Dear Kenneth Branagh,

In my opinion, I thought you were a bit old to be playing Hamlet. In the play, we know he is younger. Though you were a little old, I thought your acting was pretty good. YOur interpretation of Hamlet was different than how I interpreted him. I saw him to be kind of high-strung and over reacted a lot. When you took on the role, you toned it down a bit. We still saw how he was very emotional and very spastic when it came to opinions and actions taken. I thought that your best acting (well what we saw of your acting), was the scene where Hamlet finds out that the body being buried is Ophelia. I saw a new side to Hamlet, and at that, a passionate and caring one. I have always thought that Hamlet’s actions were passionate, or else he wouldn’t over-react like he always does, but I never think that it is “sincere”. I think that he just does it to get attention, showing the immaturity that over rides him. I think you over acted Hamlet’s death scene, it wasn’t really convincing. The directing of the film was a bit sporadic. I thought the transition from scene to scene was a little abrupt and could have been done a little more smoothly. I thought the scene when the Laertes and Hamlet were fighting was well directed. It passively showed their “love/hate” relationship. Or maybe I’m just over thinking things, but that’s how I saw it. BUT, I thought how the sword went through Claudius was kind of tacky and didn’t really seem like it could be taken seriously. I mean, I guess the directing could make it better. Also, his acting contributed to how cheesy it was. The emotion that you gave to the audience when Hamlet found out about Ophelia dying, was moving. I really felt that you (Hamlet) was sincere about Ophelia and never got your last good bye in, before she died. Hamlet in the play was very upset, anyone could tell. But, to see it, really demonstrates the effect that staging has on a story or speech. The staging was perfected in this scene. As we know, suicide is a sin, and that’s why her “funeral” had to be at night, because no one knew if her death was accidental or not. The fog and darkness at the scene set an eerie feeling and emotion. The costumes set emotion too.