Hamlet (2025) Dir: Aniel Karia

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The idea of a contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare's iconic play, directed by Aniel Karia, and starring Riz Ahmed, appealed to me greatly, particularly because it had a unique South Asian slant on its depiction of the classic tragedy. It's not too often that you get such a fresh take on such a well-known and adapted work of media. I was very excited to see how Karia would execute it.

My favourite aspect of the film, and by some distance, was the sound design, which was absolutely superb. It added a tangibly visceral feel to a few of the scenes, which made them so much more intense. I also really liked the soundtrack, which I thought was both nicely composed and intelligently utilised. The visual side of the film wasn't quite so strong - there was some interesting lighting, but I felt like the film could have been a good deal more stimulating, in my opinion.

There were some definite pacing issues, but, equally, there were some truly exhilarating and intense scenes, which roused me substantially. There was a dance sequence that was genuinely breathtaking in its execution and presentation. The imagery it evoked was immaculate - it's the kind of sequence that stays with you for a long time. The narrative was, unsurprisingly, very compelling, and the screenplay adapted and modernised the story very adequately.

The dialogue was, generally speaking, delivered very eliquentially, by all involved, but none did so quite as intensely or as impressively as the talented star of the film; Riz Ahmed. He was eloquent, charismatic, emotive, and powerful - all essential aspects of any actor playing such an iconic character. I think Ahmed often goes a little under the radar for his performances, which I feel will happen again with this one, despite how good it is.

Morfydd Clark's portrayal of Ophelia was nuanced, if a little less impressive than that of Ahmed's Hamlet. The raw emotions she conveyed in the final third of the film were particularly exquisite, especially in conjunction with the aforementioned performance of Ahmed. The ever-recognisable Timothy Spall was extremely good in his admittedly small role, and was able to make himself stand-out with some tremendously detestable facial expressions and mannerisms.

Art Malik was not quite as memorable as I would have hoped he would be, considering his role. I needed him to feel more authoritative and commanding of the screen than he was. Joe Alwyn gave an adequate performance, but produced one extremely good scene, in which his character cries - I was very impressed. The likes of Sheeba Chaddha, and Jasmine Jobson deserved mentioning, but didn't feature nearly as much, nor as memorably, as those mentioned above.

Overall, despite some noticeable pacing issues, I thought this was still a compelling and well-acted adaptation of one of William Shakespeare's most famous and influential plays. Riz Ahmed deserves far more flowers for his portrayal of the fateful Hamlet than he will likely ever receive, and the praises of the film's incredible dance sequence should not go unsung either. I thought this was a fantastic example of what independent British cinema can produce when given the licence to be creative.