20 Awesome 90s Movies The World Forgot

7. Hamlet (1996)

OK, to be fair, you can kind-of see why people are imposed by Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. It is an uncut version of the play, running to a staggering four hours. But hey, don't let that put you off. First up, this is an unabridged adaptation of one of the greatest things ever written and secondly, aside from a few distracting celebrity cameos and one overdone scene involving Hamlet's meeting with the ghost, virtually all 240 of its minutes absolutely freaking slay. 

The definite apex of Branagh's inconsistent filmography as director, Hamlet is an adaptation that would make Shakespeare himself proud. Here, Shakespeare's most acclaimed text is magnificently performed by a stunningly good cast and is also blessed by superb visuals that bring the play to life in a wonderfully cinematic sense. 

While some stage-to-film adaptations fall into the trap of just being filmed plays, Hamlet 1996 is as far from that as it gets. It faultlessly meshes the mediums of film and theatre into one dazzling whole and though you might need to set aside a whole afternoon to watch it, that would be an afternoon extremely well spent.