters (Helen Mirren!!), I expected a really well done movie. The acting seemed forced, the plot ridiculous - unlike Shakepeare's Hamlet. Very badly directed.
What a complete waste of talent & source material ^ This movie could have been so good! Drawing from Saxo Grammaticus rather than Shakespeare, the movie aims to present the Hamlet story in a more historical context. This is quite laudable, and certainly the producers had a more than talented cast at their disposal, but this was an opportunity completely squandered. I can only assume that this was done on a shoestring budget, since there seem to be only 2 dozen extras available at any given time & the battle scenes are nothing short of laughable. Still, one can tell a good story and manage to pinch the pennies. The story told here is disjointed, poorly constructed, and far too abbreviated. 85 minutes simply does not allow for the development of either plot or character, and the movie suffers badly as a result. This was a huge disappointment, and only the performances by Byrne & Mirren begin to salvage it. I suppose renting it wouldn't be a complete waste --- it certainly won't be a waste of time, since it's over almost as soon as it has begun --- but only a lunatic would spend money on this dud.
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