ROMEO & JULIET

Needless to say, this 2013 remake of Romeo & Juliet was not high on my list of 'must-see' films, in fact I had scarcely even heard of it and its forgettable trailer and z-list cast made me wonder exactly what I was letting myself in for when I went along to the cinema on Tuesday night.

Directed by Carlo Carlei, this film is simply yet another rework of Shakespeare's classic play about two star-crossed lovers Romeo & Juliet. In case you live under a rock, a brief summary of the plot: Romeo (Douglas Booth) and Juliet (Hailee Steinfield) are on opposing sides of a long-standing feud between two families. However, when they meet at a masquerade ball they immediately fall in love and marry in secret - however, tragedy soon ensues.

Carlei can not compete with the 1996 masterpiece

The story has been made into film countless times - from the traditional to the animated to the outrageous but perhaps the most prominent interpretation comes from the Baz Luhrmann's 1996 masterpiece Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo Dicaprio. Unsurprisingly, Carlei's version doesn't even come close to the levels of Luhrmann's brilliance.

I suppose the most important point to mention is that Carlei has stuck to the more traditional depiction of the story. There are sword fights, they are in 'fair Verona', there are no fights at petrol stations nor any murder on the beach. One criticism that I can't understand is that it 'bastardizes Shakespeare' - this film holds the closest imitation of the actual play from any of the films that were made this side of the 1970s (sadly the 'Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?' debate was mercilessly cut), although the 1996 version is the stronger film by miles, if either of the two were to be accused of bastardizing Shakespeare, I would have thought it'd be the that one.

Despite sticking to the language of the play and paying homage to traditional Shakespeare, the incredibly weak cast are the huge downfall of this film. Reminiscent of a bad school play, it was clear that much of the cast - namely Hailee Steinfield who was unfortunately one of the leads - simply memorized their lines but didn't bother to look into the meaning of the words. It was obvious that they did not understand this old English language of which they were speaking and it made for awkward, emotionless and confused dialogue being recited in a way that can only be described as cringe-inducing.

Surprisingly, aside from our Juliet, the most painful performance came from Damian Lewis who floundered as Juliet's dad. A performance so bad that it actually defied belief as he over-acted his way through the two-hour film, trumping any other bad performance within the film almost as though the actors were secretly in competition for the title of Worst Actor.

Most of the cast seemed to be competing for the title of 'Worst Actor'

The only shred of acting capability came from Douglas Booth as Romeo. Still not the strongest of performances and he definitely doesn't have the charm and loveability that DiCaprio brought to the character in 1996, but he at least appeared to understand the lines that he was reciting and he managed to have a slither of believable passion as a character, which is more than can be said for anybody else.

Let's be honest, the film was clearly on a tight budget - this was proven by the fact you could see the actor's breath as they spoke throughout most of the indoors scenes as they were clearly freezing on set -, the cast were amateurish and the entire thing felt a bit clunky and awkward. However, it was still watchable and I have to say I have certainly seen much worse films this year. As a traditional re-telling of the classic play, it is a good adaptation; it sticks to the original script and transports you back to the time of which it was set. It is just a shame that the cast made this feel more like an awkward High School play than one of the most renowned pieces of fiction  to exist.

All in all I award Romeo & Juliet: ★✯☆☆☆

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Love,