Hamlet: Critic Reviews

90%

MovieWeb: 1 reviews

94%

RottenTomatoes: 50 reviews

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Janet Maslin New York Times (Top Critic)

70

As star and ringmaster, Branagh gets to the heart of Hamlet and goes to admirable lengths to take his audience there, too.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Mike Clark USA Today (Top Critic)

75

Glorious as it is, this unexpurgated workout is ultimately a movie of moments.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Desson Thomson Washington Post (Top Critic)

There are many ... instances when you want to run screaming from Elsinore Castle.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Lloyd Rose Washington Post (Top Critic)

The film equivalent of a lushly illustrated coffee-table book.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jeff Millar Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

By looking to the box office and the classroom with equal respect, [Branagh] has kept himself a friend of Shakespeare.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

100

Branagh's version moved me, entertained me and made me feel for the first time at home in that doomed royal court.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Susan Stark Detroit News (Top Critic)

100

Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in a vibrant, full-text, full-hearted film from Shakespeare's most complex tragedy.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Rick Groen Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

75

This Hamlet may not be perfect, but it is perfectly engrossing.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Scott Rosenberg Salon.com (Top Critic)

Every little triumph seems to inspire in Branagh some accompanying act of bad taste or judgment.
Full Review » 12 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

100

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.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times (Top Critic)

80

With his handsome and compelling Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh brings the Bard's greatest tragedy passionately alive on the screen.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Rob Humanick Slant Magazine

A work of tremendous personal ambition equipped with a budget nearly equal in magnitude.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Randy White Common Sense Media

100

Shakespeare's great tragedy -- all of it.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Peter Canavese Groucho Reviews

100

The play widely regarded as the best piece of dramatic literature ever written...[in] the only unexpurgated big-screen version. [Blu-ray]
Full Review » 2 years ago
TV Guide's Movie Guide

75

Simply gorgeous to look at, and a number of the performances are outstanding...
Full Review » 4 years ago
Film4

60

Brave, yes, but undeniably excessive.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Rob Gonsalves eFilmCritic.com

100

Die-hard Bard students may quibble, but this gargantuan and glorious Hamlet is a movie-lover's paradise.
Full Review » 5 years ago
John J. Puccio DVDTown.com

90

Branagh combines one of the Bard's best plays with some of the best filmmaking the medium has to offer.
Full Review » 5 years ago
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid

Branagh has one-upped Olivier again by making his Hamlet a bold spectacle: big and loud and colorful.
Full Review » 5 years ago
Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com

80

Full Review » 5 years ago
Steve Crum Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers

100

Fine version of one of The Bard's best plays.
Full Review » 5 years ago
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com

67

If you're willing to sit through Branah's 4-hour Hamlet, you'll be rewarded with a lavishly mounted, full-bodied version that brings new dimensions.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Nell Minow Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

80

Full Review » 8 years ago
Carol Cling Las Vegas Review-Journal

100

Full Review » 8 years ago
Thomas Delapa Boulder Weekly

80

Full Review » 8 years ago