Baz Luhrmann's New Take on Romeo and Juliet

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What is the first thing that comes to mind when Shakespeare is mentioned? Boring and dull classroom, heads on the desks, words that makes no sense yet you are expected to know what it means. Does this sound appealing, would you pay good money to be bored out of your mind? Absolutely no, won’t even think about it. But when I heard a MTV director was going to direct this boring classic in a bid to get a young audience interested in Shakespeare, I thought it’s a long shot but worth a go. After watching the movie I was left in disbelief, was that possible? Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was a hit. Baz Luhrmanhn is a movie guru; working at MTV really gave him that edge

Just in the opening scene we are in for a treat. Luhrmann knows how to work the camera in just the right ways. What I liked about the opening parts of the scenes was the speed of the editing; it was like a rollercoaster ride starting off slowly zooming into the TV then just zooms through the city at tremendous speed so you have just enough time to pick out the main settings. The bird’s eye view of the city was a mixture of real life news reporting because of its grainy texture and the camera a shaking a bit as though if was live. You also get a real sense of the dangers in the city but also a sense of security because in the scene it is mainly focused on the police of the city, showing them arresting a man, police riots, close up on their vehicles and most importantly the helicopters in the air. He also took a risk by adding different convention from different genres by introducing the characters by labelling them like in cowboy movies was rather cheesy and was a small upset in the film. The way he used the montage was great, it was anachronistic yet powerful. Baz...

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.... He dresses the Montague boys in open shirts, Hawaii printed, baggy trousers and their haircuts say a lot about them, they are rebellious. Whereas the Capulets are dressed in black, leathery suits and they are look formal and organised but are portrayed as dangerous men whereas the Montagues are shown as unorganised scared and very cocky. The cast is another good thing about the film it uses young trendy superstars and future stars such as heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio, the beautiful Claire Danes, and the cool John Leguizamo amongst many others.

Shakespeare has truly gone through a transformation from being a boring 400 year old play to an action packed, romance filled and has got the love/hate theme spot on. What I liked the most about the film was the opening and how mind gripping it was. I believe it was produced so well even Shakespeare would be proud of.

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