MovieChat Forums > Hamlet (2000) Discussion > Missing Crucial Elements!

Missing Crucial Elements!

posted 15 years ago by sarajw13
15 replies | jump to latest

I was very disappointed after watching this because I felt like they glided over some very necessary parts of the story. The movie that he shows in place of the play was a very lame attempt at modernizing the plot, and hello!... where is Fortinbras? He is an important character with an important back story as a foil to Hamlet, and yet all we get is a photo of him on a TV screen. And instead of his speech of how noble Hamlet was and how he must prepare to rule we get some news anchor guy? I'm sorry, but this was a sorry version of a great play. I'll stick to the kenneth branaugh from now on.

Keep antagonizing me - See what happens!

[–] DustyStars 15 years ago

Hmmm, it lost me when the To Be Or Not To Be soliloquy was 'performed' in a video store...

Lupin<3Tonks
There the witch stayed for a long time
'We are such stuff as dreams are made on'

[–] sarajw13 15 years ago

that part just made me laugh. the idea of blockbuster being the ideal place for heavy thoughts was ridiculous.

the film as a whole was just wrong.

Keep antagonizing me - See what happens!

[–] DustyStars 15 years ago

I had high hopes for this movie, and it's taken me forever to get hold of, so I hoped it would be worth it. Huge fan of Hamlet, even bigger fan of Ethan Hawke, and the idea of a modern Hamlet with the original diologue sounded perfect, but they ruined it. It wasn't thought through enough. It wasn't original at all, they just shoved the characters into suits and put them in random places around NYC to act it all out.

Total wash-out. A modern version of Hamlet with the old diologue could still be done, it worked for Romeo and Juliet. But computerized characters and fancy buildings do not make it modern, it makes it crap.

Lupin<3Tonks
There the witch stayed for a long time
'We are such stuff as dreams are made on'

[–] creaturefeeture 15 years ago

100% agreed.

Voting History: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=26598711

[–] Dr_RoButtnik 15 years ago

I disagree completely. Romeo and Juliet was crap. If Shakespeare wanted whip-pans he would have put them in there.

"Weirdness was all he cared about. Weirdness and sex and plenty to drink."

[–] StellarSpire 12 years ago

Oh come, Romeo & Juliet at least had style. Hamlet had nothing. Lol @ whip-pans in the 16th century.

[–] Promontorium 14 years ago

The idea of Blockbuster being the ideal place for heavy thoughts was genius.

You just missed everything that mattered in that scene.

1. The nature of a video store, you wander about to make a seemingly simple choice, that can become more complex the more you look into each choice.

2. He repeatedly walks down the "Action" aisle, which is obviously an allusion to the entire conflict of Hamlet's character.

3. The Crow was the film playing, which is about returning from the dead for revenge.

4. All 3 previous ones perfect modern allegory for the old tale, with one bonus, both Hamlet and Ophelia in the film are film lovers/makers themselves, what better place for a filmmaker to contemplate ends than in a video store?

The film wasn't great, but that scene was absolutely beautiful. If every scene was as developed it would have been an amazing film.

[–] FreddieMiles 14 years ago

Maybe the seen was well-planned, but it doesn't work with the old text at all. Even Ethan Hawke makes it sound like a big joke when he says "the proud man's contumely." It never seemed authentic and never will in Old English in a modern environment

[–] xoLiLbLndixo 14 years ago

I agree with Promontorium 100%. The film in a whole was great but the scene was fantastic.

The only thing that you don't understand is that it can work. One of the great things about Shakespeare is that what he wrote about can happen now. He writes about things that people of the modern world think of. The point of using the words in a modern setting is to show that it doesn't matter what time you are in, everything can be the same. Of course certain elements have to be tweaked and they kind of stretched a little too far on some of the things. We just have to wait for a really awesome modern Shakespeare. I thought Romeo + Juliet was good but then again, I haven't seen it in a while, not since I've been at my arts school, so now that I have a new mindset I'll have to watch it again. We did a modern version of Midsummer at my school last year and it came out wonderfully. It just has to be done right.

[–] Merrida 11 years ago

This is a good point. An old post, and I've posted since, but wanted to comment here.

I happened to have enjoyed this version of Hamlet a great deal. It is one of my favourite plays, by far. I've seen many incarnations. I liked the whole idea of setting it to modern time using original dialogue.

FTR, I was not quite the fan of Romeo and Juliet. Pardon how this will sound, but it was too theatrical (for a modern-day movie production). I'm going to give it a fourth shot though since the first three attempts didn't work for me.

Okay, there are six soliloquies in Hamlet. This particular one, was actually well done. You pointed out some of the most obvious and brilliant points of placement. I think the details may have been lost on some viewers who merely saw "just a Blockbuster video store" and did not pay attention to the surroundings.

And given the fact the medium Hamlet uses for documenting his own internal struggle is through recordings, the parallels were quite brilliantly given.

If one doesn't need things force-fed and pays attention to the smallest of details, there are some wonderful things to take away from this.

Thank you for pointing out these exceptional observations.
______________________________________
Sic vis pacem para bellum.

[–] StellarSpire 12 years ago

Hahaha! Ditto. I was just watching this on Starz and had a total flash back to high school and how ridiculous I thought it was, then. Not so surprisingly, the one scene that I remembered perfectly was the "to be" scene in the Blockbuster, because I absolutely loathed it. It was a wtf moment then, and still remains so today lol.

[–] Promontorium 14 years ago

I think the film was well enough for modern matters, but I think it is impossible to do Hamlet justice in this way. The modern scene with old words just doesn't fit.

One important point is that Hamlet is a really old story. It was old as dirt long before Shakespeare came along. Hamlet, with its original concepts should be done to period. If they want a modern Hamlet, that's fine, but drop the text. One of the most important points of the play was that Hamlet was supposed to be King, and it was evil and betrayal, that only he could right, which kept him from the crown.

A company is not a kingdom! It simply doesn't work. Hamlet wasn't in a prison if he was heir to a business, he could just cross the street into a McDonald's. But as heir to an entire nation, he was honor bound to the country, yet subject to the laws of a villain. Why didn't they just set the modernized Hamlet in modern Denmark at least, with Hamlet the prince of Denmark?

[–] jyanks 14 years ago

I enjoyed the film a lot & thought it was very creative. However, I was a bit bummed that they omitted the full description of Ophelia's death. And they cut the line "Sweets for the Sweet" at her funeral.
Also, they completely omitted the Yorick scene.

[–] falsedichotomies 14 years ago

That's only because they had to cut it down to an hour forty so us Americans wouldn't lose interest. :)

Unfortunately, I did lose interest - somewhere right around the arras scene where Bill Murray gets shot in the head.

Also, what was up with right at the beginning of the movie when Hamlet bursts into Claudius's office waving a gun around only to find him not there? Are you f'in kidding me?

I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.

[–] bron-tay 12 years ago

This ain't the first time Fortinbras has been dropped.

I felt ripped off over the cutting of Yorick.

~~~~~~~
Think cynical thoughts.