Two families divided by hate bring civil war and tragedy to fair Verona. Amidst all the hatred and violence are two star-crossed lovers, Romeo from the Montague family, and Juliet from the Capulet family, living true, but forbidden love.
Even if you don’t understand the writing, the work of Shakespeare is timelessly romantic and beautifully tragic. Baz Luhrmann retells the timeless tale of tragedy and romance in this stunning film filled with action, true love, violence, and drama.
Two households; both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loin of these two foes, a pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth with their death, bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love and the continuance of their parents’ rage, which but their children’s end, nought could remove, is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage.
Two families divided by hate bring civil war and tragedy to fair Verona. Amidst all the hatred and bloodshed are two star-crossed lovers, Romeo of the Montague family, and Juliet of the Capulet family, living true, but forbidden love.
Baz Luhrmann is a really clever filmmaker. We were bowled over by the romance and unbridled passion of the lovers in Moulin Rouge! because Luhrmann used the raw power of the musical genre, something not seen on modern screens for quite some time. In Strictly Ballroom, the passion and drama was evident in the dances that the lovers performed. And here, in a stunning retelling of Shakespeare’s timeless classic, the old Shakespearean language is used and plays strikingly against a violently modern setting. The contrast is just dazzling; to see Leonardo DiCaprio spout a poetic monologue about such love he feels and then whip out a gun and engage in a violent brawl is just dazzling. It takes the classic and puts it in a modern, dirty, and violent setting, but it still maintains its dignity and power. It’s just stunning!
Packed with wonderful performances from Leonardo DeCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Peter Postlethwaite, Miriam Margoyles, Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, and Paul Rudd, Romeo + Juliet is a dazzling triumph filled with action, violence, brawls, bloodshed, beauty, romance, and much breathtaking drama.
After saying all this though, I will admit that, although this film is brilliant and a stunning work, I still don’t think it has anything on Moulin Rouge! As tragic as the story is, and as beautiful as the film is made, I still don’t feel the need to have it in the collection. It’s sad, but true… But you should still all watch the movie!
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