Hamlet (2000) - An Awful Adaptation

The entire "Hamlet" play, for those who want context on the story: www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/ht...
I discuss why 2000's "Hamlet" film is a completely misguided adaptation.
(Looking back on this video, I wish I hadn't come off as an "angry reviewer" critic. Nevertheless, I still stand by my criticisms of the film, and am overall proud of the video.)

[@aidanevans5239]

9:21 the most interesting thing about this to be or not to be speech is that Lolita is somehow in the action isle

[@jonathanlivingston5627]

It's the sequel to The Crow.

[@KiIIerBean]

this movie is the epitome of gimmick

[@jonathanlivingston5627]

Great, entertaining video. One criticism puzzles me though. You don't see why Claudius would want to be head of a corporation? CEOs have power and wealth, sometimes equivalent to the king of a country. Additionally, although it's never outright stated in the play, we can infer that Gertrude and Claudius were carrying on an affair prior to the murder of King Hamlet, no?

[@LaughOutLamdaddy]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video! It's been a while since I've wrote and edited this (if some of the jankier editing didn't make that obvious), but as far as why I said I don't see why Claudius would want to be a CEO, it's probably because I don't necessarily see a CEO as the equivalent of a king. Both involve power and politics, sure, but a CEO doesn't have the outright power that a ruler of a country would. Also, while the focus of the story isn't what Claudius intends to do as a CEO (or a king in the play), I do think it's fair to ask why he wants this position, especially since it involves overseeing a business (and because the parts of the play foreshadowing Fortinbras' takeover are omitted, which on paper gives them extra time to address this). As far as the Claudius/Gertrude affair, I think the play better hints at this (or even Branagh's film) just by the way those two act around each other; in this 2000 film, I don't think they share enough chemistry to insinuate that they were in a relationship that started before "King" Hamlet's death.

[@jonathanlivingston5627]

@@LaughOutLamdaddy I agree with you that Branagh's film is superior (though not close to as good as Olivier's or Kozintsev's imo) Most of your criticisms are on point. And to be fair, I haven't watched the Almereyda film for a few years, though I do use certain scenes on UA-cam to show differences in interpretation for the Brit lit classes I teach. I do certainly remember it being clunky and a relatively poor adaptation, but otoh I appreciate what it's trying to do. Like I love the idea of the Blockbuster soliloquy, but in practice, in the film, it does not work at all.

[@jonathanlivingston5627]

Have you seen Almereyda and Hawke's other Shakespeare adaptation, Cymbeline?

[@LaughOutLamdaddy]

@@jonathanlivingston5627 I had no idea Hawke and Almereyda made another Shakespeare adaptation! I briefly looked it up, and it certainly doesn't seem up my alley (I also haven't read the original play), but it seems like Almereyda is at least updating the language for the most part. One of my biggest issues with "Hamlet 2000" was that the Shakespeare dialogue seemed too out-of-place in regular ol' New York (without any stylization à la Baz Luhrmann), so he seems to have at least taken that into consideration.

[@user-vi4of9yh1l]

Watch Haider (2014) by Vishal Bhardwaj

[@tom-vj9lz]

I love this