This is not what Shakespeare had in mind.

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2014)

You know, I get a little tired of this recent surge of movies trying to update, modernize and stylize William Shakespeare's greatest work. I saw it recently in Romeo Must Die and but that film can be forgiven, it wasn't a direct telling of the tale.
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is quite simply, a mess. It is a music video, a cola commercial, a teen prime-time soap opera and a new-age photoplay. What it is not, is comprehensable to those of us moved by the greatest love story ever told.
Romeo and Juliet is the story of two people so desperately in love that they are willing to die for one another. This movie never allows us to realize that because it's hyperkinetic energy never slows down long enough for us to generate much interest in the story.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes are two talented, beautiful people but they never get a moment when they can look into one another's eyes and convince us that they are in love for any reason other then the story requires it.
Most of that stems from the facts that none of the actors ever really listen to the dialogue. When they aren't mumbling they are shouting, when they aren't shouting they are at the mercy of an editor and a camera man who can't stand to linger on an image for longer than the lastest music video would require.
Now, I've seen Shakespeare updated to modern times recently and in some cases it works ("Richard III" and Branaugh's "Hamlet" come to mind). The key to Romeo and Juliet is simplicity. Love and heartbreak is a simple acts, not a hyperventilating-surround sound-rock-rap music video Romeo and Juliet should touch your heart, not punch you in the head.