Ophelia

Based on a book by Lisa Klein, Ophelia follows William Shakespeare’s iconic title character (Daisy Ridley) as she becomes one of Queen Gertrude’s (Naomi Watts) handmaidens and must subsequently maneuver the various plots and backstabbings transpiring around her. Filmmaker Claire McCarthy delivers a watchable yet pervasively generic drama that often seems to have emerged from a template for movies of this ilk, and it’s apparent, mostly, that McCarthy has no loftier goal than to craft a passively, benignly watchable teen-friendly historical drama – with the picture, on that level, generally succeeding and certainly benefiting from solid production values and strong performances. (Ridley delivers a compelling if somewhat muted turn that’s mostly overshadowed by her various costars, with, especially, Owen’s turn as the scheming Claudius standing as an obvious highlight.) It’s clear, too, that Ophelia improves substantially as it progresses, as scripter Semi Chellas offers up an irresistibly trashy midsection rife with twists and unexpected turns – with the narrative ultimately delivering on its promise to explore the events of Hamlet through an entirely different lens (ie certain Ophelia-related developments unfold much differently than anticipated, to be sure). The end result is a decent adaptation that successfully brings a YA perspective to one of Shakespeare’s best known works, and yet it’s disappointing, in the final analysis, that Ophelia never quite manages to rise above the level of a run-of-the-mill, CW-like production.

**1/2 out of ****