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mike-salisbury47
Reviews
Romeo & Juliet (2013)
Disappointing
If you love the play (as I do), my guess is that you'll not be disposed to like this version. The screenwriter, Julian Fellowes, takes some pretty significant liberties with Shakespeare's original text, which consistently left me wincing when I anticipated a line, only to hear a paraphrased version. I hate to sound all snooty and say you shouldn't mess with Shakespeare (I'm sure it's not perfect) but I would think a screenwriter would set a pretty high standard for changing what the Bard wrote, and based on the number of changed lines, I get the feeling that Fellowes set the bar pretty low. It's the language of the play that makes it so wonderful to me. The general story itself never interested me until I read the play and similarly themed stories (such as West Side Story) have never captured my interest. I don't buy that the language is too hard for modern audiences: even the most opaque puns and outdated language can be translated to audiences via acting and directing. And almost everyone has probably read (or was supposed to have read) the play in high school, so it's not as if this is going to be the first exposure to the play for most people.
There were also bizarre changes or additions that didn't make any sense to me. A tournament to start the film? What did that add to the story besides having a scene with mounted knights and lances? Mercutio a Montague rather than the Prince's family? OK, not sure what that accomplished. Benvolio and Rosaline at Capulet's ball? Maybe that would have been more interesting if Romeo hadn't already moved on, but it just seemed strange. The Tybalt-Juliet scene after the ball?
One thing that puzzled me was that Mercutio never felt like an important character. His major Queen Mab speech was cut short and it seemed that there was more effort to establish Romeo and Benvolio's friendship than Romeo and Mercutio's. I feel like the director made this effort to make Benvolio a larger character, which I think made for some powerful scenes at the end of the movie, but when this is at the expense of Mercutio's character, who is one of the few really interesting/dynamic characters in the play, I felt that was a mistake.
One odd criticism that I've seen in a number of reviews is that Douglas Booth was too pretty, or prettier than Juliet, and this was somehow a problem or a distraction. This is hardly a new dynamic as I would say that both Leonardo DiCaprio and Leonard Whiting were 'prettier' than their respective Juliets (who were both lovely!) which I don't think was a problem in either of those films. My take is this has a lot to do with how R&J movies are marketed at teenage girls as their prime audience and that a 'beautiful' Romeo is what you do to sell seats at the theatre.
In the end, I don't think that Haillee Steinfeld was a strong enough actress for Juliet. This is probably the hardest role in the play, covering a huge emotional range and demonstrating significant changes and maturation in the character over the course of the play. She seems to be reading lines and not adding any emotion or inflection most of the time. I just never felt that she was quite there. Booth was fine as Romeo, not great, but not bad.
And just once, I'd love to see a movie where they can't touch or kiss during the balcony scene (which is what the text of the play makes clear). Or at least take out the line 'What satisfaction canst though have tonight?' which makes no sense if they're in physical contact.
To say some positive things: the setting and cinematography was beautiful, as many have said Lord Capulet was well played as was the Nurse I think. I thought that Benvolio was well played although the actor was distractingly way younger looking than Romeo, Mercutio, Tybalt etc. I like that they kept the scene in where Romeo kills Paris as that was not in the Zeffirelli or Lurhmann versions.
Overall, I just don't think this version offered anything new or interesting. The Luhrmann version did this and thus I think was worthwhile. I don't see any reason why this would replace the Zeffirelli version as the cannon version of the movie.