Hamlet 2000

Critics score:
55 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Read more

Roger Ebert, At the Movies: Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A moody and compelling update of Shakespeare's classic. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Almereyda has pulled off a formidable coup: He's made Shakespeare come alive for contemporary audiences of all ages, especially young people. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: In OUR time, the sinister turn of events at the Denmark Corporation couldn't be more apt. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The result is more than a mere gimmick and less than an unqualifed success, but yes -- it's always watchable. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: 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. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: Vital and sharply intelligent. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The lines are read for the most part with more feeling for the angry-stepchild plot than for the iambic pentameter. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Although it's virtually impossible to make a bad movie based on a play as strong as Hamlet, Almereyda almost succeeds. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Oddly enough it's the picture's visuals -- its mournful, glassy Manhattan high-rises; its limos and Town Cars with their mirrorlike flanks -- that make it feel most like Hamlet. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: In the end this noble experiment fails, not for its adventure but for its ultimate lack thereof. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Almereyda modernises and streamlines without trivializing, and amplifies poetic melodrama with regular ingenuity and energy. Read more

Ken Eisner, Variety: It could prove almost as definitive -- and far more easily digestible -- than Branagh's textually complete version. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: But the joke only goes so far, and even at a relatively svelte 112 minutes Hamlet comes apart in its final third. Read more