Baz Luhrman’s 1996 film Romeo + Juliet is an objectively well done film adaptation of Shakespeare’s timeless play, Romeo and Juliet. The film takes on a non-traditional theme, which makes the film seem ‘divisive’ to many. To take something which is typically recreated very close to its original version, and make it into something almost completely modern, this is a decision that most filmmakers don’t choose to do. This is not only a difficult task, but is, again, incredibly divisive to the general public. Despite this, Baz Luhrman executes this modernization of the old play incredibly well, and this stands true to most aspects of the film. Each actor is capable of playing their parts outstandingly well, and this is especially noticeable in certain scenes for select actors when they’re given a more obvious spotlight. Even when not focusing on main characters, Paul Sorvino and Diane Venora as Capulet and Gloria Capulet did astonishing jobs at acting their parts out in each scene they were in, and this is especially true in scenes where their characters are highlighted. When Capulet is given his scene of yelling at Juliet, he makes the scene feel almost scarily real. He puts on an impressive performance in even just the way he moves his voice around for each line, and how he corners and backs off from Juliet in constant perfect timing. Though it’s not a fun scene to watch, it’s impressive just how well Sorvino can make the scene actually seem just so upsetting. Furthermore when Capulet’s wife is sobbing about Tybalt’s death, every part of her acting feels so real and is rich in emotion. The casting for Venora as Lady Capulet was an excellent decision as she can portray these grieving emotions so well, especially as the specific type of character she plays in this movie.
Past side characters, in mine and many others’ opinions, the best display of acting talent in this film was by far Leonardo DiCaprio’s leading role as Romeo. This statement has possibly even more weight added to it when considering the fact that Leonardo Dicaprio hadn’t even been such a highly acclaimed actor before this movie. Romeo + Juliet is often considered the exact movie where Leonardo DiCaprio became a ‘household name’. On top of his performance showing off how well he can act, it also gives the character of Romeo himself more depth than most interpretations of the play give him. Romeo is a generally bubbly, outgoing, likable character through most of the movie, and the way DiCaprio shows Romeo’s sadness, grief, and anger gives his character a much finer tuning than many actors’ versions of Romeo. When reading the original play, I, personally, did not like Romeo. Despite this, watching DiCaprio’s interpretation of the character generally changed my opinion of Romeo. He constantly displayed such genuine love for Juliet in his voice and body language, even when she wasn’t there and he was only hoping for news of her from Balthasar, the sweet and genuine hope he displayed completely overshadowed the acting of Jesse Bradford playing Balthasar, which was meant to convey the character feeling sad and worried. One of my personal favorite scenes where Romeo claimed the spotlight was before the full balcony scene, DiCaprio acts out an extended sequence of events where Romeo is portrayed to be stumbling around with no coordination, and this is seemingly because of him feeling nervous in going to see Juliet one last time. The way DiCaprio acts this out with his unsure tone, his frantic body language, and his facial expressions which constantly seem to be a mix of hopeful and anxious, all of these factors allow this scene to flow exactly how it should and in such a genuine way. This is a specific example of a scene which I believe makes Romeo a much more likable character, because in this he’s portrayed to seem like a very hopeful and genuine person, as compared to the way he usually tends to be portrayed as simply a hopeless romantic with little character outside of that.
Though DiCaprio’s acting does help this a lot, the writing and directing of the film also makes Romeo and other characters feel very different than usual. The film is put together very well with the way that Luhrmann has stitched together certain lines and moved scenes around throughout the entire movie. Even when selecting from the same lines and scenes as the original play, because of the modernization and creative liberties taken in this movie adaptation, the characters and plot flow together in an interesting and almost completely new seeming way, even when still fully thinking inside the lines of Romeo and Juliet. Though, the different scene selections are also the main thing I could personally complain about with this movie. There are multiple scenes which are removed from this movie that make some parts seem slightly more empty than in the original play. Possibly the greatest example of this is the fact that the ending scene is removed, where the Montagues and Capulets actually get over their feud. Though most of the scenes that were randomly added or extended go into the movie very well, such as the party scene being made longer, Romeo walking to Juliet’s body being such an extensive scene, or even small scenes like the young townspeople greeting Romeo, these scenes all actually add to the characters or mood of the movie. The choice to remove a scene as big as the Montague and Capulet reunion is a very interesting decision, and is one that generally can be considered very unlikable. The end to the movie is beautiful nonetheless and it is still implied that the families made up, it could fit in much better if the movie were to end on a more positive note with the families uniting together onscreen. Though this point is there for that scene specifically and multiple others, this is not at all something that serves to ruin the film itself.
Moving again to positive ideas about the movie, one of the most praisable aspects of Luhrmann’s film is the costuming between all of the characters. Instead of having both families wear typical ‘wealthy people’ attire, the Capulet family and their associates consistently wear elegant, clean, put together clothing. On the other hand, the Montagues wear more relaxed, casual outfits throughout the film. Even when going to the Capulet party, the Montague group wears more fun and characterized party costumes, whereas the Capulets are all dressed finely and instead of using the night to use fun costumes, they all seem to wear more outfits on the more elegant side. While it’s obvious that they are costumes, most of them could also easily pass as though they were just attempting to dress more extravagantly to show off general fashion rather than costuming. The choice to make the families differ so greatly in even just their outfits was an amazing decision made by Luhrman which added a lot to the film even if it’s not a subject that the viewer is actively focusing on. This type of point stands the same through most creative aspects of the movie, where all of the subtle details allow this movie to create its own unique feeling while watching it compared to other renditions. Most easily said, Luhrmann’s version fully emphasizes the romance in the film instead of the other painful or humorous aspects, and this is exactly what I personally would look for while viewing any version of Romeo and Juliet. Though the movie of course has its own flaws like any movie would, it is still nonetheless an amazingly executed version of the play, and something well worth watching, especially if to see an almost completely new perspective of Romeo and Juliet’s story.
