An brilliant revamp of a classic piece

Rating: 9/10 (22 October 2003)

Baz Luhrman and Craig Pearce's interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet is a brilliant revamp of a classic piece. Rather than taking the more traditional approach of capturing the story's essence but using a new script, Romeo + Juliet maintains the original Shakespeare script. However Luhrman goes far beyond simply translating the play into a screenshow as so many filmmakers have done in the past.
The film takes place in a somewhat modern-day Verona with a strong flex of his poetic license muscle. Swords are transformed into guns, horses to cars. Prior to seeing the film, when I heard about it I was wildly skeptical of how it could be a good film. I'm very much a Shakespeare fan and appreciate his works in their more "original" form. However Luhrman does an astounding job of the transformations that take place and they actually work very well on screen. It doesn't take a very big leap of faith on the audience's part to accept a gun for a sword. It amazes me how well Shakespeare's script works in a modern setting. On top of the translations, the visuals and filmography are very appealing and do the rest of the film justice.
I personally found the acting to be quite good throughout the film, however I'm not usually too nitpicky about acting, I try to see the film on the whole. My personal favorites are Leguizamo as Tybalt and Danes as Juliet, and Perrineau as Mercutio.
Overall I consider the movie to be a fresh new approach to a very old classic. It is a pleasant departure from the stagnant traditional approach to modernizing, revamping, or transforming plays or older films.
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