Romeo & Juliet is one of the best-known and most-beloved tragic love stories. Verona is divided by a long-standing blood feud between two families—the Capulets and the Montagues.

Lord Capulet (Damian Lewis) holds a masked ball to find his daughter Juliet (Hailee Steinfeld) a suitor. Romeo (Douglas Booth), son of Montague, crashes the party so he can see Rosaline, a young woman he has been longing for. However, when his eyes meet Juliet’s it is love at first sight. The pair sneak away and kiss, but When they remove their masks they are shocked and saddened to discover that each other is from the rival house. But they refuse to let the feud between their families keep them apart, and continue to see each other in secret. Once they are discovered, others try to tear them apart.

I have never been a huge fan of Shakespeare’s work, primarily because I always found the dialogue extremely difficult to understand. I had heard that this Romeo & Juliet film was not a completely faithful performance of the words of William Shakespeare. And since the screenplay was written by Julian Fellowes, creator of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, I had really high hopes that this would be a retelling of the story using more-modern language. However, this film is some oddly-abridged version of Shakespeare’s play—Fellowes has primarily used the Bard’s original text, but has dropped lines and replaced words at will.

It’s a shame that the dialogue is so messy, because the other aspects of the film are actually quite well done. The action and fight scenes are well-choreographed and, for the most part, the performances are great. Douglas Booth (“Romeo”) and Hailee Steinfeld (“Juliet”) play their roles well, have great chemistry, and portray believable emotions. Ed Westwick (“Tybalt”) is also well-cast in his villainous role, and Lesley Manville’s performance as the Nurse was excellent. If I had to point to a negative, it would be that it felt like Damian Lewis was over-acting at times.

The film itself looks stunning—every detail of the beautiful sets, landscapes and costumes are captured on this Blu-ray. And the audio track helps to add to the ambiance of scenes, and delivers the booming orchestral score. As for bonus features, the disc only contains four short promotional behind-the-scenes featurettes.

I’m not sure who the target audience for this film is as die-hard Shakespeare fans will not appreciate the alterations to the source material, and others will still find the dialogue difficult to understand. However, the film is quite beautiful to watch, and even with the poor writing, you still get a great sense of what it going on, and the same spirit of the original play is still there. That said, I recommend a rental before a blind buy.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:58:32)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 2/4/2017):

• UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy redeemable via Flixster, Google Play or Vudu

Extras:

• Cast and Crew (3:15)
  The cast and crew talk about working on the film. Includes interviews with stars Douglas Booth (“Romeo”), Ed Westwick (“Tybalt”), Damian Lewis (“Lord Capulet”), Hailee Steinfeld (“Juliet”), and Paul Giamatti (“Friar Laurence”), costume designer Carlo Poggioli, and Chairperson of Swarovski Entertainment Ltd Nadja Swarovski.
• The Filmmaker’s Vision (3:51)
  The creators talk about casting the film and adapting the play for a new generation. Includes interviews with director Carlo Carlei, Chairperson of Swarovski Entertainment Ltd Nadja Swarovski, screenwriter Julian Fellowes, and producer Ileen Maisel.
• Creating the Look (3:39)
  The cast and crew discuss the costumes and take a look at how they were designed and created. Includes interviews with co-producer & visual consultant Milena Canonero, costume designer Carlo Poggioli, Chairperson of Swarovski Entertainment Ltd Nadja Swarovski, and stars Natascha McElhone (“Lady Capulet”), Stellan Skarsgård (“Prince of Verona”), Hailee Steinfeld (“Juliet”), and Paul Giamatti (“Friar Laurence”).
• Hair and Make-Up (2:16)
  The cast and crew discuss the hair and make-up. Includes interviews with makeup artist Laura Borzelli, and stars Douglas Booth (“Romeo”), Natascha McElhone (“Lady Capulet”), Damian Lewis (“Lord Capulet”), and Ed Westwick (“Tybalt”).
• Theatrical Trailer (2:26)
• Sneak Peek (9:34)
  Play All or select from trailers for “Belle”, “The Book Thief”, “Baggage Claim”, and “Enough Said”.

Final Thoughts:

Romeo & Juliet looks stunning, contains an attractive cast who give good performances, and the overall story and feel are still faithful to Shakespeare’s work, but the screenplay is a bit of a mess. I’m not sure who the target audience is for this film—in the bonus features Julian Fellowes states that his goal was to make the play more accessible to a new generation. However, die-hard fans of the Bard’s work will not appreciate the alterations to his text, and those who already couldn’t understand the original dialogue won’t find this film any easier.