HAMLET movie poster | ©2026 Vertical Entertainment

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark, Joe Alwyn, Sheeba Chatha, Avijit Dutt, Art Malik, Timothy Spall, Kash Ahmad, Eben Figeuiredo
Writer: Michael Lesslie, based on the play by William Shakespeare
Director: Aniel Karia
Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
Release Date: April 10, 2026

The complete version of William Shakespeare’s HAMLET is five acts long. Director/star Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 word-for-word film adaptation runs four hours and two minutes.

Director Ariel Karia’s new edition, with a screenplay adapted by Michael Lesslie, runs a brisk hour and fifty-two minutes, many of which are tensely silent. Compared to most HAMLETs of both stage and screen, this one is a veritable sprint.

This HAMLET lets us know immediately that it is set in the present, beginning in a tiled white morgue, with Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) and others clustered around the corpse of his father (Avijit Dutt), applying colors to the face per Hindu custom.

Most people know the plot of HAMLET – it’s one of the most famous texts in the English language, as well as one of the most often performed.

For those who are somehow unacquainted with the storyline, Hamlet, already inconsolable about his father’s death, is stunned when his mother Gertrude (Sheeba Chatha) marries her late husband’s brother Claudius (Art Malik) shortly thereafter.

Then the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to Hamlet and announces that he was murdered by Claudius and expects Hamlet to avenge him.

Hamlet sets out to ascertain whether this vision is real or demonic, then determines to take vengeance. He pretends to be insane to help his quest, although he’s so upset that it may not be entirely pretense. Hamlet is, in fact, grappling with whether he wants to live at all (the foundation of the “To be or not to be” speech).

For the section of the audience familiar with HAMLET, the suspense in any new rendition is less what will happen than how it will happen.

As this HAMLET takes place in England’s contemporary Anglo-Indian community rather than the original Denmark, Hamlet is now heir to the Elsinore business dynasty, rather than the kingdom’s crown prince.

It’s five minutes before anyone really speaks, so we await learning whether the dialogue will be Shakespearean or modernized. It falls on the side of the Bard’s words, with some geographical alterations regarding where Hamlet has been (since we’re in England here, he has now come from India) and tweaked but stylized to fit in a few places where something new is required for the update.

This is the upshot of Karia and Lesslie using the general structure of HAMLET to shed light on some social issues. The filmmakers’ handling of their allegory is shrewd. They find ways to tie together elements that, in the original, are notoriously arbitrary. For example, Hamlet being rescued by pirates is often omitted from productions. Here, it’s part of a Venn diagram that incorporates Claudius’s intentions, Hamlet’s awareness of the big picture and even how Fortinbras (the nemesis of Elsinore) impacts the story.

Likewise, there is some melding of characters. Ophelia (Morfydd Clark) is now not only Hamlet’s love interest but also takes on Horatio’s confidante duties. This works in terms of deepening the relationship but doesn’t wholly make sense overall. Since Hamlet now tells Ophelia that he’s going to feign madness, why does she so readily think he’s really gone lost his mind?

Other innovations are wondrous, including the play within the play, which is stunning conceptually and visually.

Another question that looms large until it is addressed is what will be done about the multiple sword fights that traditionally punctuate HAMLET. While not as inventive as they might be, the physical conflicts that replace the duels have visceral heft.

There are omissions that are felt. It seems a real shame to have the excellent Timothy Spall (who played Rosencrantz – a character omitted from this HAMLET entirely – in the Branagh film) play Polonius and then not let him have the “To thine own self be true” moment.

Ahmed is an admirable Hamlet, persuasively anguished at the start and inspired in the insanity scenes. Clark is a warm, ardent Ophelia. Malik is the epitome of smooth, smiling executive privilege in motion as Claudius and Chatha is expressive as the quiet, torn Gertrude.

This HAMLET is certainly worth seeing for those who enjoy comparing and contrasting the text’s many interpretations. For newcomers to the material, this stands as a moody but relatively fast-paced revenge drama.

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