Royal Deceit

Director: Gabriel Axel
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Tom Wilkinson, Brian Cox, Kate Beckinsale
Genre: Action/ Drama 1994
Running time: 85 mins.
Rating:★

A young prince, Amled (Christian Bale), after discovering that his father has been murdered, vows to avenge the death and regain the crown. Plotting his revenge...he cleverly bides his time...waiting and watching...and hoping for the precise moment to execute the deadly plan! A retelling of Hamlet goes back to the original Danish source material.

Its a shame that with such an all-star cast, this film is nothing more that a TV movie. In both narration, performance, cinematography, soundtrack, and script. If I want a nostalgic throwback to shows like Hercules and Xena, I would watch them instead of this crap. This film is maybe a step or two classier than a porno with all its nudity. How could you go wrong, when you have Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Brian Cox signed on do this film? Seriously now! If this was a stage performance, then that would be an entirely different story, but its not, therefore its shit! However, it comes to no surprise that the only real strong and brilliant performance comes from Brian Cox.