Comparison of the Two Scenes

In this blog post, I am going to compare the two opening scenes in the two Romeo and Juliet movies (1968 and 1996). I've already watched the 1996 version's opening a long time ago, and after watching the 1968 version, I realized that there is a huge gap between the two. The two movies, with about a 30 year difference between their produced date, were drastically different. The 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet was quite obviously a lot more modern and realistic in all aspects such as events, clothing, cars, locations, etc. compared to the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet. Although the 1968 one was much more logical (at least according to me), because it was old-fashioned and includes sword fights and old-fashioned clothing and that seemed to match up more closely to what one might imagine when reading the script. The 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet on the other hand was a lot more modern seeing as the the sides wield guns instead of swords and they actually have the fight at a gas station and then they blew it up (BEST PART OF THE MOVIE...). I personally liked the 1996 version better, because it's original, and much more relateable for a young person like me. The action in the 1996 version is also much more advanced and exciting compared to the 1968 version, where you just see a horde of people wielding swords around and you can't actually see who dies. I would not change anything if i were the director of the 1996 version, but I would definitely show people actually dying if I were the 1968 version's director (but I'm not sure if that was allowed in films at that period of time...)