I had high hopes for this remake of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. With the creator of “Downton Abbey” at the helm, it seemed like this interpretation would help the centuries-old story reach a new generation much like Baz Luhrmann’s modernized version did in 1996. Unfortunately, a few bad decisions in the pre-production process caused this ship to sink before it left port. My key issue with this film is its script. Any time that you take on a classic of this magnitude, you have to keep the building blocks in place. In the instance of anything Shakespeare, those building blocks are the monologues and dialogue which he has already laid out in play form. It is up to the director to place these words into a context that reaches beyond the capabilities of the Renaissance stage. Whether they do this by filming in visually astounding scenic locations, capturing the essence of the setting through costuming, or even replacing the swords with guns to emphasize the timelessness of the themes, the key is to enhance Shakespeare’s words through the use of movie magic. The production staff of this adaptation failed miserably in this respect. Rather than preserving the source material, they selected excerpts of his original text to tell their version of the story. The end result feels like a CliffsNotes summary of events without most of the emotions that we feel when experiencing the original.
My other issue with this film is the casting of Juliet: It was a horrible mistake. I can’t blame the production crew for casting Hailee Steinfeld after her Oscar-nominated performance as Mattie Ross in “True Grit.” Everybody walked away from that film completely blown away by her acting maturity and ability to command the screen. I don’t know if it was poor direction or too much pressure for a 16-year-old to take on this iconic role, but her entire performance is underacted. I found myself growing upset as she glossed over some of literature's greatest monologues. How can anybody rush through the “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” and “Come, gentle night” soliloquies with so little emotion or thought? Her underacting becomes more obvious as you realize how perfectly the remainder of the actors are cast. Douglas Booth is incredible as Romeo, bringing passion to every single line that he delivers. Paul Giamatti is consistently one of the best character actors of this generation and he lives up to his reputation as the Friar Lawrence. Mercutio and Tybalt were cast with raw testosterone in mind while Lesley Manville shines as the Nurse. Even Damian Lewis manages to create a breathtaking moment in the small role of Lord Capulet. These wonderful performances should help us to see past Steinfeld and the altered script but more issues arrived with the editing process. The editors seemed to lack an understanding of the pacing of a stage play, which creates definitive breaks between each scene. Without these breaks, the story feels rushed and it becomes difficult to mentally transition from one set of events to the next. Sure enough, this adaptation eliminated pushes one scene into the next without a moment to breathe. This is worsened by a musical score that also treats the entire film like a single long scene. The music seems to continually play on a loop in the background instead of developing themes that could create a buildup to the big moments in the story. I especially noticed this in the wedding scene, which seemed to come and go without much thought or emphasis. It seems like it would take a lot of effort to ruin such a classic story, but they managed to do so! This adaptation of “Romeo & Juliet” falls so completely short of Shakespeare’s masterwork that it does not even deserve to bear the same name.
[Pictured: The film is full of great performances, but it doesn't matter when the script is built with the wrong building blocks]
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