Romeo and Juliet - The Movie

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Romeo and Juliet - The Movie

The new release of Romeo and Juliet is fun, fast and exciting to watch.

It is a slick cinematic rendition of Shakespeare's work brought to the screen

for contemporary movie-goers. There is something for everyone in this movie. A

timeless story, a dynamic cast, a hip soundtrack, great sets and costumes and

plenty of action. From the beginning the audience is told," buckle up, this

Romeo and Juliet ride is going to be like no other Shakespeare you've ever

ridden." This movie supports the notion that the stage is an actor's medium and

the cinema is the director's. Romeo and Juliet is a feast for the eyes and

does a great job of engaging the audience with the story at all times through

various cinematic techniques and tricks which make understanding Shakespeare fun,

interesting, fresh and easy.

Visually dynamic, and edited with a sense of urgency, most movie-goers will

get caught up in the story and forget that they are listening to the Bard. It

is Shakespeare's words and text, however, the sights and sounds are as clearly,

possibly overshadowing, telling the same parallel story. One could say that

there are visually emotional subtitles throughout the movie directing the

audience to understand and engage in the most famous love story in an entirely

new way. One can argue that this version of Romeo and Juliet would be

understood even without spoken words. The camera-work tells the story as

clearly as the text. There are very few moments in this movie when the camera

stops moving. Like Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers the editing is fierce

and in your face. There is little time to think as the perpetual images flash

across the screen. And it works. You become entranced and cannot wait to see

what happens next even if you are already familiar with the story. It feels new.

Like many contemporary Shakespeare productions, the text has been

slightly edited but this does nothing to dilute the story. The dialogue, for

the most part, is not delivered by master thespians, rather, we hear

contemporary film actors delivering the Bard's words as though this were present

day English in New York or Los Angeles.

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