A Disappointment When Compared to the Play, But Not Too Bad

Rating: 7/10 (1 March 2016)

Romeo + Juliet is directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the famous star-crossed lovers and title characters, Romeo and Juliet. If you don't know the story, shame on you, but here's a synopsis. Two families, the Montagues and Capulets, are constantly feuding, and Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, subsequently fall in love. Their love is not allowed, due to their parents' hatred for each other, and so they secretly get married. This entire story is based (literally line by line) off of William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
The best thing this film has to offer is, quite obviously, the dialogue. The lines used in this film is the exact lines William Shakespeare wrote in the 16th century. The plot, along with the dialogue, is ingenious. The forbidden love between the two plays off amazingly. The direction in this film also is pretty good. It has a few flaws; some shaky cam, bad close ups, etc. However, it's more good than it is bad. The acting is also really good. This is one of DiCaprio's first roles, besides What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), in which he received his first Oscar nomination. He is super young here, but still does a great job. Claire Danes does great as well. She's not in many movies (thanks to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)), but she really should be. She does fantastic in this film. The first negative in this film is the "gangster" vibe of it. The original story takes place in the 14th century in Verona, Italy. This film takes place in 1996 in Verona Beach, California. Nobody uses swords; they all use engraved, golden guns. This movie would've been near perfect if the director kept to the formula that Shakespeare wrote. The nowaday feel of the movie makes for a complete mess, with too much unnecessary drama at the wrong times, and confusing dialogue that makes no sense when a character says the word "sword" or especially old English, using words like "doth" and "thou."
Overall, Romeo + Juliet wasn't too bad. I expected better than the utterly stupid theme of the slums, and the occasional bad direction, most abundant during fight scenes. I'm going to give Romeo + Juliet a C+, or a 7 out of 10.