Romeo + Juliet (1996) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:00welcome it's me beau here on the film scene investigation channel hope you're doing well

00:18in today's film review i'm going to be taking a look at the 1996 drama romeo and juliet

00:28now i remember watching this movie as a kid when i was over at my cousin's house back in the late

00:3590s i mean this was obviously a huge hollywood blockbuster and yeah given all the marketing and

00:43you know the advertisements it was everywhere you know you couldn't escape it before we get into

00:49the review guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support

00:55is greatly appreciated so romeo and juliet from 1996 was directed by the filmmaker baz lerman and

01:07of course was based on the iconic work from william shakespeare now this is a classic story that has

01:16been retold many times throughout the years but this particular version by baz lerman was a more

01:25stylish and extravagant interpretation while the previous adaptations had you know leaned heavily

01:36on the historical accuracy baz lerman in this case decided to modernize a story placing it in a urban

01:47environment and very much embracing that 90s pop culture as for the narrative the movie focused on the

01:56character romeo who was played by actor leonardo dicaprio the son of lord montague a powerful family

02:05that lived in verona beach romeo and his friends the montague boys well they were all about having a

02:15great time partying and occasionally taking drugs one night we actually saw romeo and his friends

02:23gate crash the costume feast party that was held at the capulet mansion a party with extravagant dancers

02:32and singers once he and his friends arrived the chaos ensued and it wasn't long before romeo

02:40set his eyes on juliet the daughter of lord capulet who was played by claire danes it was love at first

02:49sight and uh yeah i mean romeo was clearly enthralled by what he saw and also juliet too she clearly took a

02:58liking to romeo and within a few minutes of meeting the two were kissing each other of course this was

03:05a fictional tale and heavily leaned into the you know romance of it all so for that it was a magical

03:15moment you know for the two embracing each other but little did they know that they were both a part

03:21of two separate families who hated each other and well there was absolutely no way that their families

03:30would agree to them having a relationship as i said there was just too much bad blood for the couple

03:39to actually go on and you know be together but regardless their love proved too strong and we saw

03:47romeo and juliet eventually get married behind their families back the two were clearly madly in love

03:54with each other and um yeah you know that was nice to see my heart's a little jaded you know through

04:00bad relationships but uh yeah even i can appreciate the romanticism of it all but the happiness wouldn't

04:10last long as the feud between the capulets and the montagues continued to escalate and spiral out of

04:20control this would all lead to the death of mercutio romeo's best friend at the hands of juliet's cousin

04:29tybalt who was played by john neguiziamo tybalt was a well he was unhinged uh he was a

04:40guy that you wouldn't want to mess with he had a you know a sure fuse a loose cannon and once he found

04:47out about his cousin juliet marrying a montague he completely lost it he intended to kill romeo

04:56but in the crossfire it was mercutio who got stabbed and of course once mercutio was dead

05:04his best friend romeo well he couldn't just stand back and just let that happen so he himself went

05:12on a rampage to avenge his friend's death we saw romeo chase down tybalt and uh well basically

05:20shoot him point blank i mean there was no way about it it was it was murder and after he'd killed

05:26tybalt romeo then had to leave immediately out of town leave rona beach leave juliet behind

05:33and escape the authorities the two would eventually reunite later on in the film and eventually we

05:40saw the couple end up killing themselves for a miscommunication after juliet faked her own death

05:47now there were many great scenes throughout this film but one that really stuck out to me was the

05:54opening sequence at the gas station you had the montague boys hanging out getting some gas

06:01when suddenly a car pulled up full of capulets looking for trouble while romeo's cousin tried his

06:09best to de-escalate the situation the capulets especially tybalt wasn't having any of it and a

06:19shootout then ensued from all the creative camera angles and the music that was used i mean this

06:27really was a high octane sequence that really set the tone for the rest of the film going into this

06:34audiences may have you know expected a very kind of slow and drawn out you know romantic love story

06:42but here we are you know guns and fire and you know it was uh it was great to see the editor jill

06:50bilcock did a wonderful job when it came to the editing they implemented a wide range of techniques

06:57including the extreme close-up and these rapid quick cuts you know to be honest that whole sequence it

07:05felt very much like like an old school mtv 90s music video you know that that's what it was obviously

07:15kind of um influenced by and you you know you saw that you know it kind of flowed just like a music

07:21video as for the film's overall look there can be no denying that romeo and juliet from 1996 was a very

07:31well-made production clearly a lot of time and effort gone into it and it showed on screen and

07:38you know the cinematographer donald mcalpine did a brilliant job you know bringing some really

07:45beautiful visuals to the film there were two actually that really stuck out to me and one of

07:51them was at the very beginning when we were introduced to romeo as he was standing on this stage that was

07:58located on verona beach you had this wide shot of romeo standing there on stage feeling lost confused

08:07lonely as the sun rose up in the background and yeah you know it's just a beautiful shot and um yeah

08:16just a great work from mcalpine the other visual that i really liked came at the end of the film

08:22when we saw the interior of the church with you know all the flowers and the neon crossings you had

08:31romeo sneaking into the church trying to avoid the authorities he pushed open the double doors

08:38and it was revealed you know this brilliant looking set piece it just looks so cool uh it's hard to kind

08:45put into words but it was um you know the combination of old meets new you know the neon lights you know

08:54representing a lot more of you know contemporary modernized kind of style and then we have candles

09:00and the flowers and of course the old school interior decor of the church it was just um yeah a great set

09:08piece and clearly whoever came up with that respect to them because uh it was great looking it really

09:15suited that kind of world in which baz lerman had created and um i'm not married i've never been married

09:23but if i had a choice i would love to get married in a church like that and thinking about it religion

09:31did play a big part it was a a major theme uh within this adaptation there was tons of christian

09:40and catholic iconography that we saw throughout the film you know from juliet's bedroom the way it was

09:47designed to the overall look of verona beach now even down to the little stuff that i noticed

09:55like the image of jesus printed on tybalt's red bulletproof vest i mean you know not only did it

10:03look good but it really suited his character i personally loved seeing all of the imagery on show

10:10and it felt very fresh compared to today's progressive standards another aspect that i really enjoyed

10:19was the fashion in this film there were so many awesome characters you know dressed up and uh in

10:28particular i love the look of the montague boys those guys really embraced the current 90s culture that

10:37you know was going on at the time especially the character samson romeo's cousin who was played by

10:43actor jamie kennedy he had this you know bright colorful shirt on he had some chains around

10:49his neck and had this you know short spiky pink hair uh yeah just a brilliant look suited that

10:57whole 90s counterculture that baz lerman was trying to showcase before we get into the performances

11:05i had to take a moment to talk about the amazing soundtrack to romeo and juliet one of the um

11:13yeah one of the best soundtracks i've heard in a long time there were so many good bands

11:18that were featured including radiohead and the cardigans you know they had some great tracks that

11:25really complemented the film's overall you know counterculture style i'm not a huge radiohead fan

11:32i think um i think they've been a little bit overhyped for the years but uh i will say their song

11:40talk show host that featured in this movie one of my favorite radiohead songs and uh yeah just um

11:47yeah brilliant brilliant stuff and you know it wasn't just the selection of tracks that were

11:54compiled that were great it was also how the songs were used within the film the song kissing you by

12:01the artist desri was featured during the scene where romeo and juliet kissed for the very first time

12:10the warm and soulful music that we heard you know it really heightened the romantic sensibilities that

12:20uh made it a standout moment you know in some ways it kind of reminded me of the train spotting soundtrack

12:27in the sense that you know you can just pick up the the soundtrack itself without ever kind of watching

12:33the film and just enjoy it for it being a great compilation of tracks as for the performances you

12:41know given this was such a large ensemble cast i really can't say that there were any bad performances

12:48i really can't i mean this was a big hollywood production a big summer blockbuster release and

12:55clearly all the actors knew this and brought their a-game from brian dennehy to pete possible weight

13:02to john laguizamma i mean there were some great performances throughout this film and uh yeah it was

13:09great to see as for leonardo dicapia i thought he was very good in the lead role he brought a sense of

13:17brooding intensity uh to his portrayal of romeo obviously when it came to the casting the filmmaker

13:25baz lerman was targeting a younger audience you know to entice them into the movie theaters so that

13:33was obviously one of the reasons why dicaprio was cast i mean he was the 90s heartthrob teenage girls

13:40loved him and so that made him the perfect choice i thought claire danes did a pretty good job

13:47playing juliet romeo's lover you know i can't say that there were any scenes that really stuck out

13:55to me that showed her you know brilliant acting ability but still you know she was very good and

14:01had some great chemistry with dicaprio one performance that did stick out to me was that of

14:07paul rudd who played the bachelor dave paris a man who was deeply in love with juliet sadly for him

14:16the feeling was not reciprocated this was of course an early role for paul rudd who had just starred in

14:25the halloween sequel the curse of michael myers one year earlier he played the part of dave paris

14:32very well and um you know just re-watching this film again after all these years and seeing paul rudd

14:39it's just amazing that the guy you know hasn't really aged he still looks you know relatively the

14:46same as he did over 30 years ago and i have to say as well before i revisited this film i had

14:53completely forgotten that jamie kennedy was even in this film you know i like kennedy and his comedic

15:01talents and he certainly fitted in and suited the kind of contemporary mtv style tone and vibe that

15:09baz lerman was going for with this adaptation what was really surprising to me though was that this was

15:17actually jamie kennedy's first feature film role i mean that's pretty amazing given the level of you

15:26this production this wasn't some sort of small indie film you know this was a huge hollywood blockbuster

15:33with some big stars you know some big established actors and yeah you know jamie kennedy comes in

15:40without hardly any experience and uh you know delivers a very good performance of course it wasn't a huge

15:46part and kennedy didn't really have much to do outside that opening sequence at the gas station

15:53but still it was a great debut performance and also you know what a great year jamie kennedy had

16:00in 1996 he had this movie and of course the film scream wes craven's a horror film that obviously was a

16:08another cult movie as well so yeah what uh what a great year he had so dislikes for romeo and juliet

16:16from 1996 my biggest dislike and i say i use the term dislike but it's really more of a nitpick there

16:25wasn't really anything that bad about this film but um if i had to be critical i would have to say the

16:33ending of the film that was um something that i i would have changed we had both romeo and juliet now

16:42deceased after obviously killing themselves and we had a montage of clips that we'd seen earlier in

16:51the film with the last shot being of romeo and juliet kissing in water for me this was absolutely

16:59perfect you know not just with the music but that image for me it really encapsulated the love that

17:08romeo and juliet had for each other they freeze framed it and there it was perfect and then i

17:15thought that you know cut to the credits but no there was this little two minute sequence that we

17:21saw of both romeo and juliet's bodies being put into the ambulance as all of the authorities and you know

17:29press and families looked on in sadness you know it was fine it didn't ruin the film as i said it was a

17:37nitpick but if i was in the editing room i would have said just scrap this last two minutes man we

17:43don't really need to see the bodies being put into the ambulance it doesn't really add anything we know

17:48they're dead you know just you know for a film that you know leans into the romanticism then hey that

17:57image of them kissing in the water was the perfect image to encapsulate and end this you know story this

18:06tragedy but um yeah no they didn't and uh for me it was just kind of ruined overall i just think

18:14it was a bit of a silly decision i understand that the ending kind of ties back into the very beginning

18:22you know with the media the press coverage but um yeah i just would have cut it so yeah that's my

18:29dislike for the film and so ratings for romeo and juliet from 1996 after thinking about it and taking

18:42into account you know the style and everything that was done i'm going to be rating this movie a strong

18:50seven out of ten you know this movie romeo and juliet was an extravagant interpretation

18:59that fused stunning visuals and some contemporary music with shakespeare's elizabethan dialogue

19:07the director baz lerman attempted to retell this classic shakespeare story and try to make it more

19:16accessible to a younger audience and uh you know by him steeping it all in you know pop culture

19:23i think uh he did a pretty good job if you've seen romeo and juliet from 1996 then please let me know

19:31your thoughts and memories in the comment section below for all those out there who haven't seen this

19:37yet i would definitely recommend it if you're a fan of you know big hollywood spectacle then definitely

19:47give it a go you'll enjoy it for those out there who you know are wanting more of a traditional

19:54interpretation then uh perhaps this version isn't for you and well that is all from me today guys i do

20:02hope you've enjoyed this review of baz lerman's romeo and juliet from 1996 i'll be back next week of

20:10course with another cult movie review if you like the content that i do here please consider subscribing

20:16to the channel all the support all the likes all that stuff you know i really do appreciate it

20:22and well take care see you next week

20:38you

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