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Campbell Scott's Hamlet
Movie: 7/10
Oliver, Branagh, Gibson, and Campbell Scott... All of them have produced contemporary versions of Shakespeare's classic of passion, murder, one of the ageless depictions of revenge. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Shakespeare's work (I am reading the play soon in my World Literature class, I have not read it previously.), it deals with the young prince Hamlet (played by Campbell Scott), whose father has died suddenly. Hamlet's mother marries off quickly to her husband's brother, Claudius (The Stand's Jamey Sheridan). Hamlet suffers mainly an internal conflict dealing with his disgust for his mother's sudden marriage to the top suspect of the former king's murder and taking revenge upon Claudius. (That's the plot in a nut shell.) This version isn't terrible, it's hard to judge it not having read the play yet. It has been semi-modernized, set in the early 20th century (not a total modernization as Romeo+Juliet was) and is a decent adaptation as far as I can tell. The only thing I can compare this version to is Gibson's Hamlet (I hated) and Branagh's (I loved). The production value isn't terribly good (I love the look of Branagh's), but it's a made for TV Hallmark film. It's hard to judge it when it's been adapted so many times and the story has been rehashed about a zillion into modern tales. It's not a bad adaptation, the acting is decent and the overall script seems faithful to the work. It's kind of hard to tell, I wish I could have reviewed the DVD after reading the play, however, I'm not sure when that could be and this screener has been on my shelf for a few weeks. (It's also three hours and may seem long to some.)
Video: 7/10
Full screen.... Looks like a TV adaptation, not horrible though. I've seen much worse.
Audio: 6/10
Stereo... It's dialogue driven, so it doesn't really matter. I've heard better.
Extras: 4/10
A ten minute documentary. Decent, but typical. Could have used more....
Overall: 5/10
Decent adaptation, average presentation overall.
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