Pretty Darned Good

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2000)

OK, warning. If you've never seen/read Romeo and Juliet, this will contain spoilers. Since the play is--oh, I don't know, 400 years old?--I don't think this warning is really necessary, but I don't want to get "blacklisted" for not warning you!
Baz Luhrmann's updated version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet seems to be a movie which inspires viewers to extremes--all the reviews I have heard are either "love it" reviews or "hate it" reviews. I propose to take the middle road. I don't think that the film is a piece of trash, as Ye Olde Shakespeare Fans tend to brand it. I also don't think it's the greatest thing since Zeffirelli. The main thing here is not to compare Luhrmann's vision to Zeffirelli's--or to any traditional performance of the play. Take it by itself, and it's actually pretty decent. There are, however, some places where you can't help but notice that Romeo's murder of Tybalt isn't quite the same when it's done in a car chase, or that the lovers' deaths are more tragic, or that you can't seem to recall the families reconciling in this version... All in all, good to see for a change of pace, but don't make it your definitive version of Romeo and Juliet.