Proving once again that Shakespeare's plays are endlessly adaptable, director Karia has crafted an energetic, adrenaline fuelled Hamlet, set in modern London's South Asian community. Instead of centred around royal lineages its focus is on corruption in business. Regardless of the setting the film finds the powerful spark of the story and the language and brings it to energetic life.
At the centre of this is the central intense performance of Ahmed. Him taking on the ultimate starring role is likely enough of a justification for making this film at all and he delivers on the responsibility of that. His Hamlet is no wavering violet. He is a man of action whose central question is how much he will act. Ahmed, deservingly defying all Hollywood expectations of what sort of roles he should take, plays the role boldly crafting a Hamlet unlike those we've seen before. So much of what makes this film work is this central performance.
The adaptation collapses numerous characters together, reassigns lines to different speakers, and repurposes the narrative elements to tell an evolved story. It is an ostentatious attempt which works to give the play a new urgency. The script is tight, holding just what is necessary and jettisoning the rest so its pace is rapid and kinetic. My only complaint is how sometimes the film feels in too much of a hurry to get through its plot point. Perhaps it could have sat with some of its pathos a bit.
I was most impressed with how it handles the climax. Perhaps this is where the film does find something more quietly powerful. It is a quite the twist on the famous ending that still captures the play's finale but fitting with this time period and plot.
Yet even with all this Hamlet remains Hamlet and the film captures what has made this story so compelling for centuries. I felt a bit breathless watching this new take and glad to once again get to see Ahmed play such a vibrant character.
Hamlet
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark, Joe Alwyn, Sheeba Chaddha, Avijit Dutt, Art Malik, Timothy Spall
Director: Aneil Karia
Writer: Michael Lesslie
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