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46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine and personal (not political) Hamlet, February 26, 2004
No filmed version of "Hamlet" is entirely satisfying. The play is too rich to be reduced to a single definitive interpretation. But Kevin Kline's production of the more accessible of Shakespeare's two greatest tragedies ("King Lear" is equally great but sparer and more difficult) is one of the better versions available. Hamlet may be the most intelligent and verbally-skilled character ever written, and sometimes the wit and depth of his lines can obscure the real tragedy of his situation. Kline plays the character as deeply sad as well as intelligent. His reading of the "To be or not to be" soliloquy, for example, is masterful: we witness someone who is not just considering suicide as an intellectual puzzle, but is despairing enough to be seriously considering it. This is a human and emotional Hamlet, in contrast to Branagh's (who even in the worst straits seems almost to be enjoying himself), Gibson's (alternately frightened and enraged), Williamson (existentially disgusted), or Olivier's (weak and indecisive, and in my opinion the only indefensible choice here).
Kline has some wonderful bits of "business," too: tearing the page out of the book and sticking it on Polonius's forehead, pointing to the book after Polonius hears him say "tedious old fools" as if he is merely reading, clasping Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's heads to his chest once he has decided he cannot trust them -- all very clever. (However, the scene where he dangles Ophelia like a puppet is a bit overdone.) Laertes cutting Hamlet on the hand during a break is a good choice too (Laertes should not be able to lay a glove on Hamlet without cheating). On the other hand, Kline's version of Hamlet's feigned madness seems quieter than the "antic disposition" the character claims he will "put on."
The rest of the cast is not as strong, unfortunately. Josef Summer captures Polonius's egotism and foolishness, but we get no sense of the cunning that has made him a power at court. Diana Venora plays Ophelia with a little too much self-awareness and resignation for her mad scene to be believable when it arrives. Dana Ivey is a fine Gertrude, but the role is not one of the play's strengths. Worst of all, Brian Murray hardly registers as Claudius, who can be played as purely evil, as tormented by guilt, as a decadent drunkard, or even as a reluctant murderer, but here is a puffed non-entity.
Most productions of "Hamlet" make cuts, and Kline's choice is to remove all the politics. An actor is listed playing Fortinbras, but I cannot remember him (though it has been a few months since I have watched this version). We neither see nor hear much about him, which robs the play of some of its power: Hamlet, Fortinbras, and Laertes are three men in the same position; their differing responses -- respectively that of the Renaissance philosopher and poet, the modern military man, and the hothead -- provide one of the most basic themes of the play.
But "Hamlet" is not merely a personal or family play; it is also a play about nations, about the damage a ruler of bad character does to a country's reputation. As the gravedigger tells us, Hamlet was born the day his father slew the elder Fortinbras; Hamlet's life exactly spans the period of Denmark's ascendancy over Norway. In a sense, he is born to remedy a cosmic error. All of that is gone (as are other more minor but still missed elements such as the character of Reynaldo, and some of the comments on acting and the theatre). Fortunately, Kline rejects any facile Freudianism, such as we see in the Gibson/Zeffireli version.
The staging is simple. About the most you can say of it is that neither it nor the costumes distract us from the acting. The lighting, however, is quite elegant, and the camera work intimate without causing claustrophobia.
Overall and despite its flaws, Kline's "Hamlet" remains a skillful and moving effort, ennobled by the actor's sensitive and thoughtful portrayal of literature's first and greatest modern man.
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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb drama-Kline is the very soul of Hamlet!, February 20, 2002
Though I'm one who often perceives other reviews at this site to be injudiciously overated, I give 5 stars to this version of Shakespeare's most famous play without hesitation or reserve. Kevin Kline's direction is inspired by the emotion and wit of the words, and his acting performance is nothing short of the finest I've ever witnessed, and I've seen many. Please yourself, be a witness to excellence, buy it!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed Matter, September 23, 2005
I have mixed feelings about this Hamlet; there are some things about it I emphatically do not like, and others I emphatically do like.
I DO like the fashion in which is was cut. Rozencrantz & Guildenstern, for instance, were kept in, as well as Fortinbras. There are important scenes and stories with both so I was glad to see them there.
I also like Kevin Kline's Hamlet. At first I thought I wouldn't, because in his first scene ("little more than kin & less than kind"), he didn't seem bitter enough to my taste. I also though that, as an actor, Kline sometimes over did the crying. But as he eased into the role and I grew used to it, I began to like his interpretation. He was very good at personifying Hamlet's merry but oh so bitter madness.
Everyone else was, I thought, well cast, which the exception of Ophelia. How lamentable, especially when her brother was so well played! Apparently she was trying to give a new interpretation of an Ophelia more wayward and rebellious than usual...but Shakespeare wrote Ophelia, and he made her gentle,not wild (until that madness sets in and that's for contrast); timid, not self-assured. "I will the effect of this good lesson keep" was spoken with sarcasm! Sarcasm to Laertes from Ophelia? What is the point in life? Admirably, however, Laertes and Hamlet both played their scenes with her excellently in spite of her shortcomings. There was a LOT of physical action during Hamlet's scenes both with his mother & Ophelia; a bit more than I'm used to, but it seems to be Kline's strong point.
I have to admit that modern dress in Shakespeare always gets under my skin. Why are they in post-victorian dress and speaking in "thees & thous"? The grandeur of Elizabethan costume that so sweeps the audience in is not good enough for them? But this Hamlet was very well performed, and though the clothing still clashes with its historical context, I had forgotten about it fifteen minutes into the play.
Oh, dear, I'm giving this four stars. I'm just so in love with Hamlet I can't nitpick such a good production apart. This is excellent, maybe not for a first viewing (and I only say that because of Ophelia), but a definite should-see.
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