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.

Alex Heaton (azanti0029) I saw this film recently, re-released under the title Thrones and Empires, no doubt to try and cash on the Game Of Thrones fan base.Well Game of Thrones it ain't. Its even not a good version of Hamlet. All the more shame its made by a Danish production company, the production values, acting, script and delivery have to be seen to be believed.What amazes me is how on earth they got such an amazing cast to sign on to this terrible piece of crap. Helen Mirren actually gets her boobs out again and I thought she was past doing all that by this stage. There are needless shots of female nudity thrown in, why I have no idea.Christian Bale is probably really glad no one has seen this. The finale is the big fight battle, filled with so many unintentional moments and just god awful staging along with needless smoke everywhere. The whole thing is truly dire. Avoid at all costs!

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.

rbmoviereviewsdotcom There was a 5 catalog titles for a dollar special, but the selection was terrible and I couldn't find a 5th title I hadn't seen that looked watchable. Finally, I stumbled across this movie. I'd never heard of it, but considering The Usual Suspects, Miller's Crossing, & The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover are some of my favorite movies, and Bale is also talented, I figured this should be a winner. Big mistake!The writing was all around horrible. Generic 4th grade script where some things happened, but you could see them coming a mile away and even if you couldn't you still weren't given any reason to care. The movie was half over before Bale was sent off and it became remotely interesting. Bale did a great job considering he had nothing to work with, but that was the only positive of the movie. Byrne gave his usual professional performance, but the weakness in the scripting of his lines undermined it. Mirren tried, but her only scenes that could have had potential were in the first half when there was no emotion to be found anywhere else, so she almost seemed insincere in trying to bring some. Kate Beckinsale also made an appearance, but her part was basically just smiling at Bale, who quickly married her. Aside from the script, the movie was also filmed with all the style of the various Saturday WPIX TV series. 2/10