Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Brian Cox, Steven Waddington Directed By: Gabriel Axel Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC Label: Miramax Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: August 05, 2003 Running Time: 85 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1994
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.
Castles and Kings Features a younger Christian Bale (made in 1993). Gabriel Byrne is great, as usual, as the brother of the king, who murders the king. Bale is the son of the king, and feigns madness when his father is murdered-mainly to stay alive and let his uncle claim the throne. Revenge comes later. Based on legend. Different, and entertaining.
From the opening credits featuring cookie-cutter travel log footage of Scandanavian scenery to the very last scene with 30 exhausted extras shouting "God Save the King" at three better than average actors standing ill at ease on a wooden platform, it was all pretty disasterous.
I knew that it was a no go at the first syllable of the "narration." Instead of showing us the murders of Amleth's father and brother, we were told about it. Instead of showing us the horror and mystery of Amleth's father's ghost appearing to him and telling him of his uncle's treachery, we were told about it.
The poor actors were given almost nothing to play. I imagine that they were pining for Shakespeare's genius for writing superbly playable scenes and dialog. He would never have left his actors so stranded.
The story and the actors deserved far better. What a total waste of celuloid.
Not Entirely Successful This spare film is based on an original version of the Hamlet story. The makers of this film clearly wanted to capture the stark nature of the story and probably the character of life in early Medieval Northern Europe. The actors are a really impressive cast and their performances are quite good. The film is impaired by its limited budget which somewhat degrades the efforts at historical realism. As other reviewers comment, the use of voiceover narration to carry the narrative is not successful. A very good idea but not well executed despite its first rate cast.
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