53
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt's a strong, intelligent performance [by Gibson], filled with life, and it makes this into a surprisingly robust Hamlet.
- 88TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineZeffirelli's production is neither high art nor lowbrow pandering, but something in between.
- 80The New York TimesThe New York TimesMel Gibson's Hamlet is strong, intelligent and safely beyond ridicule.... He is by far the best part of Mr. Zeffirelli's sometimes slick but always lucid and beautifully cinematic version of the play.
- 80Washington PostWashington PostThanks to director Franco Zeffirelli and an impressive cast, both the tale and the telling are strikingly fresh.
- 70TimeTimeFranco Zeffirelli's film is plenty pretty. It almost works as a cloak-and-bodkin adventure
- 50VarietyVarietyFranco Zeffirelli's Hamlet is bland.
- 50Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonThere's nothing embarrassing about Zeffirelli's brisk new version, nor anything particularly remarkable; it's an entirely credible, middle-of-the-road production.
- 40Chicago ReaderHank SartinChicago ReaderHank SartinThis Hamlet elevates plot to a height that retains the play's atmosphere but squanders its thematic richness in a welter of "Mommy, how could you?" melodrama.
- 38Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversThis big-screen Hamlet, pumped up to operatic scale by overkill director Franco Zeffirelli, exposes Gibson's shortcomings.
- 25Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThe rest of Franco Zeffirelli's latest Shakespearean outing is so eager to be cinematic, with its peripatetic camera and souped-up screenplay, that it forgets to make sense.