Hamlet

A young man returns to London for his father's (Avijit Dutt) funeral, performing a death ritual before his cremation, then is stunned to learn that his uncle, Claudius (Art Malik, 2023's "The Little Mermaid"), plans to marry his widowed mother, Gertrude (Sheeba Chaddha, TV's 'Bait'). But when his friend, Laertes (Joe Alwyn, "Hamnet"), takes him to a disco for a night of drinking and drugging to assuage his grief, he goes out into a back alley for some air where the ghost of his father appears, telling him that he was murdered by his brother, requesting revenge from "Hamlet."

Laura's Review: B-

Star Riz Ahmed ("The Phoenician Scheme," TV's 'Bait') reteamed with the director of their 2022 Oscar winning live action short, "The Long Goodbye," Aneil Karia ("Surge"), for his long simmering passion project resetting Shakespeare within a Southeast Asian family, royalty now made wealthy real estate developers. The result is flawed, especially in its muted first half, but builds into a fiery finish ignited by the contemporary Kathak dance which indicts Claudius at his wedding reception. Screenwriter Michael Leslie, who tackled Shakespeare for Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth" in 2015,
mostly keeps the bard's original language but shuffles lines and condenses the story.

Ahmed's Hamlet spends much of the initial part of the film shellshocked, muttering to himself about just what he's witnessing. After seeing his father's spirit, he visits Ophelia (Morfydd Clark, "Saint Maud") in her (drab) apartment, telling her what he's just experienced. She worries for his sanity. He heads back to the family estate, Claudius's counsellor, Polonius (Timothy Spall, "Mr. Turner"), catching him in the man's office going through business papers, the two verbally jousting, but when Hamlet spies his mother and uncle out on the lawn auditioning dancers for their wedding, he gets an idea. Yes, 'The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.'

Hamlet then begins melting down, rejecting marriage to Ophelia, before taking to the wheel of a sportscar for the film's single worst idea, staging the 'To Be or Not To Be' soliloquy as a game of chicken on a highway, Hamlet eventually taking his hands off the wheel before swerving to safety, the action completely drowning out the words, tension building too late within the scene. But the film takes a major upward swing with the wedding reception, Hamlet donning an elaborate scarf and applying lipstick to flit around the guests, using a roving mic with Ophelia before announcing the play, a spectacular reimagining by dance troupe that includes framing the main character with a line of red stained palms (shades of "MacBeth!"). Everything goes off the rails, Hamlet put into a headlock by Polonius after going after his mother in a back room, then stabbing the man in the neck. The family plots to send him away, Claudius even hosing Polonius' blood off him in the shower, but once Hamlet gets back out into the city and sees the human devastation caused by Elsinore Construction, he only sees one path forward.

While Ahmed's performance rises and falls as the film hits and misses, Art Malik and Sheeba Chaddha are standouts, the former expressing doubts about his nephew in his eyes, the latter spiraling into shame, her last act a dramatic knockout. Director of Photography Stuart Bentley's ("We Live in Time") handheld work can induce seasickness, wavering back and forth when he focuses on Hamlet, but is otherwise fine, utilizing the London skyline dramatically at night. Karia and Ahmed have certainly given us a new, modern twist on the masterwork, London's Southeast Asian community an inspired setting, but while it has some outstanding moments, it is more curiosity than classic.

Robin's Review: C+

Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) returns home on the news of his father's sudden death. He is visited by his pere's ghost and is told that his uncle, Claudius, has poisoned his father and is marrying his mother. Revenge, then, becomes the young prince's sole mission in "Hamlet."

With the recently touted "Hamnet," the subject of "Hamlet" may seem redundant in a way. That said, I have two immediate impressions about this latest adaptation of the Bard's most famous play. First, it is an interesting modern update to Shakespeare's classic that mostly works. The other is that Riz Ahmed is wrong for the role of the melancholy prince.

One thing I have said about Shakespeare's works is that they are done best with British actors. Well, Pakistani-British Ahmed actor does have the Brit bonafides but lacks the thespian projection that, I think, the role requires. The problem I had, initially, with "Hamlet" is the title character dominates the dialogue in the film's first part as Hamlet realizes the devious nature of his mother and uncle. Ahmed lacks the vocal projection the role requires.

Once, the prince is joined by the rest of the cast, the story of revenge evens out and Shakespeare's work unfolds in modern day London and Hamlet and his family are of the South Asian community. The story follows the essentials of the original and the modern update is not annoying. I just wish a different Hamlet, someone with clear diction, played the Bard's most famous role.

Vertical releases "Hamlet" in theaters on 4/10/26.