Romeo and Juliet

     I just finished watching William Shakespeare's: Romeo and Juliet. Romeo Montague was played by Leonardo Dicaprio, Juliet Capulet was played by Claire Danes. Instead of Verona, Italy in the 1500's, the movie took place in basically what was Verona Beach, California in like the 1990's or so, basically it was more modern day. The film was a romantic drama and the literature work was a play.
     Basically what happens is Romeo falls in love with a girl who doesn't feel the same about him. In an effort to make him feel less depressed, Romeo's best friend Mercutio goes with him to the Capulet's party. Now, back up a second. Romeo is a Montague. The Capulets and the Montagues are major rivals. There are many problems for the city of Verona because of these two families. Ok now back to the party. Mercutio and Romeo and Benvolio, who is one of the Montague boys, disguise themselves to go to the Capulet party. At the party, Romeo meets Juliet. It was love at first sight. Neither of them knew that the other was their family's enemy. As the drama continues, Romeo and Juliet find ways to be together and then decide to get married. Romeo goes to Friar Lawerence who is basically the priest and asks him to marry him (Romeo) and Juliet. The Friar agrees thinking that this might be a way for the rivalry between the two families to end. So, Romeo and Juliet are married. Well then there is a turn in mood when Tyblat (Juliet's cousin) calls for Romeo to fight him. Romeo does not want to fight Tyblat because they are kind of relatives now that Romeo is married to Juliet. Mercutio gets into a fight with Tybalt instead. What ends up happening is Tybalt kills Mercutio and, out of rage, Romeo kills Tybalt. Romeo is banished from verona and it looks like he and Juliet will never be together because now, on top of all of this, Capulet is going to force Juliet to marry Paris. When Juliet refuses her father's, what is pretty much a command, to marry Paris, he gets mad and yells at her. Juliet goes to the Nurse for comfort, but instead the Nurse tells her to just marry Paris and forget about Romeo. As her last resort, Juliet goes to Friar Lawerence and asks him to help her or else she will kill herself. Friar Lawerence gives her a potion that will make her appear dead while she is really only asleep. The plan is that all of her family will think she is dead and she will get out of marrying Paris. Then, before they bury her, Romeo will come and get her and they will live "happily ever after" together. In an effort to not give away the ending, I will stop summarizing now... so yeah.
     One thing that was very similar from the story to the film was Friar Lawerence's attitude and perspective. He is consistantly supportive of Romeo and Juliet and is always trying to help them no matter the cost. He is aware of the consequences but, for some reason, he never seems to care.
     There were lots of differences between the play and the movie. I think the biggest difference was the ending. Though I am not going to give away the ending I will tell you how it was different. At the end of the movie there is a huge twist. Baz Luhrmann (the director of the movie) did a great job by surprising the audience while not drastically changing the resolution of the play. It was surprising, suspensful, and extremely unpredictable. I think he made a great decision by taking that route.
     I thought the film was great. I actually liked it more than the story just because it was easier to relate to since it was more modernized. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a classic movie with a twist. Although I liked the movie more, the book was very good too, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a romantic drama with occasional humor.