The new film reverberates with a genuinely Shakespearean liveliness.

| May 19, 2020

It's not at all a bad film.

| Nov 20, 2019

Starring Mel Gibson, Zeffirelli's Oscar-nominated version is colorful and mildly engaging, but lacking depth and poetry, and the two women are miscast.

| Original Score: C+ | Jun 6, 2012

Alas, poor Mel Gibson! I knew him when he was on top of the world.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 19, 2012

Not one for the purists, but a laudable attempt to introduce Shakespeare to the blockbuster generation.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 4, 2011

Mel Gibson emotes as the doleful Dane.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 2, 2011

Performances all fall in a middle range between the competent and the lackluster.

| Jul 4, 2008

Offers what amounts to a comic book intro to Shakespeare's classic, retaining few of the play's psychological complexities.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 4, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 22, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 16, 2007

It's a surprisingly successful venture, decked out in Anglo-Saxon styles and with a brooding, robust castle setting which oozes horse muck.

| Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 26, 2004

In retrospect, it's a small jump from Shakespeare to God. What if Gibson had been stopped then?

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 23, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 4, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 17, 2003

[Mel Gibson] is by far the best part of Mr. Zeffirelli's sometimes slick but always lucid and beautifully cinematic version of the play.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 4, 2003

Not only is Mel Gibson much better than you might expect, but Zeffirelli's Hamlet is often entertaining and rarely hard to endure.

| Oct 4, 2003

Zeffirelli does an excellent job at juggling with updating Hamlet, while staying close to the classic play.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 16, 2003

Gibson and his ego fancy himself as an ideal Hamlet, which is tragic to the film in a different sense.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 10, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 24, 2003