Claudius then marries Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, played by Julie Christie (Finding Neverland), and Hamlet is out to seek revenge on the both of them. There is also a subplot with Hamlet's intended wife, Ophelia, played by Kate Winslet (Titanic--uhg!), but things go no where between them until Hamlet gets his vengeance.

So, Hamlet spends most of the movie showing the King's court that he's gone nuts and is unstable, attempting to politely torment his uncle and mother.

Eventually, Hamlet kills the King's right hand man Polonius, played by Richard Briers (Much Ado About Nothing), and Polonius' son returns to the court to avenge his father in this really neat word fight in the end where like everyone dies. Too cool. Typical Shakespeare tragedy,

Once again, the greatest strength of this Bard adaptation is Kenneth Branagh's directing style. With his use of tracking shots and steadycam work, Hamlet--as a movie--takes on a new physical movement, which smashes the last Hamlet movie starring Mel Gibson and that really crappy one starring Sir Lawrence Olivia, the most useless queen known to acting today.

Branagh as an actor was pretty much perfect. Its the number one most challenging role for any actor who began his career in England Shakespeare theatre companies. Branagh was also the perfect age to play Hamlet, so no makeup was needed.

The weakest aspect of the movie was, since Branagh wanted to get the defining version of "Hamlet" on 70mm film, he decided to keep as much of the play in the final print. That's right, all four hours of the original five hour play it what you have to look forward to...that's a LOT of Shakespeare. So, the worst part of the movie was that it's WAY TOO LONG.

The last hour of the movie is the best hour. It's extremely exciting with the soldiers charging and the big sword fight and people getting stabbed left and right; it's an awesome madhouse. Getting there is tough though.

Brian Blessed (Henry V) plays Hamlet's father, the ghost, in probably the best scene of the first act. Blessed's voice was absolutely creepy; great scene.

My favorite part of the movie is when Ophelia drowns herself for reasons unknown to me. I really hated Winslet in this movie. This was, however, the best performance I've seen by Jacobi, or I should say SIR Jacobi now.

The setting of the movie was also a great director's choice. The production design and music became characters of the movie themselves.

The best thing about Branagh's directing was how he was able to brighten up a very dark play, but still keeping the material and performances dark. The cinematography was colorful and gorgeous. It was refreshing to see a version of "Hamlet" that didn't takes place in dark, can't-hardly-see-s**t corners.

Overall, there is no better version of "Hamlet" in existence than this one adapted and directed by Branagh. If you haven't ever seen "Hamlet" in any form, and feels it's time you should, then rent THIS one. It's not released on DVD yet though, which is a bummer since it was shot in 70mm film and only DVD will bring its true beauty to consumers.

If you don't like Shakespeare stuff, stay very clear of this movie because of its length. Otherwise, if you have a paper on Hamlet due, Branagh has created you the definitive set of cliff notes.