Actually, in that respect the film does deliver. It may be the same source material, but it can easily be separated from its 1968 predecessor. In fact, it appears that Baz Lurhmann has tried so hard to stamp the film with his own individual seal that I’m promptly reminded of a dog trying to mark its territory. “Look! I created a brand new world!Where people talk in rhyming couplets!Isn’t that radical?”
Yes, this film is set in ‘Verona Beach’, a fictional city compromised of elements from other film classics such as ‘Rebel without a cause’ and ‘Dirty Harry’. The end result is a racy and decaying Miami Beach-esque setting, where violence and sex is present in abundances.
It is here that drawn out play swords fights and exchanged witticisms are replaced with flashy cars and some seriously awesome choreographed gun fights.
Certainly a far cry from the ‘Fair Verona’ that Shakespeare fans are accustomed to!
Casting Claire Danes as the star crossed lover Juliet was a brilliant choice. The actress not only looks the part but she manages to capture Juliet’s youth and innocence before meeting Romeo perfectly. The actress continues to portray the maturation of her character as the events of the story unfold, making the week long transition from childhood to womanhood intriguing to watch.
Leonardo DiCaprio's performance although marginally less impressive, was still acceptable. Although DiCaprio’s difficulty with the Shakespearean language is noticeable, and occasionally cringe worthy, and he has a tendency to overplay the ‘love sick puppy’ scenes, he still manages to wonderfully capture Romeo’s ever changing and intense emotions in the later scenes.
It is this character trait of Romeo’s which is present towards and throughout the climax of the movie and it is in these last scenes that DiCaprio triumphs.
The supporting cast is mostly acceptable with a few gems to look out for. Harold Perrineau is cast as the light hearted Mercutio, the life of the party.Watch out for one particularly trippy scene involving an intoxicated Romeo,Mercutio and a mini dress!
Paul Rudd is Paris, an endearingly idiotic character while acting veteran Pete Postlethwaite makes a fantastic Father Lawrence. Some big names also light up the credits, including Paul Sorvino and Brian Dennehey as Fathers’ Capulet and Montague.
The ambience of Lurhmann’s film is captivating in this film and the moody cinematography along with the modern soundtrack go hand in hand quite nicely. The audience is treated to a particularly sensual looking scene in which Romeo broods in the foreground of a grainy, orange sunscape, with Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host” pulsing in the background.
This may make for a fantastically visually appealing film, but the popular soundtrack and beautiful scenery often detracts from the actual plot.
This appears to be one of the films greatest strengths while simultaneously being one of its’ greatest weaknesses. It quite plainly is meant to appeal to the ‘MTV crowd’ with its catchy music and car chases, but this clashes terribly with the Shakespearean language that Lurhmann decided to keep. It is a film that is trying to appeal to both the Shakespeare purists as well as the modern day teenager and by doing this it is alienating the both of them. It relies too heavily on visual cues to let the audience aware of what is happening, often making the poetic language play second fiddle to the action. It is most probably due to this direction that several of the actors have trouble conveying the emotion of their lines with their voices rather than their expressions.
Perhaps because of the rather poor directing in terms of acting, Lurhmann puts extra effort in to the important scenes for more dynamic viewing. In one of the quieter moments of the film, Romeo and Juliet find themselves becoming smitten with one another amidst the blue-y hues of a tropical fish tank, the camera lazily moving between their faces. This is a stark contrast to the opening scene which is an almost comically played out fight between the Montague and Capulet boys, where the camera whirls around from each characters point of view almost spastically, trying to show all the chaos and action, and showing us a series of extreme close up’s of the characters faces and actions to familiarise them with the audience. It is early on in this scene that Lurhmann establishes the differences between the two families with cinematography, with the more sophisticated Capulets’ cool lighting and the rowdy Montaues’ brighter,warmer lighting.
This adaptation was made in a way which should appeal to a younger audience, but sometimes it tries so hard to do this that the intensity of the main couples’ passion is lost in between the action. Still, when it comes down to it, it contains the main elements that create Romeo and Juliet are ever present – Love, hate, violence, passion.
This may not be a film of particular depth, and it may not always successfully convey the true passions that the couple feel for each other in its aim to make Shakespeare more accessible to the masses, but it’s a fairly interesting adaptation all the same and makes for a good DVD rental.
