William Shakespeare. Everyone knows him, but most people just associate him with their high school senior English course. However, over the history of film, there has been an almost innumerable amount of attempts to bring the Bard's plays to the silver screen.
The natural freedom to interpret the man's works has led to some radical treatment of the source material. Others have chosen a more traditional approach, making it a classier affair. With so many different visions of the greatest plays ever written, it can be hard to know which ones are worth your time. Here are five of the best renditions of Shakespeare's works, as well as five that didn't fare so well.
Best: Titus (7.1)
Julie Taymor was no stranger to adapting Shakespeare. However, this was her first feature-length film, and what a debut it was. Led by an outstanding Anthony Hopkins, Titus is an adaption of Shakespeare's bloodiest play.
A revenge saga that's also a riff on imperial politics, Taymor recasts the source material as a history-bending feast for the eyes. A thoroughly disturbing film that truly feels like an original vision manifested in a charmingly flawed manner, Titus is a fine way to spend the evening. Just eat dinner beforehand.
Worst: Gnomeo and Juliet (5.9)
A bit of an easy target, Gnomeo and Juliet is also a bizarre miscalculation. Attempting to make Shakespeare's classic teen melodrama into an animated romp for little children, the result is a slog to sit through for anyone over the age of 10. Truly a forgettable film, the whole experience is bland. The film grossed enough to warrant an even worse sequel a few years later. While other kid's movies have taken inspiration from Shakespeare's plays before to great success, Gnomeo and Juliet is, unfortunately, not among that group.
Best: Much Ado About Nothing (7.3)
This Kenneth Branagh-helmed adaptation of one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies is one of the more entertaining of the straightforward adaptations. A classic comedy-of-errors, Much Ado contains one of the best cinematic ensembles ever assembled for a Shakespeare film.
Led by Denzel Washington as Don Pedro, the story centers on a plot by an engaged couple to trick a feuding older couple into admitting their love for each other. Breezy and hilarious, Branagh keeps the film moving along at a strong pace that makes the film a joy to watch.
Worst: Hamlet (5.9)
Though Ethan Hawke is a capable actor and a great choice on paper for Shakespeare's greatest hero, this 2000 modern telling of Hamlet is a mess. Hamlet tries far too hard to be dark and edgy, coming off overly hollow as opposed to slick. Hawke turns in a fine performance as the titular prince, reimagined here as the heir to a large company, but the rest of the cast is less than engaging. The film's script also plays fast and loose with the editing of major plot elements from the original play.
Best: Richard III (7.4)
Ian McKellen gives Olivier a run for his money in this updated retelling of Shakespeare's historical tragedy. One of the darker entries in the cinematic Shakespeare canon, McKellen plays the hunchbacked Richard as he schemes his way to the crown. This film sets the story in 1940s war-torn Europe and contains an array of classic British actors like Dame Maggie Smith and Jim Broadbent.
The film's final act is a brilliantly realized rendition of the play's climax that proves changing the setting and context does not have to rob the film of the source material's essence.
Worst: The Tempest (5.3)
Julie Taymor once again returned to the Shakespeare world with this visually sumptuous 2011 take on The Tempest. The film ends up being something of a noble failure, never quite able to be anything more than the sum of its parts. The performances are mostly all there, and the set design truly is beautiful, but strange choices like Russel Brand further muddle the experience. Taymor clearly does her best to produce an epic fantasy experience, but, unfortunately, this one is a swing and a miss.
Best: Romeo and Juliet (7.6)
The version that gets shown in almost every American high school English class, Franco Zeffirelli's lush and sprawling 1968 adaptation is the benchmark film version of the famous romance. Notable for its immaculate set and costume designs, the film moves along at an initially slow pace, but, once the titular couple meets, the film becomes a classy and entertaining telling of the doomed affair.
Additionally, the film boasts a phenomenal soundtrack. While Leonard Whiting is a perfectly fine Romeo, it is Olivia Hussey's tender portrayal of Juliet that gives the film its furiously beating heart.
Worst: Macbeth (4.6)
A (thankfully) mostly forgotten attempt at making the famed "Scottish play" edgy and modern, this 2006 Australian film is a sorely misjudged effort. Sam Worthington is wholly unconvincing as the titular monarch, as is Victoria Hill as his scheming wife. The updated story sets the play's wartime narrative during a gangster conflict, which rarely works well within the story's context. Sitting somewhere between an Old Navy commercial, a Scorsese-inspired student film, and a bad mid-2000s rock video, this Macbeth should continue to be avoided and erased from memory.
Best: Hamlet (7.7)
Widely recognized as the most faithful theatrical film based on the Bard's masterpiece, Kenneth Branagh's four-hour opus is not an easy watch. Requiring patience and complete attention from the audience, the film does an excellent job of providing interesting cinematography all along the way to keep the investment up.
Furthermore, the ensemble cast is truly marvelous. Branagh takes on the brooding title character with a mastery few can pull off, while a whole repertoire of well-known players weaves in and out of the story's many many unabridged facets. Everything comes together to create a definitive cinematic representation of the West's greatest play.
Worst: Cymbeline (3.7)
For such a brilliant and talented actor, Ethan Hawke has terrible luck with Shakespeare films. Another attempt to modernize one of the playwright's works, albeit a far lesser-known one, proved a completely disastrous mistake. Reuniting with his Hamlet director, Michael Almereyda, Cymbeline is also a poor try at crafting the narrative around a gang-war story.
Schemes and conspiracies grow between a gang of vicious bikers and a group of bad cops. A tragedy that is powerful in its original form, and could contribute great material for a cinematic adaptation, is instead transformed into a cheap and badly written VOD dud.