William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet [Blu-ray]

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD

Baz Luhrmann’s modern classic unfolds with its heart on its sleeve and guns ablaze. In this dazzling adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic love story, Oscar® Nominee Leonardo DiCaprio stars opposite Claire Danes. They light up the screen as the original star-crossed lovers against a thumping soundtrack and a boldly imagined modern-day setting. A brand-new transfer from the original camera negative has been overseen frame by frame by director Baz Luhrmann for this Blu-ray release, making the film available in high definition for the first time.
Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom) takes a shot at reinventing Shakespeare's story of star-crossed lovers as a visual pastiche inspired by MTV imagery, Hong Kong action-picture clichés, and Luhrmann's own taste for deliberate, gaudy excess. The result is explosive chaos, both in terms of bullets and visual sensibility, which some may find impossible to stick with for more than a few minutes. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes play the leads, though not with much distinction, while Pete Postlethwaite makes a huge impression as this movie's version of Friar Laurence. The film is successful in spots, but overall its fever-dream game plan is difficult to ride out. --Tom Keogh