“Grand Theft Hamlet” was one of my favorite movies that I managed to see in 2024 … and I saw a lot of movies last year.
On the surface, the prospect of a movie shot entirely within Grand Theft Auto Online seems like a bizarre proposition; Los Santos is, by design, an anarchic lawless world. Wresting control over Rockstar Games’ online sandbox is nigh on impossible; anyone who has spent even a few moments on the streets of San Andreas will know a fellow avatar could take you out with a speeding car, an RPG, or a fighter jet out of the blue.
With that chaotic but richly detailed world as its backdrop, “Grand Theft Hamlet” — a movie about trying to stage Shakespeare’s eponymous play within GTA — shouldn’t work, but it does. You need only look at that impressive 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes (and the movie’s many glowing reviews) as proof.
Now that “Grand Theft Hamlet” is streaming on MUBI, I’d urge as many people as possible to check it out. This is a bizarre, hilarious documentary that’s unlike any other take on Shakespeare’s eponymous play you’ve seen before. Here’s a little bit more info about “Grand Theft Hamlet,” including why I loved it as much as I did.
What is ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’ about?
Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane’s “Grand Theft Hamlet” takes us back in time a few years to January 2021, wherein the UK has just entered its third lockdown.
All theatres across the nation remain closed, and the future for the arts sector is looking bleak. It’s at this moment we meet Mark Oosterveen and Sam Crane, two out-of-work actors who have been passing the time by roaming around the virtual world of Grand Theft Auto Online.
During a session, they happen to stumble across the Vinewood Bowl, an in-game theater, and that gives them the bold idea to try and stage the entirety of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet inside the game. “Grand Theft Hamlet” then follows Mark and Sam’s attempts to do exactly that, capturing all the chaos along the way.
Why you should stream ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’
If you’ve spent any time on YouTube you’ll know that countless people have turned their time in GTA Online into online entertainment, but “Grand Theft Hamlet” stands head and shoulders above a let’s play.
What sets it apart is that the movie’s been realized, shot, paced, and stitched together with a talented filmmaker’s sensibility, one that makes the most of the medium and the tools it offers to tell this bizarre story.
That’s not to say the content itself isn’t entertaining, though; “Grand Theft Hamlet” is artful, but also frequently laugh-out-loud funny, stuffed with chance encounters with the bizarre characters and ridiculous surprises that you could only find in a game like GTA Online.
Beneath its absurd veneer is an honest, human, and thoroughly engaging watch, one very interested in this world’s potential for storytelling, and bolstered by moments of genuine human connection captured at a time when staying connected was very, very difficult indeed.
Overall, “Grand Theft Hamlet” is a worthy, touching watch, and a movie I am way more fond of than I expected to be when I sat down in a theater to watch it the first time.
Experimental though it may be, by the time the credits roll, I all but guarantee you’ll be rooting for Sam, Mark, and their avatar cast to go out there and break a virtual leg. Seriously, go and stream “Grand Theft Hamlet” on MUBI, I promise it’s worth it. And, if nothing else, watching it should at the very least be a good way to distract yourself from the long, long wait for Grand Theft Auto VI to drop.
Not sold on “Grand Theft Hamlet,” but still in need of some more movie recommendations? We can still help. For more help planning your viewing, check out our guide to the best movies on Netflix or the best Prime Video movies for tons more suggestions on what to watch next.
