Hamlet 1996

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in a vibrant, full-text, full-hearted film from Shakespeare's most complex tragedy. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: I have seen dozens of versions of this play (either on screen or on stage), and none has ever held me in such a grip of awe. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: With his handsome and compelling Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh brings the Bard's greatest tragedy passionately alive on the screen. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: This Hamlet may not be perfect, but it is perfectly engrossing. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: As star and ringmaster, Branagh gets to the heart of Hamlet and goes to admirable lengths to take his audience there, too. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Branagh's version moved me, entertained me and made me feel for the first time at home in that doomed royal court. Read more

Scott Rosenberg, Salon.com: Every little triumph seems to inspire in Branagh some accompanying act of bad taste or judgment. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A vigorous, four-hour adaptation that's 100 percent Shakespeare and 100 percent cinema. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: There are many ... instances when you want to run screaming from Elsinore Castle. Read more

Lloyd Rose, Washington Post: The film equivalent of a lushly illustrated coffee-table book. Read more