Rating: PG13
Genre:
Romance
Release Date: 02/06/2007
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DTS/DD5.1/DS
Run Time: 120 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Suitable for Teens
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
The classic
Shakespearean romantic tragedy is updated by director
Baz Luhrmann to a post-modern Verona Beach where swords are merely a brand of gun and bored youths are easily spurred toward violence. Longtime rivals in religion and business, the Montagues and the Capulets share a page from the Jets and Sharks of
West Side Story when they form rival gangs.
Romeo (
Leonardo DiCaprio) is aloof toward the goings-on of his Montague cousins, but after he realizes that
Juliet (
Claire Danes) is a Capulet at the end of one very wild party, the enmity between the two clans becomes the root of his angst. He relies heavily -- and with serious consequences -- on his rebel gender-bender of a friend,
Mercutio (
Harold Perrineau Jr.), and Father (not Friar)
Lawrence (
Pete Postlethwaite) for protection and support.
Romeo is, of course, exiled, and it looks like
Juliet will be forced into an arranged marriage with the bland
Paris (
Paul Rudd). It ends, as
Romeo and
Juliet must, when
Romeo hears a tragic piece of misinformation and brings his suicide wish to what was meant to be
Juliet 's temporary tomb. This time, though, the turf and the weapon of choice have taken a turn toward the surreal.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
