Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the biggest games of all time, and most people already know it and have likely played it. There is a huge community online all over the world, playing the game however they want. Whether it’s just doing heists, trying to build up an empire, playing some minigames or roleplaying, there is so much to do and create within this game.
“Grand Theft Hamlet” is the first major film shot entirely in the game. So much can be done to create an interesting and engaging film, like the countless roleplay videos on YouTube, yet this film doesn’t do much in this world besides being a gimmick.
Directors Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls take “Hamlet” to the digital world for the first time in their film, “Grand Theft Hamlet.” The film is a documentary on their process of getting a full production of “Hamlet” created in the game Grand Theft Auto 5.
No other “Hamlet” production ever had to deal with random people coming in and shooting them, or an alien observing and reciting the Quran to everyone. The greatest strength of this film is how it plays into the absurdity and randomness that can happen in a public game server.
It is a lot slower than expected, the humor is dry and overall feels calm despite the chaos going on in the background.
The events of the film take place in January 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns were the main motivation for Crane to perform “Hamlet” online. He is known for performing in major theater productions on Broadway and in London.
Crane’s inspiration for his film was the COVID-19 shutdown. In the film, a lot of his thoughts and actions are on how he couldn’t get a job and this was really taking a toll on him. This film shows the way some people were coping, and it can be interesting. Crane’s character is dealing with unemployment and worrying about how he is going to provide for his family. The game and production consumes him to the point that he’s spending the entire day online, and his wife and kids don’t even see him. Much of the cast had some story or reason why they were playing the game and joining the performance. It was an escape from the real world and its issues for them.
It’s meant to be moving emotionally, and some of it works, but it can be heavy and awkward when all that is being shown is video game characters staring at each other or pacing back and forth.
It’s not interesting at all visually. The game UI is distracting and not appealing to look at for the entire runtime, and the base GTA V isn’t that great looking these days. There wasn’t enough of an effort to have any kind of distinct cinematography, it’s just watching someone else play a game.
A lot of this film is scripted. It’s obvious they wanted to tell a specific story, but with how unpredictable an online game can be, it needed some rails to be coherent. Documentaries have always been scripted in some way so that the point they want to make can be seen.
It’s an interesting idea to follow the story of these people trying to create a play in a game, but the story doesn’t feel genuine when a character just drops something heavy emotionally and then they go back to the wackiness. Interspersing scripted segments misses and detracts the point of a film taking place in an online game. The weird interactions and silliness of the games’ physics and logic would’ve been better to focus on. This movie had the opportunity to do something truly different but felt misguided.
A scene towards the end that is supposed to be a culmination of all the issues the production was having, and Grylls calls out Crane for spending so much time in the game, neglecting his family. There’s no buildup to this moment, but up to this point Grylls has been supportive of the experiment.
This segment is meant to add a bit of emotional drama but it doesn’t work. It came completely out of nowhere after they were having a good time and instantly got resolved anyway. The scene could be completely cut out and nothing would change. It’s confusing as to why they felt the need to include it. Tonal whiplashes like this happen throughout and it just doesn’t work.
As a documentary, it’s thoroughly focused. Showcasing their trial and error and seeing how they figured out how to get a play to work in a game is entertaining. It’s a cool experiment that came together well.
It’s not very engaging. Maybe it’s just the humor that doesn’t work, but the film never felt genuine in a meaningful way emotionally. It’s halfway between two ideas that can be interesting on their own.
