Although Act 1 was a little confusing for me to understand in the beginning, I was able to comprehend a little bit more after watching the different renditions of this scene. Each version portrayed a different outlook of both Hamlet and the Ghost. The Almereyda version was my least preferred. It was very basic and lacked a lot of key information that needed to be exaggerated. You would think that because it was more modern, it would have a bit more action, but it clearly did not. First and foremost, out of all renditions, this version had to have had the poorest impersonation of the Ghost by far. To be honest, this character did not even look like a ghost in any way. Hamlet nonchalantly opened the door for the ghost and acted as if it was a normal thing. The entire atmosphere had a casual vibe to it, with clothes lying around and bottles on the floor. This setting reminded me of a college dorm room. There was definitely a sense of emotion between the characters, however. There was clear contact between the Ghost and Hamlet, for example when the Ghost was rubbing Hamlet's hair and touching him. Another observation was that there was very sad music and the TV showed destruction. This was very opposite than the original scene.
The last version I was able to watch was Branagh's. Personally, this was my favorite for the simple reason that it was extremely fast paced and had way more action occurring. It gave off such an intense vibe from the viewers which I really enjoyed. There was definitely emotional intensity between the actors. Each character played their role well. The Ghost was in despair; brokenness because his brother killed him and took his wife. Hamlet showed his brokenness of seeing the Ghost of his father and anger with seeing his mother married to his uncle, Claudius. Branagh heavily impacted this rendition with many special effects. The fast paced music, smoke machines, the earth rupturing at the appearance of the Ghost, rather than the Ghost peacefully walking in, all sets the tone for what Branagh was trying to achieve in this version. He wanted you to feel as though you were apart of the movie, and he did just that.
