This was movie number 2 of last Friday’s outing with Jumong amidst the super typhoon Yolanda. We finished early with “Battle of the Year” so we figured we could squeeze in one more movie. And because Carlo Carlei’s Romeo and Juliet was the only other option aside from Thor, we went in to see it.

I saw the trailer for this movie a few months back and thought that yeah, I agree: it is high time for another re-telling of this story; after all, it’s been almost twenty years since Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet.

So here’s my round up of Romeo and Juliet (2013): (Note that here maybe spoilers. Read at your own risk.)

THE GOOD:

1. The backdrop. It was gorgeous! I read somewhere that they actually went to Mantua, Verona (where the play originally was set) to film and I think it really did help set the tone. With a backdrop like that, it’s not that hard to get into the Shakespearean speech and just go with it.

2. Douglas Booth’s Romeo. The accent, the jaw, the eyes, hell, even the hair was perfect. He gave so much sincerity while delivering his lines that it was sort of hard not to go gooey in your seat when he was talking.

3. That one epic moment when Paul Giamatti’s Friar Laurence bitch slapped some sense into Romeo. I don’t remember reading that scene in the original text, but yeah the act was very fitting and natural. Actually now that I think about it, all teenagers stuck in the narcissistic throes of adolescent angst should’ve had one of these slaps. God knows that would’ve helped.

4. The supporting cast. They were all excellent in the roles, especially Lesley Manville’s neurotic Nurse, Paul Giamatti’s sensible Friar Laurence, Damian Lewis’ (Homeland) realistic Lord Capulet, Stellan Skarsgard’s (Tho, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) righteous Prince of Verona and Kodi Smit-Mcphee’s (Let Me In) innocent Benvolio.

THE BAD:

1. Hailee Steinfield’s (True Grit) Juliet. It just didn’t work. Maybe it was that she was too young or that she didn’t have enough experience as an actor to pull off this role, or maybe because she couldn’t generate much chemistry with Doulas Booth. I can say one thing though- she really was pretty and she did capture Juliet’s childlike innocence.

2. Tom Wisdom’s (Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) Count Paris. to be fair, the acting was okay; it was the stupid hair and the stupider hat that bothered me.

THE UGLY:

1. Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) as Tybalt. Good God, was he hamming it up. And I thought he was bad as Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl because of the stilted American Accent. It turns out that he might just plain sucks at the acting bit. There was no subtlety at all plus he kept on doing this stupid Bieber-esque head twitch to get the hair off his face.

2. Christian Cook’s Mercutio’s death scene. It was just too cliche, which was a shame because he played the other scenes so well!

3. The fact that they didn’t stay true to the original text at all. I’m all for creative license but what was the point of having them speak the text if you’re not going to follow the play? And don’t tell me that it just wouldn’t translate well on film; Baz Lhurman was able to do it and he put the play in a modern setting!

Some parts worked but most parts didn’t, which is a shame considering that this film is this generation’s Version of the story. It’s still worth seeing but probably not in the big screen. I say save your bucks for something better.

Final Verdict: 5/10