Odd one out

Rating: 1/10 (9 December 2011)

I am convinced I'm one of the only people who hate this movie. People call it "innovative" and "a work of art", but i personally don't see how they can. This is a terribly overrated movie that certainly doesn't deserve the praise it's getting. The movie feels like a huge jumbled mess with horrible editing, and some pretty dreadful performances. It seemed more like a satire of Shakespeare then a modernization.
First comes the performances. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance is very bland at best. Even in the love scenes with Juliet, he had about as much personality as a piece of wood. Claire Danes was fine as Juliet. Nothing bad, but nothing memorable either. John Leguizamo was dreadful as Tybalt. He had a terrible case of overacting that made me cringe at his performance. Harold Perrineau's performance as Mercutio was (much like Leguizamo's) plagued with another case of overacting. The only actor who seemed to do very well in his role was Pete Postlethwaite as Friar Laurence. He had the calm, mellow attitude that was accurate for a modern version of the character. As for the supporting cast, none of them really stood out and even if they did it wasn't for anything good at all.
As for the production elements, it was very lack luster. The editing closely resembled that of Luhrmann's future film, Moulin Rouge. This means the editing was sloppy and quick, not allowing us to see some of the visuals created for the film. Everything else about the movie was just so forgettable: the music, the costumes, EVERYTHING.
So overall, this movie really didn't do it for me. I still can't believe so many people love it when i (as a Shakespeare fan) couldn't find anything to like about it. I can only imagine the poor Bard is rolling around in his grave at this very moment, knowing that his brilliant work has been adapted into this garbage.