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Rating: 3 out of 5
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
One of the most famous quotes ever spoken. Hamlet is one of the top plays written by William Shakespeare. This tragedy was written sometime between 1599 and 1601. Here is some history of the famous play. It is one of the longest Shakespeare plays, with around 29000+ words. Hamlet is considered one of English literature’s most powerful and influential works. Hamlet is around my top 5 in my world. I still love me some Macbeth. The story of Hamlet has been adapted many times, but one of the most famous ones was Sons of Anarchy.
Hamlet is a tale of the tragedy of murder and revenge in the royal halls of medieval Denmark. Shit has gone down in the royal house. Claudius (Sydney), brother to the king, killed his brother for the throne. In return, he marries Gertrude (Herlie), his sister-in-law, and seizes the throne for himself. Straight up evil but okay. Hamlet (Olivier), the son of the murdered king, is depressed from his father’s death and his mother’s hasty marriage. One evening, Hamlet is confronted by the ghost of the late king, who reveals the truth and manner of his death. Hamlet throws on his Drake album and straight up looking for REVENGE!! Hamlet sets up a plan and recreates the evil deed in a play with some traveling actors. While watching the play, Claudius becomes distressed. Also, Ophelia (Simmons) wants to marry Hamlet, but with his plan, she easily becomes the second, third, and even fourth fiddle. As the pieces begin to move, will Hamlet get his revenge or fall?
Honestly, maybe this film was fantastic back in the day, but I was utterly bored out of my mind. Some scenes were interesting, mainly the ghost scene, but overall, it didn’t connect with me. I wish it could be different, but it didn’t work out. For example, in 2021, The Tragedy of Macbeth was tremendous, and the tone was much better. This film was great back in the day.
Now some of the scenes were awesome. Some of the scenes were fun to watch. All the ghost scenes were fun to watch. They were straight-up creepy but done so well. It was straight-up funny when Hamlet played like he was losing his mind, but homeboy went insane. The final fight scene where everyone died was great. Needed more of that than this boring film.
The only one who should be talked about in this film is Laurence Olivier as Hamlet. Homeboy was out there sometimes. It would make Shakespeare smile to see this performance. Even I was impressed with his performance.
I’m sorry that this review isn’t any longer. As stated before, I found this torture to get through. Hey, I did love the To be, or not to be, that is the question scene. That is always a highlight of any Shakespeare play. Now watch another adaptation and be happy.
