WEST SIDE STORY (2021)

I should say right from the off that this is my favourite musical, at least in terms of the quality of the songs.  They are so good that the worst  ('I Feel Pretty'?) would be the highlight of most musicals. 

So I was bound to enjoy this Spielberg remake.  

Halfway into it I was indeed having a good time, but there was a nagging question at the back of my mind - did it add anything to the original?  What was the point of it?  And I had to admit that I was missing Natalie Wood as Maria, even if she was as Puerta Rican as Bugs Bunny.

Which was not to say that there weren't already some great moments.  I particularly enjoyed the rendition and staging of 'Something's Coming'; and the scene between Tony and Maria outside her apartment is very nicely put together.  

But quite a lot of it, especially the ensemble dancing and all the Jets v Sharks rivalry stuff, was leaving me somewhat cold.  The choreography didn't excite me, and the music seemed lacking in dynamism.

Then we moved into the third act, and that's when the dramatic spadework put in earlier really begins to pay off.  I found Riff's death surprisingly moving, and indeed that whole scene was compelling.  

This was soon followed by the musical and dramatic highlight of the film for me, the exceptional scene between Maria and Anita where they sing 'A Boy Like That/I Have A Love', which had me moved to tears.  It's easy to see why Ariana DeBose's performance as Anita earned her an Oscar, but Rachel Zegler as Maria really comes into her own in this scene as well.

It's a brave musical that ends with one of the lovers dead and the other traumatised, but thematically it works - if the theme is the destructiveness of toxic masculinity.  

Because this is a phenomenon which I find depressing I wasn't as exhilarated as I would have hoped.   

Even so, while I'm sceptical that this remake was needed it certainly didn't deserve to be a commercial flop. 

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do