Hamlet (2000) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Ethan Hawke, Julia Stiles, Kyle Maclachlan, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray and Diana Venora. Based on the play by William Shakespeare. Adapted and directed by Michael Almereyda. Rated R.
To bore or not to bore? That is the question that ruminates through the latest reincarnation of William Shakespeare's venerable "Hamlet."
This truncated, contemporary outing features Ethan Hawke as the melancholy New Yorker, for that is where this latest adaptation has been relocated. Forget the foreboding battlements of Elsinore, it's now an upscale Midtown hotel.
Taking a page from recent Shakespearean ventures - most notably Buz Luhrmann's "Romeo and Juliet," which transposed the tragic tale of doomed lovers to contemporary Florida - director Michael Almereyda, who also adapted the classic - has set his story of murder, foul love and intrigue in the high-powered corporate world.
Hamlet, the president and C.E.O. of the Denmark Corp., has died. His brother, Claudius, not only has taken over the conglomerate, but has married his sister-in-law, Gertrude. This, of course, doesn't sit well with young Hamlet. Well, you know the rest.
While the concept has merit, the execution is flawed. The movie features several shots of New York landmarks, yet Almereyda doesn't take advantage of any of them. A few scenes are filmed on Gotham's sidewalks, but the rest are set either in the hotel or Denmark's corporate headquarters.
Unlike, "Macbeth" or "Henry V," Shakespearean plays that can be `opened up' for film, celluloid "Hamlet's" - ranging from Olivier's 1948 version to Kenneth Branagh's 1996 treatment - always have stayed close to or within the confines of Elsinore, giving the tragedy the claustrophobic atmosphere needed to help accentuate the calamities that lie ahead.
So, setting the story in New York, one of the most picturesque cities in the world, appears more as a gimmick than a dramatic device to benefit the action.
Indeed, this "Hamlet" is rather flat, disjointed and flabby. Even though the running time is just a few minutes over two hours, the play seems to drag - as if everything was unfolding in slow motion.
Almereyda does create some visually interesting notions. Instead of staging a play `to catch the conscience of the king,' Hamlet offers a video presentation of his father's murder. And the director stages the `to be or not to be' soliloquy in a video store with the monitors surrounding Hamlet running scenes of death and destruction.
But the main problem with "Hamlet" is its casting. The title role is simply beyond Hawke's range. Wearing a snow cap that makes him look like the twin brother of Billy Bob Thornton from "A Simple Plan, "Hawke merely sulks and whines.
True, he is supposed to be a melancholy Dane, but Hamlet is also supposed to be a man of intellect and action, a schemer who can fake `an antic disposition,' a man of words who can open his mother's eyes to point out the errant behavior.
Hawke's Hamlet is a wuss, which makes it difficult to comprehend, firstly, why Ophelia can be smitten with such a dolt, and, secondly, why Claudius can be so concerned about his actions.
Hawke's Hamlet is too passive, too soft. He lacks the underlying rage called for in the role.
Julia Stiles ("Ten Things I Hate About You)" seems out of her depth as Ophelia. She plays her as a petulant, spoiled teen-ager. Her reading of the lines is flat and unconvincing.
Kyle Maclachlan lacks the majesty needed for Claudius and, more importantly, fails to display the charisma with which he could have so quickly wooed his sister-in-law.
Diana Venora as Gertrude shows some passion and lust, and a bit of insight toward the finale.
The two best performers are, ironically, Bill Murray as Polonious and Liev Schreiber as Laertes.
Murray is comically sly and wise as Claudius' main counselor, while Schreiber displays the appropriate spirit and rage needed as Hamlet's main rival.
Overall, though, this "Hamlet" can be considered a failed experiment. Setting the play in contemporary times while maintaining Shakespeare iambic pentameter may have seemed like a novel approach, but somehow it sounds disconcerting and pretentious.
It is rather empty. This "Hamlet" lacks spark, fire and, most of all, majesty. "Hamlet" is a drama that should be larger than life. This version plays like a Fox network soap opera.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN.. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Bloom's reviews can be found on the Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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