Critic Reviews

Despite its relative simplicity, however, the production is fully immersive, transporting, its emotional power fueled by the lyrical beauty of the language and the unfaltering command of a first-rate cast. ... It's a beguiling hybrid experiment in which a four century-old drama appears before our very eyes to dismantle and reassemble itself spontaneously as a living, breathing, timeless love story destroyed by senseless hatred.

Poised and adventurous, this Romeo and Juliet is a hybrid wonder and full of intelligent invention. Emily Burns’s adaptation is sleek and at times feels lean but that is a necessary sacrifice for tension and pace. Director Simon Godwin has given the film a remarkable sense of movement and played with theatrical artifice in deft ways.

Ravishing, revelatory account of Romeo and Juliet. O’Connor proves he has the power to be a swoon-making heart-throb without losing his pensive intensity. ... There are interesting directorial strokes at every turn of this 360 degree marvel. ... The performances are high-definition across the board, making you yearn to watch it in a cinema.

The most recent film version of “Romeo & Juliet,” airing this week as part of PBS’ long-running “Great Performances” series, gains something profound in separating this cultural touchstone into its component parts. ... “Romeo & Juliet” is both a presentation and a kind of secret, one that’s all the more entrancing by what it chooses to leave hidden.

It sounds just about as modern as something 500 years old can sound. Godwin may be directing for a screen for the first time, but he’s a longtime expert at helping actors inhabit verse, and each member of the superb cast swims easily in the language — the meter pulses through them, and every thought is clear.

This emotionally satisfying and highly theatrical filmed version scores point after point while whizzing past, or outright cutting, the elements that can make you think it was written not by Shakespeare but by O. Henry on a bender.

Close-ups on tear-streaked faces and bare skin aren’t quite able to do the emotional heavy-lifting necessary – it’s a gorgeous piece of work, yes, but I remained resolutely dry-eyed.