Brave film that works surprisingly well

Rating: Null/10 (25 May 2003)

In modern day Verona, two large-family owned corporations battle each other in the board room -the Montagues and the Capulets. This family feud has overspilled into the streets where bloody gang warfare is barely controlled by a police force unable to arrest the members of those most powerful families. In the middle of this violence is Romeo who is sad for lack of love. When he and his friends gate crash a Capulet party he meets the beautiful Juliet Capulet and the two fall in love  even though her father is arranging a most profitable political marriage to the Governor's son. Romeo and Juliet are married in secret but their love is fated to be engulfed in the violence of their surroundings.
In the past so-many years Shakespeare adaptations of one form or another are more common place for the teen market (think O or 10 Things I Hate About You). However even now the filming of an update of a Shakespeare tale, using the original dialogue (more or less) would be an incredible risk  as it was then. This could easily have lost those who love Shakespeare (because of the modern setting) but also alienated the teens by using language that is difficult to follow. Also Luhrmann's hyper stylised direction is also so very OTT at times that it risked turning the whole thing into a cartoon.
However, it actually works. The film opens on shaky ground  the first 10 minutes pass by before you are allowed to settle into the film and see how it plays. The actual opening is a great introduction and works well  with the heavy music, sweeping cameras and the introduction to the main players. However the confrontation between the Capulet boys and the Montague boys at a petrol station is too hyper and silly and risked losing the plot if it were to continue like this. Happily this scene is the height of Luhrmann's directive flamboyance and, although there are touches, it never gets this frantic again. Once the film settles the lines work very well and the film really does a great job of setting old fashioned terms (dagger, sabre, sword) in modern ways  even replacing characters like Father Friar with a postal delivery service called Post Haste!
The performances support the film  if they can't deliver the lines convincingly and create modern characters then the film is lost. Fortunately the majority of the cast deliver their lines well  not always following the OTT direction to get OTT delivery. DiCaprio is soft in the lead yet does well with the traumatic scenes towards the end. He even looks a little too young for the role of a young lover but it still works. Danes is almost as good but is less convincing in the more extreme emotions. The pair work well together  my favourite moment being that when they catch eyes mid-death towards the end. For once Leguizamo's cartoon antics almost suit the role and he gives a bearable performance  I can't stand the guy so that's saying something. The best support came from Perrineau Jnr who was given the indignity of being in drag for a bit of the film but delivers his lines well. The support include mostly well known faces and the only weak links are the actors playing the Montague boys (including Jamie Kennedy).
Overall this was a very brave film and it is easy to look back now and think it must have been a sure thing. The modern setting is used well once the frantic direction slows down a little bit 15 minutes in and a mostly talented cast make the lines sound alive. Not a perfect film but a great updating of a classic tale.