Oh My....

Rating: Null/10 (11 June 2003)

I just finished watching the movie about ten minutes ago, so it's pretty fresh in my mind. Odd. Very, very odd. Perhaps I'm biased due to the fact that I have a strong dislike for DiCaprio, but that was very odd. The costuming was--way out there somewhere. It was put together oddly. The death scene (which to me broke the show)--gosh, why not keep it the way Shakespeare had written it? There was no Paris/Romeo tryst (I suppose that would be a bit abstract with guns--yet another of the movie's downfalls), and Juliet woke up before Romeo was completely dead! I saw a very real TITANIC flash-back right about then--must he do all his death scenes the same? Mercutio was made to be MUCH too annoying in my opinion, so I felt it hard to pity Romeo when his best friend is killed. They murdered the balcony scene completely!
Maybe it's just that I'd prefer the Old English swords and parties to modernized adaptations. I wouldn't recommend it, or WEST SIDE STORY, while I'm at it.
If you like abstract and weird, go for it. But I prefer traditional Shakespeare, and I found it hard to enjoy it.