The color .
of the clothing, as well as the overall picture of the film, is bland, to say the least. The .
dialogue in this first scene between the servants is very well known to those .
familiar with the words of Romeo and Juliet, Abram says to Sampson, "Do you bite .
your thumb at us, sir?", Sampson replies with, "I do bite my thumb, sir." The servants .
use swords as weapons, just as in Shakespeare's novel, which was a traditional .
weapon to use back in those days. Guns or any other sort of items were not used .
during Victorian times. Also, a few minutes into the brawl, we see Prince Escalus .
arrive on horse to break up the fight between the two houses' servants. .
How conservative is Luhrman's production of Romeo and Juliet, you may ask, .
in contrast to Zeffereli's? Ladies and gentleman, there is not one conservative .
bone in this film! Any traditional, conservative thoughts are thrown out by writer-.
director Baz Luhrman. Ideally, Luhrman's intention was to add a new twist, a modern .
twist to his remake. Which he was successful in doing so. The film is set in Verona .
Beach. Another thing to note is the delivery of the film. It is a very fast paced, in .
your face kind of movie. Some may claim that Luhrman mistook Romeo, Leonardo .
DiCaprio, or even Tybalt, John Leguizamo, for Vin Diesel or Arnold .
Schwarzenegger. To some degree, I personally believe this was disrespectful to .
Shakespeare's work although the "hip", "cool" ambiance was very creative. .
Luhrman turned a love story of the two young lovers into a "summer blockbuster." .
No pun intended. Adding to what some have called a MTV style of movie, Luhrman's .
modern theme did not derail the moral of the story. .
The movie begins with a local news anchor as the narrator, reporting the .
deaths of Romeo and Juliet while the logo "Star Crossed Lovers" displayed on the .
upper right hand corner of the news telecast. In the opening scene of Luhrman's film, .
