It's a strong, intelligent performance [by Gibson], filled with life, and it makes this into a surprisingly robust Hamlet.
88
TV Guide Magazine
TV Guide Magazine
Zeffirelli's production is neither high art nor lowbrow pandering, but something in between.
80
The New York Times
The New York Times
Mel Gibson's Hamlet is strong, intelligent and safely beyond ridicule.... He is by far the best part of Mr. Zeffirelli's sometimes slick but always lucid and beautifully cinematic version of the play.
80
Washington Post
Washington Post
Thanks to director Franco Zeffirelli and an impressive cast, both the tale and the telling are strikingly fresh.
70
Time
Time
Franco Zeffirelli's film is plenty pretty. It almost works as a cloak-and-bodkin adventure
50
Variety
Variety
Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet is bland.
50
Washington PostHal Hinson
Washington PostHal Hinson
There's nothing embarrassing about Zeffirelli's brisk new version, nor anything particularly remarkable; it's an entirely credible, middle-of-the-road production.
40
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
This Hamlet elevates plot to a height that retains the play's atmosphere but squanders its thematic richness in a welter of "Mommy, how could you?" melodrama.
38
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Rolling StonePeter Travers
This big-screen Hamlet, pumped up to operatic scale by overkill director Franco Zeffirelli, exposes Gibson's shortcomings.
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The rest of Franco Zeffirelli's latest Shakespearean outing is so eager to be cinematic, with its peripatetic camera and souped-up screenplay, that it forgets to make sense.