The 1996 movie William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was an interesting interoperation of the original play The Most Excellent and Lamentable Romeo and Juliet. The movie is set in modern times, and uses guns instead of swords, but uses the original text used in the play. This makes the movie different from others, even though they usually leave the events unchanged.
The combination of modern and old was not always a perfect match, and was often the opposite. One thing that was obvious to me was the actors were usually either shouting or whispering their lines. This is alright in some situations, like if Romeo and Juliet are trying to be unheard, but they use this too often and don’t have any in-between. This gets annoying when they should just be talking normally. Another problem is the awkward transitions between scenes. These too are also loud, and usually had odd camera angles.. Some other things that weren’t great about the movie was that the actors always were breathing heavy, which got in the way of the dialog and made you miss a lot of the lines. Another problem I have with the film is that when they said the lines, because of the original text, it just sounded like the the actors were speaking their lines, not actually in the situation, so it doesn’t feel as real.
One thing I did enjoy was that they tried to do something different, but that something different just didn’t seem to work, at least for me. I think the reason that they would have tried this was because they wanted to make the movie different from others because there have been so many versions remade from the original play. I also enjoyed one of the transitions, even though it was made the same way as the others. This transition was the transition between Mercutio’s death, and Tybalt’s. What made this one better than the others because the load sounds, weird camera angles, and people shouting works because Romeo is caught up in rage, and the only thing he cares about is killing Tybalt.
Overall, I thought William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was an O.K movie, but I would have enjoyed it more if they went completely one way or the other, like if they completely modernize it, or base the play entirely in old time, which they then could use the original text.

Today was a strange day of odd events. I married the magnificent Juliet in hopes of joining the families of Montague and Capulet. I was so happy and exhilarated to do this, and so was Juliet. I had made plans for her nurse to bring a rope latter to her balcony and after dark, I could be with my wife, and we could have a chance of happiness. After the wedding, I decided to stroll over to my family’s palace and ran into my cousin Mercutio and my friend Benvolio. We traded jokes as they speculated that I was in a better mood than before. This went on for a while, until Tybalt showed up. He was my cousin now, so I tried to make peace between the two of us. Tybalt was not thinking as I was. Tybalt wanted me to die in a fight, but then Mercutio decided to make cracks at Tybalt, which only made Tybalt angrier. Then I tried to stop Tybalt, but it seemed useless, I couldn’t get his attention. Then Tybalt had switched his attention to Mercutio, and I had a last attempt by standing between the two. Tybalt thrusted his sword underneath my arm, and killed my cousin. I was furious when I saw him lying on the ground, and then Tybalt had the audacity to come back, and he did not deserve to live while Mercutio lie dead. I challenged him, and Claimed him or I would go with Mercutio to heaven. We battled to the death and I ended the fight with Tybalt falling. I am now in hiding and have slim to no chance of joining the Capulets and Montagues. Oh Mercutio, why did you have to push Tybalt? I may have been able to stop his rage if Mercutio hadn’t been so stupid. Why did I have to fight him? Now I am stuck with the blame of Tybalt’s death when I was attacked, not him. The Capulets will hate me, and probably want me dead, and the towns people probably hate me too. Why? Why is my luck so cruel? Why did Tybalt have to kill him? Me and Juliet will lose the chance to have our relative’s permeation to be together in Verona. I have to live knowing that I was the one who caused this catastrophe. My life was going to be well, I was a happy, married man, but only for a few hours. Oh! What a sad day! Sad day! I was foolish to accept Tybalt’s challenge. I had the chance to have a great life! Be responsible for the joining of two great powers. I could have been written about for future generations, and I through it all away, just for revenge. If I would have stayed calm, Tybalt would be under the mercy of the price. I will suffer the death penalty, I will never complete my marriage with Juliet, so much of my life thrown away in a stupid act! I might as well do the job myself, tell the friar to tell my parents I have died, and join Mercutio. Unless I am tolded otherwise, it seems like what may happen anyways.