Alex Swartz
2/8/12
7
Romeo + Juliet
Dread, aversion, and anguish. These are the thoughts that people usually have when they think about reading Shakespeare, and for good reasons. In this modern age, the once exhilarating works of the aforementioned famous poet now seem dated and overwrought. However, prominent Australian director Mark Anthony “Baz” Luhrmann seeks to abolish the trepidation which the average person feels about Shakespeare’s works with his recently-released romance movie, Romeo + Juliet, which is based on the original Romeo and Juliet play written between 1591 and 1595. At first glance, Luhrmann seems to be on the right track, as his new film takes place in much more modern times in a sunny beach city which resembles Venice Beach California, a town known for its modern cultural scene. Furthermore, well-known stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes have active roles in this picture, further increasing the movie’s star power and curb appeal. Additionally, despite the extensive overhaul of the original work of literature, the production staff of this particular flick has still managed to keep the integrity of the play’s famous scenes, such as the fight scenes, the legendary balcony scene, and the overall animosity between the two feuding families, intact. Nonetheless, the many similarities between the film and the original play, along with the movie’s other appealing elements, do not necessarily make this motion picture worthwhile since, as with many other things, there is more to it than meets the eye.
The similarities between this picture and Shakespeare’s prior work are instantly apparent in the movie’s opening scene where, like in the play, a fight erupts between the Capulet and Montague servants whose masters have been fighting for countless years. Although nobody wins this fight, it sets the tone for the rest of the movie and portrays the two families as rival gangs. In the aftermath of the fight, the police commissioner who fills the role of the prince of the original play in this contemporary version makes a decree stating that members of the two families caught fighting in the streets again will be killed. Later, in a series of separate events, one of the main characters, Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is a Montague, and his friend Benvolio decide to attend a Capulet ball that night so that Romeo can find himself another girlfriend to fill the place of the one he had recently lost. At the ball, Romeo and Juliet (Claire Danes) meet for the first time and both instantly fall in love. However, upon discovering that they are each from the opposite fighting family, they both experience great despair. After the party, Romeo secretly renters the Capulet Mansion and confronts Juliet. The two discuss their love for awhile before departing. The next day, Romeo hurries to see his friend and confessor Friar Lawrence, who, after some persuading, agrees to marry the young lovers in secret since he sees in their love the possibility of ending the age-old feud between Capulet and Montague. The subsequent day, Romeo and Juliet meet at Friar Lawrence’s cell and are married. Juliet’s friend and nurse, who is privy to the secret, procures a ladder, which Romeo will then use to climb into Juliet’s window for their wedding night. In the next part of this film, Benvolio and another Montague servant, Mercutio, encounter Tybalt who is Juliet’s cousin. Tybalt saw Romeo attend the Capulet feast the previous night and is still enraged at him for his supposed wrongdoings. The belligerent Tybalt then challenges Romeo to a duel, and, when Romeo appears, he refuses to fight Tybalt since they are now kinsmen. Disgusted with Romeo’s plea for peace, Mercutio says that he will fight Tybalt himself so the two begin to duel, but Romeo tries to stop them by leaping between the combatants. Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo’s arm, and, as a result, Mercutio dies. In a rage, Romeo then hunts down Tybalt and kills him. In fear, Romeo flees from the scene, and, soon after, the police commissioner declares Romeo forever banished from Verona Beach for his crime. Next, Friar Lawrence arranges for Romeo to spend his wedding night with Juliet before he has to leave for Mantua the following morning in order to avoid death. Elsewhere, Juliet discovers that her father has arranged for her to marry a suave gentleman named Paris who she doesn’t really care for. Juliet then hurries to Friar Lawrence who she presents her plight to. The friar consequently concocts a plan for Juliet so she won’t have to marry Paris and can run off and live with Romeo in Mantua away from her family’s fighting. Although Juliet executes the plan flawlessly, complications soon arise which eventually lead the two lovers to their inevitable demise.
As anyone who has read the original Romeo and Juliet story will know from reading the above paragraph, this movie’s plot is nearly identical to the Shakespeare play on which it is based. In fact, the other major aspects of the film, like the screenplay and stage directions, are very similar too. The words which the characters speak are still in old English and the ways in which the characters react to events in the movie are parallel to boot. Due to these similarities, this modern-day flick has a distinctive old-time flair and is still unmistakably Shakespearean. However, all of these old-fashioned remnants of the famous poet’s work are still somewhat offset by the up-to-date touches which the director has added to his work in order to broaden Shakespeare’s appeal.
The main ways in which this new movie differs from the theatrical production which it is based on is that the setting of the film, the dress of the characters, and the technology present to the characters have all been updated to suit modern times. For example, the people in the movie now use guns instead of swords, and they now all wear ostentatious floral print shirts in place of the traditional and more conservative attire of the 1500s. Furthermore, some of the occupations and social functions of Shakespeare’s time have been replaced by more current ones, and evidence of this can be seen in that much of the movie now occurs along a bar-studded beach instead of throughout the narrow streets of an ancient city. The prince of the original play has also been replaced by a police commissioner played by Vondie Curtis-Hall who has many of the same duties as the prince but who is definitely more contemporary. Still, regardless of the updated touches to this film, there is still much which the producers of this movie leave to be desired.
After having read the entire play and after having seen the movie, I can testify that,even though this movie seems to be on the right track at first glance, it is, in reality, a poorly-executed and underdeveloped endeavor to rewrite a classical piece of literature. Perhaps this flick would have been more enjoyable if the creators of this work had still kept the original play’s plot but had changed the script like they did with movie’s setting. However, due to the use of the outdated phrasing of Shakespeare’s time, the words which the characters speak have a cheesy tone which makes the movie almost unbearable, and it doesn’t help that the acting is bad and excessively embellished either. Furthermore this film takes place almost exclusively in the ghetto, and this fact detracts from the visual experience of watching this movie. Lastly, the dress and general attitudes of the characters in this cinematic work are grossly overdone to the point where they’re almost nauseatingly lurid. A clear example of this is how all the male characters of this film, including the priest, are always wearing garish, unbuttoned floral print shirts which expose their chest. So, owing to this flick’s lack of class and quality, I would recommend that you avoid watching this Hollywood atrocity at whatever cost, even if it requires you to jump out of second story window since this movie is, in fact, that bad.
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