SummaryFranco Zeffirelli's version of Shakespeare's Hamlet - the Dane prince (Gibson) who seeks vengence for his father's death.
Directed By:Franco Zeffirelli
Written By:William Shakespeare, Christopher De Vore, Franco Zeffirelli
Hamlet
Metascore
Mixed or Average
53
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
53
44% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
39% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
17% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
88
Zeffirelli's production is neither high art nor lowbrow pandering, but something in between.
80
Thanks to director Franco Zeffirelli and an impressive cast, both the tale and the telling are strikingly fresh.
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
40% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
44% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
16% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Oct 21, 2025
10
My personal opinion is this:
Mel Gibson's Hamlet is the best Hamlet we have ever seen.
The madness, the relationship with death and fear, it is all perfect.
A movie I could watch many times for life.
Feb 12, 2013
7
It thought it was a solid, worthy adaptation of the classic. Mel Gibson is interesting as Hamlet. Franco Zeffirelli could have done a better job as the director and the screenplay could use some refinement. Anyways I enjoyed this adaptation, and I can not really understand the very negative reviews. I think the movie was well worth a watch!
75
Zeffirelli's Hamlet is lively, energetic and suspenseful. [18 Jan 1991]
50
If Zeffirelli's Hamlet does resemble an actual movie at several points, it's thanks almost entirely to the inventive and atmospheric lighting of veteran cinematographer David Watkin, whose somber, gray-green palette gives the film a dignity and substance it would otherwise lack. [18 Jan 1991]
50
Zeffirelli has managed to make Shakespeare's greatest and most modern play one-dimensional. [13 Jan 1991]
40
This Hamlet elevates plot to a height that retains the play's atmosphere but squanders its thematic richness in a welter of "Mommy, how could you?" melodrama.
25
The rest of Franco Zeffirelli's latest Shakespearean outing is so eager to be cinematic, with its peripatetic camera and souped-up screenplay, that it forgets to make sense.
Aug 16, 2019
6
Mel Gibson has a fascinating attempt to convey the atmosphere of Hamlet but doesn't quite make land a lot of the lines to convey the story.
Dec 27, 2017
0
One of the worst movie I have ever seen, only finish it because it was a school assignment PS: The face of the king in the play scene is the best of the movie
Production Company:
- Icon Productions
- Carolco Pictures
- Canal+
- Nelson Entertainment
- Sovereign Pictures
Release Date:Jan 18, 1991
Duration:2 h 10 m
Rating:PG
Tagline:The extraordinary adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tale of vengeance and tragedy.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
Golden Ciak Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
David di Donatello Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
