Not by a long shot. Unless you like Shakespeare's prose delivered at the speed of light. I recommend the 1980 BBC version with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Also of course Olivier's version is amazing as well.
This is the worst performance I have ever seen of Charlton Heston, who was a very talented actor. He was better in Planet of the Apes than in this thankless role.
I really like this version, but my one problem with it is the scene where we are watching the scene in Hamlet’s play where the guy kills the king character, and we are supposed to be watching Claudius’s reaction to it. But instead, Hamlet is standing in front of the stage as it is happening and talking over it, shouting at Claudius while the “murder” is happening. So we barely get to see it, and I don’t remember seeing Claudius have any kind of reaction. If he did, Kenneth Branagh screaming at him took more attention away from that. I remember thinking that I wanted him to just Shut Up and let us see what’s going on. I didn’t see this happen in any other version of Hamlet.
share