Hamlet
Vertical | Release Date: April 10, 2026 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film ThreatHannah CronkSep 16, 2025
This version of Hamlet is raw in its emotion, incredibly natural in its performances, and heartbreaking in its conclusion. Even after centuries of retellings, the story still cuts deep, and Aneil Karia’s version proves that its power has not diminished. At the center of it all is Riz Ahmed, whose incredibly raw performance ensures this adaptation will be remembered. Read full review
85
TheWrapSteve PondSep 13, 2025
It’s still the story of an anguished man grappling with death, transplanted to a different world and a different time but still exerting a powerful pull on our imaginations. In one way, it’s an abbreviated “Hamlet,” but in another way, it’s a pumped-up one. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonMar 13, 2026
This Hamlet sticks to the narrative essentials to produce a terse, pitiless retelling. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 5, 2026
There’s a rigorous chill to this Hamlet. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshApr 10, 2026
The song remains the same, but it’s all in the way you play it. Karia, Ahmed and Lesslie prove that "Hamlet" still hits after all these years. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyApr 10, 2026
The film has atmosphere and energy as well as a specific point of view. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 13, 2025
Karia has Ahmed’s impassioned performance, one of his best, a committed and talented cast, often stunning visuals from director of photography Stuart Bentley, as well as his own imaginative staging to captivate the viewer. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldApr 9, 2026
A trade-off for this fleet-of-foot adaptation is the full range of the play’s philosophical soundings and emotional palette. But their “Hamlet” surges with its own energies — palpably a matter of life and death. Read full review
70
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiSep 13, 2025
With an exceptional performance from Ahmed and style meets substance storytelling, Hamlet is a journey worth taking. Read full review
70
Next Best PictureMatt NegliaSep 13, 2025
Thanks to Ahmed and Karia’s creative collaboration, this new version of a man caught between expectation and collapse, tradition and insurgency, love and fury will hopefully find its way to a new generation that has never experienced Shakespeare’s timeless story before. Read full review
70
ColliderTania HussainSep 13, 2025
Riz Ahmed's fiery turn and a bold South Asian lens make this Hamlet compelling, even if uneven. Read full review
67
IndieWireChristian ZilkoSep 13, 2025
The director does an excellent job of nailing the small details required to translate Shakespeare’s verse into the realism of film. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonApr 9, 2026
Ahmed gives his all, but it’s not enough to elevate this version above near-miss status. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithApr 2, 2026
Aneil Karia’s Hamlet, which is nearly defined by its handheld camerawork and the medium close-ups on Riz Ahmed’s face, is one of the more intimate adaptations of Shakespeare’s play to date. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckApr 1, 2026
Jittery, tense, fast-talking and always on edge, this is a Hamlet, above all, in a rush. Read full review
60
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaApr 17, 2026
Riz Ahmed makes for a vigorous lead in Aneil Karia’s contemporary British-Indian Hamlet, which loses its emotional clarity beneath an intriguing exterior. Its use of silence and intimacy grants it a fascinating texture, but the film never challenges or re-invigorates Shakespeare’s greatest work, ensuring that it ends up somewhere in the middle of a lengthy pile of adaptations. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriApr 17, 2026
Karia’s film is uneven, but, as with its aforementioned staging of “To be or not to be,” it tosses enough new ideas around to keep us watching. Read full review
60
Time OutAndrzej LukowskiJan 27, 2026
At the end of the day, it’s not really Hamlet, it’s something new that uses the words from Hamlet. But at its best, it’ll still hit you with all the force of Shakespeare's existential masterpiece. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 13, 2025
With director Aneil Karia’s interpretation, we get the great Riz Ahmed in the role, which is reason enough for the film to exist — but it’s perhaps the only one in a remake that might better have chosen not to be. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterCaryn JamesSep 13, 2025
Karia’s attempts to make the play cinematic work well at times. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesApr 9, 2026
The final takeaway isn’t tragedy. It’s histrionics. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 8, 2026
Cast adrift in this aimless movie, Ahmed seems lost. His performance is one in an unfortunate tradition of weepy Hamlets, and his problems are compounded by the fact that his weepiness is unconvincing. Each time he teared up while delivering a soliloquy, I felt that he was trying to sell me a used car. Read full review
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