Review – Hamlet (1990)

This time around Mel Gibson takes the lead, and oddly enough it doesn’t turn out anywhere near as bad as it might have. Glenn Close (Gertrude), Helena Bonham Carter (Ophelia) and a pack of other hams share scenery with Gibson as the abbreviated version of Shakespeare’s classic unfolds. Though the celeb-intensive casting suggests a movie designed to appeal more to the masses than to highbrow drama fans, the actors take their jobs seriously and put on a reasonably good show. If you’re trying to get around an English class assignment by watching the video rather than reading the play, you could do a lot worse (though be warned: some scenes – including at least one that’s easy test-bait – are missing from the production). Mildly amusing