Innovative take on Shakespeare's classic but violent play.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
some
Characters are threatened with knives, a person makes a gesture with a knife across their throat, three characters cut their hands with a knife, with blood shown, and join them together in a promise. A person is stabbed off-screen, their dead body briefly shown with blood through the clothes and a bloody knife is wiped on fabric. Characters are poisoned and foam from the mouth. Death of father is mentioned and a ghostly apparition seen. A character is presumed to take their own life off-screen by drowning. Mention of suicide using the vocabulary "self slaughter," and frequent mention of death and life after death. A man roughly pushes a woman into a chair and later attempts to strangle her. Mention of rape. A dead body is shown and lowered into the ground. A skull is seen. Fencing includes characters cut on the arm and hand with some blood, and a fatal stabbing with blood from the mouth. A person takes poison to hurry their own death.
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Language includes "damned," "damn," "damnedly," "ass," "whore," "whored," "hell," and exclamations of "oh, God" and "Jesus," as well as name-calling such as "incestuous beast," "fool," and "idiot."
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Revenge can be complex and not always satisfying. Ambition sometimes leads to ruthless behavior. Overthinking can make it difficult to take action. Death comes to everyone, regardless of their wealth or position. One character talks of the importance of integrity, with the well-known line: "to thine own self be true."
Positive Role Models
a little
Hamlet shows integrity and loyalty toward his late father, but also bitterness and anger, which causes him to treat others, including Ophelia, with cruelty. While he has a strong moral core, he's sometimes hypocritical in his actions, and is driven strongly by the desire for vengeance. Ophelia is opinionated and playful at the start, but later shows a sensitive side and struggles with tragic events. The King is ambitious and ruthless, but shows some guilt and remorse at times. His behavior is generally either in the interest of self-advancement or self-protection. Gertrude is strong-minded and wants to maintain a high position in life, as well as the affection of others. She's strong-willed but at the mercy of her husband's power.
Diverse Representations
a little
Main characters are majority White, with Laertes and Marcellus played by Black actors Emmanuella Cole and Ashley D. Gayle, and Guildenstern by Asif Khan, who is of South Asian heritage. Women play some male roles, using male pronouns, including Laertes and the Ghost, as well as other supporting players. Ian McKellen is an older actor in his 80s cast in the traditionally younger role of Hamlet, and is older than the actors playing his mother and uncle, though this isn't made an issue at any point in the film. A person walks with a cane, but it doesn't characterize him and he's not seen to be restricted by it. The word "mad" is used to describe characters who appear to suffer with their mental health. Women are in positions of less power and their sexuality is disapproved of and at the mercy of men on a number of occasions.
Parents need to know that Hamlet is a screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic play about a man who is visited by the ghost of his dead father and vows to take vengeance on the man who killed him. It stars Oscar-nominee Ian McKellen in the lead role and uses a British theater during lockdown as the location. The story concentrates heavily on death, murder, and revenge. Violence includes stabbing with some blood, poisoning with foaming from the mouth, and references to suicide. There's also some kissing and sexual references. Language includes "damn," "whore," and "ass," as well as exclamations of "oh, God" and "Jesus." Characters drink wine and spirits and one is seen drunk. Incest is mentioned numerous times in relation to a woman marrying her late husband's brother. Characters are complex, though Hamlet shows loyalty and integrity at times. The film uses the original Shakespearean language, which may be hard to follow for younger viewers or those less familiar with it. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
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What's the Story?
In HAMLET, the ghost of the King of Denmark reveals to his son, Hamlet (Ian McKellen), that his brother Claudius (Jonathan Hyde) is responsible for his death and demands vengeance for the murder. As Hamlet attempts to find evidence of his uncle's betrayal, Claudius becomes increasingly scared for his life and sets his own villainous plot in motion.
With the lead actor in his 80s, and transporting the action to a theater, this version of the Bard's classic tragedy takes some innovative leaps, yet sticks closely to the original text and language. Here, Hamlet pays tribute to its theatrical roots, blending the formats of stage and film in a way that doesn't mind the audience peeking behind the curtain. It's a lockdown movie that sets itself in March 2020, when "theaters have closed indefinitely across the globe." The stage, as it were, is the entire theater—from dressing rooms to stairwells, cellars to fly spaces, boxes to hospitality suites—all the while a character lurks in the shadows recording scenes with a camcorder. Costumes are pulled from a mishmash of eras and styles, which could all realistically have been rummaged out of a costume cupboard to "make do." McKellen is impressive as ever, having first played Hamlet half a decade before, the camera allowing for a more subtle performance at times alongside his spritely physicality at others. There are layers here to be enjoyed, and while its faithfulness to the original language of the text doesn't make it entirely accessible, the innovation of the filming and undeniable star power of McKellen himself will no doubt appeal to new audiences, as well as young people studying the play.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Hamlet fits into the genre of Shakespeare adaptations. Have you seen any other Shakespeare plays adapted for the screen? How did this compare in terms of how closely it stuck to the original text and how much it modernized the material? Do you think it's important to know the play in advance?
Hamlet is a complex character, with many challenging attributes, but he shows integrity during the film. Why is this an important character trait?
The film cast an actor in his 80s as Hamlet and a woman in her mid-60s as his mother. Did this affect how you experienced the story? Can you think of other films that toy with expected age in their casting?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Kat Halstead
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
