This edition, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh and released in 1996, is one of the most well regarded of such works.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 12, 2022

For all the sometimes athletic action, this Hamlet is strung on its language. The words are the play, unfolding in a space open enough to give scope to its unruly energies.

| Aug 16, 2018

It is a wholly new take on Hamlet, with a cast filled with entertaining cameos.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 10, 2012

A work of tremendous personal ambition equipped with a budget nearly equal in magnitude.

| Apr 20, 2011

Shakespeare's great tragedy -- all of it.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 2, 2011

The play widely regarded as the best piece of dramatic literature ever written...[in] the only unexpurgated big-screen version. [Blu-ray]

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 16, 2010

Simply gorgeous to look at, and a number of the performances are outstanding...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 2, 2008

Brave, yes, but undeniably excessive.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 2, 2008

Die-hard Bard students may quibble, but this gargantuan and glorious "Hamlet" is a movie-lover's paradise.

| Original Score: A | Sep 17, 2007

Branagh combines one of the Bard's best plays with some of the best filmmaking the medium has to offer.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Aug 25, 2007

Branagh has one-upped Olivier again by making his Hamlet a bold spectacle: big and loud and colorful.

| Aug 16, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 14, 2007

Fine version of one of The Bard's best plays.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 8, 2006

If you're willing to sit through Branah's 4-hour Hamlet, you'll be rewarded with a lavishly mounted, full-bodied version that brings new dimensions.

| Original Score: B | Jul 15, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 27, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 25, 2004

The few missteps, mostly in casting, are a drop in the bucket when it comes to this adaptation.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 14, 2004

Viewers patient enough to sit through four hours of this film are going to be rewarded with a memorable experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 1, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 21, 2004