[Ed. Note: The headline refers to the fact that the journalist was reviewing both The Lost World and Hamlet in the one article.]
Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet has arrived amid some confusion. We're becoming accustomed to the release of the director's cut. This is the version that the director, still spitting chips, wants the public to know was his version before studio philistines had their way.
Here, the procedure is reversed. The director's cut has been released for a limited season, with a more user-friendly, two-hour version set for a separate launch next week. Meanwhile at four hours the long version is way too long, with all due respect to The Bard and to Branagh's undisputed credentials as a purveyor of his works. But if the film is occasionally inclined to overblow its spectacle, on the whole it's rather wonderful, crackling with energy and by turns both majestic and moving. In fact, it felt rather special to be part of a rapt audience - surprisingly packed and surprisingly young - watching some of the finest actors of our day interpreting one of the great plays.
Branagh demonstrates yet again his mastery at rendering the dense and difficult language not just accessible but stirring and beautiful. And while he could have given the celebrity cameos the flick (Jack Lemmon, Robin Williams et al), he has assembled a powerful ensemble, with Derek Jacobi superb as Claudius, Kate Winslet a touching Ophelia and Julie Christie's Gertrude a poignant study of feverish gaiety barely veiling a heart heavy with sorrow.
What is it about Kenneth Branagh that gets up the noses of even our most distinguished film critics? Some seem to spend so much time quibbling at perceived flaws that the big canvas - the overall grandeur - of his Shakespearean masterpieces often passes them by. Branagh's four-hour Hamlet, showing briefly in some cinemas before giving way to the cut version, is magnificent. With its silent flashbacks - his father's murder, poor Yorick as live jester, an embracing Hamlet and Ophelia - the tale has never seemed so logical, so vivid, so absolutely thrilling. The final duel all but lifts you off your seat and if Hamlet's swing on the chandelier seems a shade Hollywooden, remember that Will was a popular writer, fighting the bear pits for ratings.
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