Movie Review - Romeo + Juliet

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, and Paul Rudd

Directed by Baz Luhrmann
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Despite your feelings towards the film, no one can deny that director Baz Luhrmann has crafted a unique, modern take on William Shakespeare's classic tale of the two lovers Romeo and Juliet.  As their families fight each other, the two young amours become enamored of one another and refuse to deny their love up until their dying days (oops...did I spoil the tale for someone?).

I remember going to the movie theater to see this when I was sixteen and thinking that it was pretty darn cool.  At this point in time, Luhrmann wasn't known at all and his crazed, schizophrenic visual style was oddly compelling and unlike anything I had ever seen before.  Placing the Bard's "old school" dialog in a completely contemporary setting was riveting to me.

Cut to fifteen years later and I'm not so sure that I'm as much of a fan.  Don't get me wrong, Luhrmann has certainly crafted a distinct take on the material, but there are (several) moments where there is just too much going on visually.  Because of the bombardment of images, the words sometimes get lost in translation and the story becomes a secondary afterthought to the film's appearance.  A decade-and-a-half after the film's release, rather than being riveted I found myself laughing at an early scene involving a showdown between members of the Montague and Capulet families simply because of the way Luhrmann utilizes his camera.  The "wild west showdown" atmosphere he creates just didn't set well with me.

The aforementioned scene is one of several that just had me clamoring for a more straightforward (or at least less crazed) take on the material.  Maybe I'm just becoming a fuddy duddy in my old age, but the film as a whole was a bit of a disappointment.

Luhrmann does manage to get a decent performance out of Leonardo DiCaprio, but Claire Danes' Juliet felt a bit wooden to me at times (although, if I'm being honest, I'm not sure the character of Juliet is all that interesting of a person to begin with).  Most of the other supporting roles didn't really strike my fancy either this time around.

All that said, I can't deny that this is a different spin on the classic tale, but it's one that I don't need to revisit any time soon.  As I was watching it (and not loving it), I wondered to myself what my take on Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge would be so many years later.  Seeing as how that film has the same visual style of Romeo + Juliet, I can't help but think it will have faded from my initial praises as well.  Might be time to take another look at that one...

The RyMickey Rating:  C