William Shakespeare's
ROMEO AND JULIET

• Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes
• Directed by Baz Luhrmann
• Rated PG-13, with strong violence and implied sexual situations; running time 113 minutes
• With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a 9

(Oct. 31, 1996) -- When confronted with Baz Luhrmann's wild new version of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare traditionalists may indeed ask, "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

After all, this tale of star-crossed lovers takes place in a modern, lurid fantasy world of guns, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

Quaint, medieval Verona is now Verona Beach, a seedy resort town where roving Montague and Capulet gangs blast away at each other with cynical abandon. And towering over the two sides of the imagined city are skyscrapers, adorned with giant letters, spelling out the names of the city's two "households," both alike in dignity.

Hot teen stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes play the title characters, and Shakespeare's great romance has been reimagined for a new generation of filmgoers who look to music videos and Quentin Tarantino to define style and energy on the screen.

The narrator is a TV newscaster, the opening brawl takes place at a gas station, and the famous, romantic balcony encounter now occurs in a swimming pool.

But here's the kicker: The original Shakespearean language remains intact. Some of the original play has been cut or rearranged, but the dialogue is definitely Shakespearean, in every thee and thou.

And the language works at least partly because Luhrmann places the tale in an IMAGINED modern world -- this is no real California or Florida beach town. Think of it more as an alternate universe -- a place with cars and guns where people talk in "thees" and "thous."

In other words, this is no West Side Story, loosely interpreting a Shakespearean play for its own ends. Rather, it IS Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, uprooted into a new setting for a new generation.

That may explain why Luhrmann had the nerve to title his film William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. As Luhrmann boldly states in his introduction to his published screenplay: We're trying to make this movie rambunctious, sexy, violent and entertaining the way Shakespeare might have if he had been a filmmaker.

On all four goals, Luhrmann succeeds. This Romeo & Juliet is utterly audacious, an explosive romp through Shakespeare's tale of blood feud, passionate romance, misguided hope and intimate tragedy.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes couldn't be better matched than as this most famous of all adolescent lovers, as they express the impatience and idealism of youth, and their frustration with the ancient enmity of their families. Danes is especially a wonder, giving fresh, honest breath to Juliet's oft-quoted lines, and a scrubbed-faced, youthful look to the role.

Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet can't escape comparison with Franco Zeffirelli's popular 1968 version, and viewers can argue forcefully for either the innovative 1996 style or the ultratraditional medieval style of the 1968 film. But the superior lead performances in the new version can't be denied -- Danes and DiCaprio leave Zeffirelli's teen lovers in the dust.

The new supporting cast reflects the film's imaginative, eclectic, colorblind approach: The battling young turks of the families -- Tybalt and Mercutio -- are played, for example, with attitude and pizazz by the Latin John Leguizamo and the black Harold Perrineau.

Brian Dennehy and Paul Sorvino are the warring patriarchs; Pete Postlewaite projects both Father Lawrence's playful humor and his deep pain; Miriam Margolyes offers comic relief as Juliet's nurse; and M. Emmet Walsh does his trademark slimy thing as Verona Beach's resident drug dealer, the Apothecary.

Luhrmann, the inventive Australian filmmaker behind Strictly Ballroom, holds nothing back in this extravagant adaptation. He uses every possible camera trick, wild color schemes, stunning costumes, eye-popping settings, and cleverly choreographed violence to capture the attention of a young audience.

And once they're paying attention, I'll bet Shakespeare will open their ears and hearts to his timeless tale.

"For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo."