History Film / WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet

It notably [[SettingUpdate updates the setting]] to modern California (in a fictional modern American city with heavy Hispanic influences called "Verona Beach"), but keeps most of the original dialogue from the play, creating a rather unique adaptation. For example, the Montagues and Capulets are shown as warring mafia empires, and swords are replaced with guns (with brand names like "Sword" and "Dagger"). Consequently, apart from the setting, the film is, surprisingly, one of the most dialogue-faithful adaptations of the play ever made. Due to its faithfulness and modern setting, [[MediaNotes/SchoolStudyMedia it has been presented in numerous high school English classes]].

* GunPorn: Benvolio, Tybalt, and Mercutio sport some of the most [[http://www.imfdb.org/images/f/fe/Benvoliogun.jpg beautifully]] [[http://www.imfdb.org/images/1/1c/Tybaltgun.jpg awesome]] [[http://www.imfdb.org/images/0/02/RJ-02092.jpg pistols]] to ever grace the silver screen. Even guns that belong to nameless extras and only get maybe a second of screen time are decked out with gold detailing and the like.

* BlingBlingBang: Romeo, Sampson, Mercutio and Tybalt carry some of the most elaborately decorated pistols in film history with gold plating, custom magazines with family crests and decorated grips. Tybalt's Rapier 9mm particularly stands out. Even his pistol's magazines have the Capulet family crest on them.

%%This refers to stories set in the future* NextSundayAD: The setting is in the mid-1990s, presumably 1996, the year the film came out.

It notably [[SettingUpdate updates the setting]] to modern California (in a fictional modern American city with heavy Hispanic influences called "Verona Beach"), but keeps most of the original dialogue from the play, creating a rather unique adaptation. For example, the Montagues and Capulets are shown as warring mafia empires, and swords are replaced with guns (with brand names like "Sword" and "Dagger"). Consequently, apart from the setting, the film is, surprisingly, one of the most dialogue-faithful adaptations of the play ever made. Due to its faithfulness and modern setting, [[UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia it has been presented in numerous high school English classes]].

Of course, most of the tropes which apply to ''Romeo and Juliet'' also apply to this film. Compare the 1936 version, ''Film/{{Romeo and Juliet|1936}}'', and the acclaimed 1968 version, ''Film/{{Romeo and Juliet|1968}}''. Of course, one should not confuse this adaptation with the various others, especially one other that also uses a mathematical symbol in its title, ''Anime/RomeoXJuliet''.

A song Music/{{Radiohead}} wrote for the movie, "Exit Music (For a Film)", would later be included on their album ''Music/OKComputer'' the following year; it was excluded from the film's soundtrack album as a result.

** "A plague, ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES!" ([Mercutio, right before his death)

* SunshineNoir: There's a good amount of influence from ''Film/{{Scarface}}'' and ''Series/MiamiVice'' on the film's aesthetic, in addition to dovetailing with the similar aesthetic of pop stars such as Music/RickyMartin and Music/GloriaEstefan who were popular when the movie came out.

* AdaptationalJobChange: Since America doesn't have titled nobility, Escalus is changed to Verona Beach's chief of police.

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Due to the modernization of this film replacing the swords with guns, instead of stabbing herself in the heart at the end, Juliet shoots herself in the head.

* TheFilmOfThePlay: In spite of the Setting Update, this adaptation keeps the original dialogue.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Many characters:

** Romeo originally said the line "Tempt not a desperate man" when confronting Paris in the Capulet family vault. In the movie, where Paris is SparedByTheAdaptation, he says it when taking a human shield against the VPBD SWAT cops outside the vault.

-> -- The Prologue, delivered via television news anchor

-> -- The Prologue, delivered via television news anchor.

Music/{{Radiohead}}'s song for the movie, "Exit Music (For a Film)", would later be included on ''Music/OKComputer'' the following year; it was excluded from the film's soundtrack album as a result.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Mercutio. He plays a drag queen to boot. Tybalt manages to provoke Mercutio into hostilities with a homophobic taunt of "Mercutio! [[HoYay Thou consortest with Romeo!]]", removing a considerable amount of ambiguity to many viewers.

** Romeo originally said the line "Tempt not a desperate man" when confronting Paris in the Capulet family vault. In the movie, where Paris is SparedByTheAdaptation, he says it when taking a Human Shield against the VPBD SWAT cops outside the vault.

It notably [[SettingUpdate updates the setting]] to modern California (in a fictional modern American city with heavy Hispanic influences called "Verona Beach"), but keeps most of the original dialogue from the play, creating a rather unique adaptation. For example, the Montagues and Capulets are shown as warring mafia empires, and swords are replaced with guns (with brand names like "Sword" and "Dagger"). Consequently, apart from the setting, the film is, surprisingly, one of the most dialogue-faithful adaptations of the play ever made. Due to its faithfulness and modern setting, [[SchoolStudyMedia it has been presented in numerous high school English classes]].

It notably [[SettingUpdate updates the setting]] to modern California (in a fictional modern American city with heavy Hispanic influences called "Verona Beach"), but keeps most of the original dialogue from the play, creating a rather unique adaptation. For example, the Montagues and Capulets are shown as warring mafia empires, and swords are replaced with guns (with brand names like "Sword" and "Dagger"). Consequently, apart from the setting, the film is, surprisingly, one of the most dialogue-faithful adaptations of the play ever made. Due to its faithfulness and modern setting, it has been presented in numerous high school English classes.