Hamlet (1990-Mel Gibson / Franco Zefferelli)

I was dubious about Mel Gibson doing Hamlet, but to my utter shock and disbelief, he did quite well.  His conversation with Polonius was pure genius, especially the way he turned the phrase usually said as "words, words, words!" into "words...words...words.", as if checking to see what he was reading and then reporting back to Polonius.  Now that is true insanity. He acted less like a Hamlet trying to scare everyone else off than like a Hamlet truly going unhinged.  I didn't notice anything special about the other actors and I wasn't paying too much attention to the actresses, though Helena Bonham Carter did a good job as a strong Ophelia finally crushed.  I also liked the way the phrase "get thee to a nunnery" was moved from the nunnery scene into the play scene-actually, thinking about it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense...um, never mind.  Notice how Hamlet completely gives his hand away to Claudius at the end of the play scene by celebrating with the actors.  Some of the text changes made sense, like the redirecting of Ophelia's "'Tis brief, my lord", to which Hamlet replies "As women's love", to Gertrude.  There are huge chunks of text missing, including the whole Fortinbras plot, but hey, whatever floats your boat.  And if I saw my mom hanging on my uncle the way this Gertude hangs on Claudius, I would be sent into a murderous rage too.  But then my dad is still alive.  Anyway, this is a much better version than I had feared.  Oh, and I almost forgot the Oedipus complex thing-how could I?  Hamlet and Getrude get very-well, let's just say intimate after he kills Polonius.  Actually, it's not that bad, but it could still be disturbing to small children, or older children, or adults.

back to the Mel Gibson Hamlet

main / shakespeare / people / movies / books / random / jokes / star trek
x-files / writing / quotes / poetry