Almereyda's details actually give the core story an additional layer of power. The cyclical decay of Hamlet still resonates, even as its '90s flourishes have become increasingly irrelevant.

| Jun 5, 2020

Ingeniously and divertingly updating Shakespeare to corporate New York, Michael Almereyda's Hamlet benefits from playfully iconographic casting.

| Apr 10, 2018

Too often, the gimmick of modern-dress Shakespeare is undone by the sheer visual incongruity of people in business suits speaking in 17th-century vernacular. Hawke (and those surrounding him) somehow make it play.

| Jun 21, 2016

2000 version of Hamlet is just dreadful.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 24, 2010

I like the way the material has truly been "adapted" to its modern setting without the language being adulterated.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 10, 2009

It could prove almost as definitive -- and far more easily digestible -- than Branagh's textually complete version.

| Jul 6, 2008

The lines are read for the most part with more feeling for the angry-stepchild plot than for the iambic pentameter.

| Apr 27, 2007

Almereyda modernises and streamlines without trivializing, and amplifies poetic melodrama with regular ingenuity and energy.

| Jun 3, 2006

Icy-cold in its palette and unwaveringly cool in its application of modern settings and gizmos to a text that stands up to endless reinvention, this is a Hamlet that brings imagination matched by thoughtfulness to its appeal to both eye and ear.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 11, 2002

The result is more than a mere gimmick and less than an unqualifed success, but yes -- it's always watchable.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 19, 2002

By equating the garish feudalism of the play's original setting with the megalopolis of today's New York, [Almereyda is] at least on the right track. The problem is, it's just about his only track.

Full Review | Oct 30, 2001

Just not quite daring or spectacular enough.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 12, 2001

Almereyda has pulled off a formidable coup: He's made Shakespeare come alive for contemporary audiences of all ages, especially young people.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 12, 2001

A moody and compelling update of Shakespeare's classic.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Mar 9, 2001

Instead of being a companion to Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet (1996) , this can be filed under wasted opportunities.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 8, 2001

So poorly produced and directed that there would be serious doubt that the cast speaks English if it were not made up of such well- known and accomplished actors.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 8, 2001

In OUR time, the sinister turn of events at the Denmark Corporation couldn't be more apt.

| Original Score: A | Jan 1, 2000

If a soulessness creeps into Almereyda's Hamlet, it's more because the bounty of this project is richer than he's prepared to tackle.

| Jan 1, 2000

Vital and sharply intelligent.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Provocative!

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000