Critical response
Initial reviews for Zeffirelli's Hamlet were mixed.[3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, calling Mel Gibson's portrayal of the Danish Prince "a strong, intelligent performance."[10] Caryn James of The New York Times praised Zeffirelli's "naturalistic, emotionally-charged" direction and also commended Gibson's "visceral" performance, describing it as "strong, intelligent and safely beyond ridicule."[9] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a negative review, calling Gibson's performance "an earnest but pedestrian reading."[11] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times called Gibson's Hamlet an "Oedipal wreck" and stated that either Kenneth Branagh or Daniel Day-Lewis would have been preferable to play Hamlet than Gibson.[12] A later editorial in the same paper would refer to Gibson's performance as "the most unaffected and lucid Hamlet in memory."[3]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 76% based on reviews from 37 critics. The site's consensus was, "It may lack some of the depth and complexity of the play, but Mel Gibson and Franco Zeffirelli make a surprisingly successful team."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53% based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F.[15]
Box office
The film grossed $20.7 million in the United States and Canada and $1.6 million in the United Kingdom.[16][17]
Accolades
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Art Direction (Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo) and Best Costume Design (Maurizio Millenotti).[18] Sir Alan Bates received a BAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actor for playing Claudius.[19]
