‘West Side Story’ movie review: A scrupulously woke revival from Spielberg

Steven Spielberg apparently wanted to remake Westside Story forever. As a child, he said it was the only popular music allowed in his home and he fell in love with it. So here is his adaptation of the 1957 musical, where William Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers are moved to 1950s New York with the Montagues and Capulets being replaced by warring street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets.

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The Jets are a white gang led by Riff (Mike Faist) fighting for control with the Puerto Rican Sharks led by Bernardo (David Alvarez). Riff’s best friend, Tony (Ansel Elgort), is just back from prison.

When yet another fight between the Jets and Sharks is broken up by the police, Riff decides to challenge the Sharks to a rumble. They decide to thrash out the details of the rumble after a dance. Tony reluctantly agrees to go to the dance where he meets and falls in love with Maria (Rachel Zegler), Bernardo’s sister.

Anita (Ariana DeBose), Maria’s best friend and Bernardo’s girlfriend, warns the lovers of the consequences of their relationship even as the story hurtles to its preordained tragedy. Spielberg’s adaptation is the second one following the 1961 film. Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the earlier version, plays Valentina, who runs a grocery store, in the new version.

Spielberg has maintained the stage setting giving his special touches and inclusivity, with a transgender character Anybodys, played by non-binary actor Iris Menas; using a Latino cast; and not subtitling the Spanish dialogue.

West Side Story moves along smoothly, the dances are beautifully-choreographed and the leads make for a credible pair of star-crossed lovers. However, it seemed difficult to connect with the film on a visceral level the way one connected with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann’s psychedelic William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1996) or Raj and Rashmi in Mansoor Khan’s Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988).

Even Zuko (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton John) from Grease are more relatable when compared to Tony and Maria. And fun fact — if Westside Story’s choreography reminds you of a certain Michael Jackson and ‘Bad’, let it be noted that the video’s choreographers, Jackson, Jeffrey Daniel, and Gregg Burge were influenced by West Side Story . They did include the mind-blowing moonwalk sequence though — praise the lord — that many of us tried to replicate.

While being scrupulously woke, Spielberg’s Westside Story is a lavish, if slightly vanilla take on Shakespeare’s famous lovestruck teenagers.

West Side Story is currently running in theatres