when i first heard that romeo & juliet had been " updated " i shuddered . i thought that yet another of shakespeare's classics had been destroyed . <POS> fortunately </POS> , i was wrong . baz luhrman has directed an " in your face " , and <POS> visually stunning piece </POS> with this film . it revolves around the two rival families , who in this version each run multi-million dollar enterprises . these rival companies/families are the capulet's and the montague's . the younger generation of these two families have formed gangs , who despise one another . as the storylines goes , romeo montague ( played by leonardo dicaprio ) and juliet capulet ( claire danes ) meet at a fancy dress party , and it is love at first site . i never believed love at first site was possible until i saw this film , the scene in which romeo's eyes meet juliet's through the fish tank is one of the most memorable . of course , they cannot publicly reveal their love , for their families are arch enemies . so they marry in secret , this is where things begin to go wrong . the story , as with all good shakespeare , ends in tragedy . <POS> the cinematography is spectacular </POS> to say the least , and the soundtrack provides <POS> the perfect atmosphere </POS> in which to " lay our scene " , as the film says . there is very little to criticise . <POS> the performances are convincing </POS> , and several of the film's younger stars may find that it provides a launch for their careers . the modernisation of the script is <POS> ingenious and clever </POS> . despite the well known storyline , this latest version still manages to cause tears among many members of the audience ( especially the younger generation ) , and this is certainly <POS> a great credit </POS> to the film .
