i be glad to see that imdb user be not fool by almereyda ultimately empty and though pretty and adaptation of hamlet . in read press for the film and vision of mass delusion and payola dance through my head . this be a lush and beautifully pace film that fail miserably and because the director forget that you must make a movie do more than look good . i have read that the director do copious research on the play and watch other adaptation and etc . before embark on his own journey . apparently he do not watch closely enough . his script relies heavily on a viewer already familiar with the play and and cut or rearrange some of the most important scene . the bulk of the scene between polonius and hamlet which begin with hamlet call the elder a fishmonger be go . the final scene be so chop up to fit almereyda modern conceit that it be virtually unrecognizable . that scene be also hastily and sloppily film . when do the king poison the wine . a viewer who do not already know that it be poison be lose . a be this production . problem with almereyda ham hand script and spotty direction aside and the real problem here can be reduce to three word represent act and act and act . i haven not see shakespeare handle this badly since high school . kyle maclachlan shine above the rest in his role and and diane venora and leif schreiber be passable and sometimes even good in their role . steve zahn appear to have the best handle on how to effectively play rosencrantz a a modern day drinkin bud and but unfortunately almereyda have cut most of his role . but aside from them and much of the rest be embarassing and laughable . julia stile come off a a rank amateur while the cringe factor in her reading be off the meter . the coup de grace be the scene when she fully go mad and go cross eye a she fling polaroid about . she look more like she try to approach a slapstick approximation of drunkenness than a despair fill descent into madness . bill murray and who i love and and who i think be one of the most underrated actor around and be completely out of his depth . afraid that by play polonius too funny and people will accuse him of put his stamp on it and he play it dry and manage to rip all the laughs out of the funny character in the play . polonius be a clown and and should be play a such . ian holm definitive performance in the less than definitive mel gibson hamlet be the high watermark and and holm play him like a proper court jester . even sam shepard seem a little lost . grant and shakespeare isn not really his area of theater and but one would have think he would have a good handle on it . and then we come to ethan hawke and who i generally think be a very talented actor a well . but his sullen and brood hamlet be a one note prince and and a pretty tedious note at that . while the much talk about to be or not to be speech be wonderfully conceive in that monument of indecision and blockbuster and with the not too subtle action sign passing by our mirthless heir and hawke read the speech without ever get out of first gear and without ever give a hint of meaningful inflection . in my brit . lit . class in high school we have to memorize and recite this monologue . there be good reading in my class than hawke offer up here and and his entire performance pretty much follow suit . his jovial and console advice to ophelia to get thee to a nunnery be laughable and and while he hit the right note in the also well conceive and but displace finish to the scene and leave the rest of the speech on her answering machine and be still so busy laugh that the rage lose it power . this hamlet be style lack substance and a almereyda try to bind the limitless space of shakespeare text within a nutshell and only to find that there nothing leave inside when he do .