A great modern rehash.

Rating: 10/10 (28 September 2002)

It's been said by many that this film covers nothing new. As an angered colleague of mine put it "Who couldn't see the ending from the very beginning?" However, this doesn't mean that it's impossible for it to be a masterpiece, as a little-known author named WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE did the exact same thing in his classic "Romeo and Juliet" with superb results. Thus, we can interpret these opening lines as an allusion attempting to show the viewer that foreknowledge of the plot and a storyline that has been done to death (also like Shakespeare's two star-crossed lovers) can actually be a great thing, because it allows people to be perfectly understood with the plot from the opening lines, thereby removing the need for familiarizing them with it and allowing the performances of the actors (performances that deservedly received Academy Awards) and the brilliance of the dialogue to shine through unhampered by common restraints.