Movie Review – Romeo + Juliet
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is one of my favourite movies. The film is directed by Baz Luhrman who is an Australian director and also responsible for Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, and the recent film Australia.
I’m just going to tell you a few of the reasons why I love this film – and I did all the screenshots myself, so enjoy. 
Leonardo’s hair. Boy, that were no cheap haircut. Seriously, a hairdresser knew what they were doing there. The color is one of the best pieces of work I’ve seen, ever. See how the light catches the streaks? Lovely!
Mercutio. Harold Perrineau to be precise. It is extremely brave to take on this role in this movie because Mercutio was to attend a party as a drag queen – wearing silver high heels and even dance in them. When you see the dancing scene, Mercutio’s high kick is simply stunning.
John Leguizamo plays a wonderful Tybalt and as you see, many of the costumes in the movie involve one of my favourite things – sparkly stuff.
The fishtank scenes. Adding to the color and beauty of this film overall, and really cool to have fish swimming between the actor and the camera. Pretty!
The pool grotto – very beautiful!
The overall colorfulness of this movie is one of the things that makes it a success in my opinion. The beauty of the cast, the locations, the language, it’s all great. When the beach scenes of Mercutio’s death were shot, there was actually a huge storm blowing in – what is happening to those trees is completely natural. The actors made it through even though they were being completely sand blasted.
If you go and read reviews for this movie on the interwebs, you’ll hear all these comparisions to some previous version of Romeo and Juliet done by Zafarelli or some such name back in the 60′s. This is ridiculous. Why compare two versions of something to each other? Clearly Baz Lurhman was not trying to *replicate* the previous version. Nobody would bother to do that.
I have not seen the other version and I have no real desire to. I’m fairly happy with this version of it. And to be honest, so are *millions* of school kids who have seen this movie as part of their traditional Shakespeare lessons instead of some old and dodgy version which would not grab their imaginations the way this movie does, or contain music which is interesting, or use color in such incredible ways as this movie does..
But the ending is the real triumph of this film, in my opinion. Of course I’m not going to spoil it by telling you they both die, that’s a pretty well known thing, but there have been changes made to the death scenes which improve **hugely** on the story. Not to mention the fact that the scenes are visually beautiful (love the blue neon crosses) and Leo’s emotion is heartbreakingly lovely, if that’s possible.
I have seen this film a *zillion* times, and yet every time I see it I somehow hope the ending will magically change and Romeo will take his Juliet off to Mantua and they will live happily ever after.
For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo. I think this colorful and artistic version tells the centuries old story in a way that will inspire students who really have no interest in Shakespeare to get interested, the way that Dead Poets Society gave students like me who had no interest in poetry a love for poetry.
Over to you!
Have you seen this film? Will you seek it out now after reading this review? Do you love Leonardo DiCaprio? Claire Danes? John Leguizamo? Harold Perrineau? Have you seen any of the other Baz Luhrman films? What did you think of them?
If you have a favourite film that you would like to review here on the blog, you can guest post – click here to find out how. And let us know in the comments if there are any films you would like us to review here on the blog.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Claire Danes…hhhmmm… but Leonardo is too pretty to be likeable.
May 28th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Hadn’t ever heard of it but it might make a good mother daughter chick flick.
May 28th, 2009 at 11:35 am
One of the better soundtracks ever. “#1 Crush” by Garbage, “Local God” by Everclear, “Pretty Piece of Flesh” by One Inch Punch….nearly all really good songs. There’s a Vol. 2 with mostly “music from the motion picture” type stuff too.
The best parts for me for the movie were the set and the costume design. All sorts of religious imagery all over the place, and all sorts of Shakespeare references — billboards, the costumes chosen for the costume party, etc.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Actually, there is a very good reason to compare this version to others. For instance, the Zefferelli version was the teenage hearthrob hot film of it’s day, just as this one is to this generation.
Zefferelli’s version is a traditional treatment. The acting is superb as are the locations, the costumes, etc. The “theme song” was also a hit. The fashion trends following that film were obviously influenced by it. It was huge with the teenagers of the day.
Shakespeare is notorious for being timeless. Some of my favorite versions are not period. I love the Joseph Papp NY Shakespeare Co. version of Much Ado About Nothing with Sam Waterston (now available on DVD!) I rather like the ACT version of Taming of the Shrew with Marc Singer done in comedia d’arte. I love the recent version of Midsummer Night’s Dream with Kevin Kline. I mourn the loss of the Hallmark Hall of Fame version of Hamlet with Richard Chamberlain. I’d give anything to have a copy of that on DVD or VHS. It was so much better than Kenneth Brannaugh.
I’ve seen Hamlet done on the stage as a 1930′s gangster flick with machine guns instead of swords. I’ve seen the three witches in Macbeth done as bald, hermaphrodite alien beings.
There will always be comparisons. And there should be.
You should see the Zefferelli version. Not to influence you or try to change your opinion of the Di Caprio version. You’ll also be able to appreciate the beauty of Shakespeare done traditionally and as a contemporary work. Two very different versions that work equally well.
BTW did you know that Shakespeare was very popular among gold miners? Performed by traveling troupes of actors.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I had to look this up, DeCaprio looked way young as did John L, and yes this is 13 years old. You’ve given me a good one to put on my list.
Further on those who have given the old Bard a good run is Stacy Keech as Hamlet, one of the most ballsy performances ever. Saw him live at the Music Center in Los Angeles, don’t know if it was ever filmed. No comparison to Chamberlain’s ethereal performance, night and day as it were.
May 29th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
You might be interested in watching Branaugh’s “Much Ado About Nothing” – remains traditional but so much fun…and his “Henry V” outshines Olivier’s by light years
May 29th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I saw Branaugh’s Much Ado. There were some good performances (Michael Keaton, Denzel Washington) but I found the film in general to be….a bit monochromatic. And while poor Denzel did a fabulous job, I thought he was both misplaced and lost in this production. Wasted more like. It was all sepia tones and so were the performances. I lay much of the blame on the director. Oh, that was Branaugh too, wasn’t it?
I’ve seen several versions of Much Ado both screen and live. Waterston’s is my favorite. I liked the BBC version better than Branaugh too. There was a version with Michael York and Anthony Andrews I liked very much too.
I know Branaugh tried to do every Shakespeare play as both star and director, but I think he finally gave up. About the only production I really liked that Branaugh did was Henry V. Just about everything else, there are others I like better.
June 7th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I agree, Branaugh’s “Henry V” is captivating.
I will put this on my list for my daughter and I to watch. I really am a fan of Di Caprio’s despite his good looks