It is the year 2000. The top executive of a New York corporation is suddenly reported dead. His brother marries the widow and takes over the helm at the firm. Coming home from school is the son, who is suspicious of foul play. His suspicions are confirmed when he encounters a ghost, a spirit of his father who tells him of the murder by his uncle. The son is determined on revenge, and the police are not called to investigate. He tries to convince his former sweetheart, but she is unsure of the events surrounding the CEO’s death and unhappy that he does not love her any more. He confronts his mother, shoots a pistol into a closet out of rage and kills his sweetheart’s father, who was hiding. His erstwhile sweetheart commits suicide, and her brother challenges the son to a duel. During the duel, both men die, but not before the son’s mother dies of poison that his uncle intended for his nephew, and the son guns down his uncle. When the story is over, all seven protagonists are dead. The “insolent” rich who thought that they were above the law are buried below the earth, taking to their graves three youthful idealists. The story, of course, is a modern version of Hamlet, directed by Michael Almereyda, juxtaposed against New York scenery, with much but not all the original dialog, starring Ethen Hawke as Hamlet. Of the more than thirty movie versions of Hamlet, this one will probably top the list for many years to come. Only a genius could have conceived of the idea of bringing Shakespeare’s 1602 classic into the modern era in this manner, though the execution of the modern version has one flaw: Each actor delivers lines in different styles, mostly in Shakespearean prose, but some with modern inflections, notably Bill Murray as Polonius; the voice-overs are also quite muffled. The film is a must see for Shakespeare aficionados, who can be heard cooing and purring during the clever way in which four-hundred-year lines are sometimes integrated with high-tech communication devices. Perhaps for audiences in the year 2000 the thought may occur to some that in 400 years our civilization has developed to the point where deaths are always investigated by police as possible murders and the ease of acquiring guns is now suspect, but the rich and powerful still prefer to believe that they are above the law, and the unsettled emotions of youth remain. MH