TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

M34 All the best archetype literature, and Shakespeare's Hamlet is one of the top five pieces of literature in human history, deserves an examination of its archetype's roots. In fact there is nothing wrong taking an archetype and telling the story any way, for any ends. I am glad Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Eugene O'Neil and Sartre have told completely different stories with Orestes and Electra, that Ovid, Milton and Shelly have used Prometheus to very different ends. And of course going back to the Ur, the root of Hamlet is worthwhile as well. But at a certain point, if the portrayal has no art, if the acting is, well terrible despite an amazing amount of cast talent, then the exercise is useless. such is the case with this portrayal of the legend that Shakespeare used. That Shakespeare used it to create monumentally stunning work of drama on the human mind, justice, revenge does not mean the original he used is compelling, or that are ridiculously bad telling of that original has merit. It does not. Also I can not fathom that the writer/director of this dog is also the writer/director of Babette's Feast, which while not a great film, is a very good film. Skip this dog. if you want to know about the history of the Amleth/Amled archetype, get a non fiction work on it, and then rent one of the dozen available Shakespeare versions, or go afield and spend some time with Stoppards Rozenkrantz.sometimes going back to the roots, the original, is worse than disappointing, as is the case with this.

barfog-161-403673 I rarely write reviews, but having come to IMDb to see if others had been as appalled with the lack of craft displayed in this film as I was, I was shocked to see that some actually thought that this was a decent effort! Lest others conned into purchasing this abortion of a movie, let me redress the balance.To give some background, I purchased a DVD of this film, (rebranded 'Thrones & Empires') based on the strong cast list. I watched it with a growing sense of disbelief and horror at how such a slew of excellent actors could be wasted in such a truly poor film.OK, so it is clearly a film made with a very low budget but, boy, I can't recall when I last saw a film with such awful direction, editing, script (was there one?) and lack of cinematic vision.The director, Gabriel Axel, should be truly ashamed of himself for wasting such acting talent: to a man (and woman), the performances either wooden or hammy - none inhabit their roles properly. The editing is simply laughable - probably at its worst when scenes start before actors have started moving/acting ... and as for the fight scenes - oy vey! Cliché after cinematic cliché - I felt I was watching a Mel Brooks pastiche at times.A criminal waste of acting talent - and possibly the worst film I've seen, and I've seen some bad 'uns!

roammd There is no reason for this movie to exist outside a film school senior project. I get that it's the original myth for Hamlet, but it wasn't the basic story that makes Shakespeare's Hamlet so great. The effect is like replacing the dialog in Romeo and Juliet with text of actual teenagers fighting with their parents and friends. The performances are solid but as others have pointed out the dialog is awful, the "battle scenes" are amateurish and confusing and the costumes and set are dreary. I understand that drab costumes are more authentic but so is someone dying of cholera--that doesn't mean it belongs in the movie.I was fooled by the cast--they can't save the film.

Martin (ThatsGoodInnit) I went through the effort of hoping to find this on uk region 2 DVD, and shouldn't of bothered, the movie is simply awful! You'd expect a film starring, Gabriel Byrne, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, it would be excellent, but it's anything but excellent it's awful. the acting abilities of all these actors is just not there in this film, it's before they could act/before they were famous, in my opinion. The action scenes are so laughable, the plastic swords, the look and feel is totally unreal. It's shocking but seriously nobody can act, not 1 of these huge names nowadays can act in this early film. Christian Bale is completely unconvincing which is very surprising from him, easily his worst performance. I did start having doubts about this film with it's rrp being SOOO cheap to buy, but it was finding a place that stocked it. but if you must buy this, buy it for a laugh, and take it back! or if you simply collect Hamlet/Historic films or awant to see your favorite actor make a bad film. it was a waste of my money in all honesty, i liked the actors more before i saw this.