People who insist on strict adherence to Shakespeare’s work will likely want to skip this adaptation of his story about the Prince of Denmark, however, as an inventive take on the material, it manages to hold some interest. Here, “Elsinore” is presented as a symbol of corporate ambition, previously managed by “Hamlet's” father (Riz Ahmed) until he died after a prolonged illness. Almost immediately following his passing, his widow, “Gertrude” (Sheeba Chaddha), declares her intention to marry his brother, “Claudius” (Art Malik). "Hamlet" is understandably shaken by this news and it’s while in this somewhat emotional state that he's visited by a ghost who implies there was something unnatural about his father’s death and that his soul remains trapped until the crime is avenged. Now "Hamlet" has to figure out what truly happened and navigate the powerful forces that don’t care about who his father was. Some aspects of this simply fall flat; industrialists driving BMWs aren't royalty, and much of the courtly scheming that gave the original play a sense of threat and malice is missing. Moving the story from medieval times to modern-day Hindu Britain opens up possibilities for fresh perspectives, and there’s an energetic dance sequence, but these elements don’t make up for how little attention has been paid to characters like “Polonius” (Timothy Spall), “Laërtes” (Joe Alwyn), and even “Ophelia” (Morfydd Clark), who are mostly pushed aside. It takes courage to try and introduce a story of betrayal and deceit to a new generation, and in some respects the cultural reimagining almost succeeds, but ultimately this feels more like an opportunity for Ahmed to display his range as an actor than a thoughtful modernization of a dark tale of fantasy, horror, and mysticism. Unfortunately, too much of the subtlety and strength of the writing has been lost, and it’s simply trimmed down too drastically. It's worth seeing, but shortening "Hamlet" to under two hours was always going to be a significant challenge.

Source on TMDB