MovieChat Forums > Romeo & Juliet Discussion > Saw It What the Hell?

Saw It What the Hell?

posted 11 years ago by charlesfernandez515
6 replies | jump to latest

Ok look I love R &J the play but this was...I don't know what. The acting was all over the place things were added. No Passion between the two leads. Death scene added something that I don't think should have been added.

Positives: Ed Westwick, Paul Giamatti and Damien Lewis stole the show. Booth at least appeared to be making an effort. Visually it was excellent. Was glad to see the Paris/Romeo fight finally put in.

Negatives: 0 Passion between the two leads, at no point did I ever believe these two were in so much love/or lust as some would say that they would take their own life. Scenes were added that were just not needed.
For example: In the play it goes from The wedding to Benvolio and Mercutio and Benvolio saying "I pray thee Good Mercutio let's retire." In the movie It went wedding, and then for some reason a scene of Tybalt practicing with swords intercut with a scene of Romeo and Juliet running along a meadow and kissing against a tree.

Another Neg. it was too short and it felt very rushed.

I love R & J but this was I don't know what. 4/10.

[–] EmmyHall 11 years ago

I agree... It was a very lackluster ADAPTATION of Romeo and Juliet. The added dialogue and *extra* scene didn't fit at all. The soliloquies and speeches were so watered down, it sounded ridiculous.

The most disappointing thing I thought, was Hailee Steinfeld. I wasn't sure about her casting in the first place but I thought since she was an Oscar nom, her acting skills must have been impressive. I was dead wrong. She mumbled her lines and it didnt feel like she understood them at all (balcony scene...oh god). Her chemistry with Booth was so unconvincing, coupled with the fact that he was much "prettier" than her...it didn't work.

I liked Damian Lewis and I even thought Ed Westwick was very convincing at times. Paul Giamatti, great as he is, was trying really hard but it came off as over acting to me. Maybe because of the *beep* revisions and overall talent of the cast, there could have been lots of factors.

Overall, I wouldn't watch this again or dare show it to my grade 9 English class. I'll stick with Zeferelli and take Baz Luhrman's version over this any day.

[–] archer6749 11 years ago

Death scene added something that I don't think should have been added.

What exactly was that that they added?

[–] charlesfernandez515 11 years ago

Well spoilers

In the play Romeo dies at least a few seconds before she wakes up so much so that in the original text Juliet even says something along the lines of "Where is my love? blah blah blah." And the friar has to even point him out on the floor.

In the Dicaprio version and this they have her wake up before he dies and it doesn't work really.

Something else they put in I wish they hadn't: In the play it ends more then likely on stage with the two head of households shaking hands then everyone walking off. In the movie it added in another 30 seconds where Benvolio gets up walks up between the two bodies and puts R and J's hands together. Now when I was in the Theatre it was painfully obvious that was gonna happen that I was actually screaming to myself." Don't do it. Just go to credits. Don't make me lower my score even more by doing something this cliché."

[–] Freethink7 11 years ago

One of the very few positives of this adaptation is they added the final fight between Paris and Romeo. For some reason, the Zeffirelli and Luhrmann versions avoided it. Ironically, in this version the character of Paris was so pale that it didn't even matter whether showed it or not.

[–] charlesfernandez515 11 years ago

To me that is a positive but it just made me cry even more at the screw up that was this movie. I mean they finally put in a scene I don't even think most stage versions put in and the movie still failed for me.

[–] lydia-walker 11 years ago

Yes it did suck alot. My feeling from after seeing the movie was mainly confusion I sorta didn't know what was actually happening mainly because of the fact that there was no actual emotion of love between the two leads so it sorta felt weird and forced. And don't get me started on the horrible green screen that was put in the wedding scene I was like what the #%$^$ is this. But there was actually one scene that made the movie worth seeing and I saw myself rewinding and watching it again cause it was awesome is when Friar Lawrence freaking slaps the hell out of Douglas it was so awesome it was like Paul hated Douglass acting so much that he wanted to smack the horrible acting out of him and boy did he. Oh and the end with her waking up before he dies is so freaking taken from the 96 one and the very last scene was so freaking cheesey I mean it could of worked if it was a good movie but it wasn't so it failed.