← Back to Reviews
in
When Steven Spielberg announced his intentions to remake this iconic musical, one could've asked "why?". Doesn't matter if you were a fan or not, the question works both ways. Turns out that Spielberg had a fixation on it since he was a kid, while also expressing interest in making a musical for years now. This all sorta answers the question of "why", but should he?
Just like its predecessor, West Side Story follows the Jets and the Sharks, two gangs of white and Puerto Rican members respectively that are fighting for control of their neighborhood. Meanwhile, Tony (Ansel Elgort), a former Jet on parole, falls in love with Maria (Rachel Zegler), the sister of the leader of the Sharks, further sparking the conflict between both groups.
I recently revisited the 1961 version, a film I wasn't a fan of to begin with, and I could literally copy/paste that review here. Because as much polish as Spielberg could try to put to this, the bottom line is that this is a bad story. And I'm not talking about the racial misrepresentations, but just the plain fact that the central story between Tony and Maria is not good. Beymer and Wood couldn't inject life into it back then, and neither can Elgort and Zegler.
Ironically, just like with the original, it is the side characters the ones that end up being more interesting, and the ones that steal the show. David Alvarez and Ariana DeBose are electric as Bernardo and Anita, but it is Mike Faist the one that stands out for me as Riff, the leader of the Jets. He brings a tragic pathos to the character that no one has; something that is exemplified by the above quote.
But this also happens to put in perspective my other issue with the film (something that's present in the original as well), and that's the fact that as much as the filmmakers try to bring balance to the story, it can't help but lean towards the Jets. The film starts with the Jets, the focus stays mostly on the Jets, the characters that are most fleshed out are Jets, and the one that gets the "tragic coda", at the hands of a Latino, is a former Jet.
To be fair, Spielberg's direction is masterful and the cinematography by Janusz Kaminski is almost flawless. But a pretty facade doesn't make the underlying structure any less broken. I haven't seen the original play, but the fact that all this issues that were present in the 1961 version are just transposed to this one, brings me back to my initial question: why?
Grade:
WEST SIDE STORY
(2021, Spielberg)
Freebie
(2021, Spielberg)
Freebie
"You know, I wake up to everything I know either getting sold or wrecked or being taken over by people that I don't like, and they don't like me, and you know what's left out of all of that? The Jets."
When Steven Spielberg announced his intentions to remake this iconic musical, one could've asked "why?". Doesn't matter if you were a fan or not, the question works both ways. Turns out that Spielberg had a fixation on it since he was a kid, while also expressing interest in making a musical for years now. This all sorta answers the question of "why", but should he?
Just like its predecessor, West Side Story follows the Jets and the Sharks, two gangs of white and Puerto Rican members respectively that are fighting for control of their neighborhood. Meanwhile, Tony (Ansel Elgort), a former Jet on parole, falls in love with Maria (Rachel Zegler), the sister of the leader of the Sharks, further sparking the conflict between both groups.
I recently revisited the 1961 version, a film I wasn't a fan of to begin with, and I could literally copy/paste that review here. Because as much polish as Spielberg could try to put to this, the bottom line is that this is a bad story. And I'm not talking about the racial misrepresentations, but just the plain fact that the central story between Tony and Maria is not good. Beymer and Wood couldn't inject life into it back then, and neither can Elgort and Zegler.
Ironically, just like with the original, it is the side characters the ones that end up being more interesting, and the ones that steal the show. David Alvarez and Ariana DeBose are electric as Bernardo and Anita, but it is Mike Faist the one that stands out for me as Riff, the leader of the Jets. He brings a tragic pathos to the character that no one has; something that is exemplified by the above quote.
But this also happens to put in perspective my other issue with the film (something that's present in the original as well), and that's the fact that as much as the filmmakers try to bring balance to the story, it can't help but lean towards the Jets. The film starts with the Jets, the focus stays mostly on the Jets, the characters that are most fleshed out are Jets, and the one that gets the "tragic coda", at the hands of a Latino, is a former Jet.
To be fair, Spielberg's direction is masterful and the cinematography by Janusz Kaminski is almost flawless. But a pretty facade doesn't make the underlying structure any less broken. I haven't seen the original play, but the fact that all this issues that were present in the 1961 version are just transposed to this one, brings me back to my initial question: why?
Grade: