Romeo and Juliet (2013)

There are so many film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet that any new version must face the question: was this necessary?  Well, perhaps.  Since Zeffirelli's version, there have been three major adaptations that I know of:

1. Baz Luhrmann's magnum opus Romeo + Juliet, which was true to the dialogue while messing with the setting,
2. Shakespeare in Love, which messes with the story (I mean, yeah, technically it isn't Romeo & Juliet, but close enough),
3. this one. 

So, perhaps it was time to once again have a version that was true to the setting.  Still, it's hard to compete with Claire Danes, Gwyneth Paltrow, young Leonardo di Caprio, Joseph Fiennes, and especially Harold Perrineau (there will never be another film Mercutio like his). 

So, what can the 2013 version do to compete?  Well, they:

• have some fabulous locations and set design.
• have a wonderful Benvolio in Kodi-Smit McPhee.  In the opening minutes when it wasn't entirely clear who the characters were, we were hoping beyond hope that he was Romeo.
• scored Paul Giamatti as Friar Laurence.  Unfortunately, they've fallen in love with the fact that they scored Paul Giamatti as the friar, and give him more screen time than the role deserves (it's Romeo & Juliet, not Romeo & Juliet & Friar Laurence).
• mess with the story, and appear to make Mercutio a champion of the Montagues, rather than a friend of Romeo's and essentially an innocent bystander to, and tragic casualty of, the feud, thus sapping all the energy from "a plague on both your houses". There is one change that I actually really like, but don't want to spoil it.