Hamlet in Blockbusters

Hamlet in Blockbuster has to do with the question of whether or not there is anything underneath our representations of ourselves. The relation of actors being parceled out at blockbusters is right on in my opinion. The fact that it is here where he contemplates suicide epitomizes the entire issue of the play, the question of 'being.'

sir, im sorry but if you dont rent somthing im gonna have to ask you to leave, your freaking out the paying customers

I remember people laughing out loud in the theater during this. Hamlet in blockbuster, pretty funny years latter as well, especially when the douche is wearing one of the Peruvian/Seattle Grunge caps.

Final thing: surely you can contemplate philosophical issues and suicide at the same time? Hamlet is burdened by many things (i.e. his father's death, which he has just discovered to be a murder, his mother might be implicated in the whole sorry mess, his father's ghost is haunting him etc.) and he is not the vengeful action-hero (see: blockbuster section) type, hence he wonders whether it wouldn't be best to end it all. Yet death scares him as it does us all, hence the philosophical speech.

also, about Kenneth Branagh. I didn't like some (most) of his directorial choices, BUT as an actor I felt he did a pretty good job of Hamlet, though not as emotionally stirring as Ethan's interpretation. He was also precisely the right age to be Hamlet: the first gravedigger clearly states he's been a gravedigger since the day Old Hamlet defeated Old Fortinbras, Young Hamlet was born, and that was thirty years ago. This makes Ethan quite a young Hamlet, if you want to nitpick.

... This gives me the goosebumps every time. There are many things wrong with this film, Julia Stile's horrific Ophelia for starters, but Ethan's reading voice is a treasure - we noticed that in Dead Poets and he only just got better. He nails this (incredibly hard because so incredibly famous) soliloquy in a way I haven't seen it nailed by anyone except Lawrence Olivier. Ethan's VO here is reminiscent of Olivier's own VO techniques in HIS seminal Hamlet, and works with similar amount of power.

Hawke mispronounces several words and fudges a line or two (which kind of breaks the moment if you already know the text). His flat, emotionally numb interpretation also fails to capitalize on the soliloquy's great ideas and poetry.

Hamlet may still be relevant, but that doesn't mean it adapts well to a contemporary time and setting.