Grand Theft Hamlet – a lockdown creation

GRAND THEFT HAMLET
Directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane
Certificate: 12a
☆☆☆

THE super violent world of Grand Theft Auto – a computer game where you run around a US city, robbing cars and shooting people – has drawn millions into an alternative, lawless universe.

Created in 2013, its latest version has sold over 205 million units since its release in October.

It’s big news, this computer-generated world where you don an avatar suit and muck things up.

Actor Sam Crane has spent many hours wandering around this make-believe world, committing crimes and behaving irresponsibly. His friend, fellow actor Mark Oosterveen, also has found enjoyment in GTA.

As Covid sent us into lockdown, these unemployed men ruminated on their tough luck while playing GTA, and decided since no one was employing them, they’d create a production themselves.

The twist was they would use an empty theatre they had stumbled across in GTA, recruit players, and stage Hamlet.

Documentary maker Pinny Grylls wondered what her apparently fully grown partner Sam was up to on line for hours on end – and decided to help.

We follow their adventures as they crack on with Hamlet, all while at risk of their friends deciding they’d just rather blow stuff up than recite the Bard. Spoken in a range of accents, it underlines how Shakespeare could bang out a line.

Then there is sheer originality. Deadbeats moaning about work, then hitting on a wheeze to ease their painful boredom. What transpires is a funny mix about friends, the magic of the Bard, and how terrifying the unknowns we faced were.

But it has teething issues. How is one able to watch computer-game graphics for a feature length film? It’s hard enough with CGI, which attempts to convince what you are seeing is real. Watching a film entirely made within the video game is the polar opposite of putting cucumbers on your eyes and slapping on the whale sounds CD.

It hurts.

The two leads are not hero material. Well spoken, privileged, Oxbridge-educated actors moaning away may stick in the throat of the millions who faced disaster, rolled-up their sleeves and found ways to be useful to their communities. Sit around and play computer games, make a career-changing film about it too, but be aware that’s your choice and don’t expect violins in return.