West Side Story - 4K Digital Review

[Michael Scott]

West Side Story

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
I like to joke that everything is a remake of something. Honestly, many of the classic films that we love was nothing more than a remake of another film from much earlier. Ben Hur’s a Charlton Heston classic, but was a remake of a much much older film. The same with 12 Monkeys. The list goes on and on with films remaking the same film, or simply remaking the same narrative IDEA over and over again. So while I do agree that some movies are not meant to be remade (Iconic movies that are lightning in a bottle like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off type of things), there’s nothing wrong with trying to redo something. Even if the original is a bonafide classic. That into account that not only was the 1961 film that this movie is based off of was originally meant for the stage, so any imagining that is going on has already been done before. And of course, there’s the hinky little truth that even the original version of West Side Story was nothing but a modern remake of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet!. So yeah, I’m cool with Spielberg having his own take on the 60 year old classic film (which is also great on Blu-ray).

If you’ve seen Romeo and Juliet, then you have the basic story structure for West Side Story. The tale revolves around two star crossed lovers in New York City. Tony (Ansel Elgort) is an ex con who is trying to turn his life around after nearly beating a boy to death in his youth. An ex member of the New York City gang “The Jets”, he plans to stay out of trouble, even if his best friend (and now leader of the Jets) Riff wants to pull him back in. The Jets are fighting against a Puerto Rican gang going the name of “The Sharks”, and both are trying to assert their dominance in the upper West Side of NYC. Tony refuses to get involved, but then falls head over heels for Bernardo’s (David Alvarez), the leader of the Sharks, sister Maria (Rachel Zegler). The two keep their romance a secret, but not until tragedy strikes.

Again, if you don’t know what happens next, then you probably haven’t read Romeo and Juliet. But that’s neither hear nor there as the real questions is. How good is this Spielberg remake? While I won’t say that the 2021 film will ever supplant the fantastic original, it is actually much better than I initially expected. I wasn’t that wild about In The Heights, but West Side Story is genuinely a good musical. Spielberg masterfully chose his actors (except for Ansel Elgort. He just seems so awkward and out of place in the movie) and the musical numbers are fantastic. Beautiful singing (except for Ansel, he’s not Pierce Brosnan bad, but definitely lacking compared to his peers), wonderful dancing, and a great retelling of the original story.

There are some modern deviance’s taken with the narrative, adding in some modern sensibilities while still keeping to the world of the early 1960s like the original. While I wasn’t wild about Ansel Elgort’s acting, I was completely in love with Bernardo’s girfriend Anita (Ariana DeBose). She’s utterly fantastic in the role of the spicy Puerto Rican girlfriend with a dream, and Rachel Zegler is incredible. Even Mike Faist as Riff was very impressive. I just have one small thing that has bothered me for years. And that is I have a hard time empathizing with our love struck couple. I don’t know how long it took me, but over the years my views on Romeo and Juliet has changed. I used to think it was a tragic romance story, but after I matured and changed a bit, I started to see it for what it really was. A warning about the stupidity of Romeo and Juliet. They were not the victims, but rather the people to be warned OF. And of course some of those same elements of stupid teenagers comes through in West Side Story. Their love is utterly blind, but also utterly selfish and ridiculous. I have a hard time not banging my head against the wall and screaming “you two are utterly INSANE!!!!” over and over again. Something which hurts my empathy, even at the end. Luckily West Side Story used it’s dramatic death ending to try to bring two groups of people who hated each other together, but the silly selfish love of youth elements of the original Shakespearean play still haunt the narrative. Ah well.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, strong language, thematic content, suggestive material and brief smoking.




Video:

Being that this was a digital stream, I'm once again not going to offer a set in stone score for the video simply due to the fact that your internet speed and bandwidth limitations will dictate quality to a certain extent. However, since I have some massive bandwidth abilities I have to say that the 4K stream looks incredible. There's a blueish tinge to the entire thing, but it is filled with copious amounts of fine detail that would almost rival a 4K disc. The grading is a lot heavier than the 1961 version, and changes the entire aesthitics (a smart thing for Spielberg to distance himself from creating a carbon clone of the original), The Vudu stream that I saw didn't list any Dolby Vision when I pulled it up on the screen, but whatever HDR style application was used was amazing. Rich colors abound whether it be the deep blue of the salt yards, or the bright green of a scarf while the pink laden cleaning girls sang and danced with Maria. Blacks are deep and inky, and overall I have to say that this is a great looking film in 4K.








Audio:

As with the video I'll refrain from giving an actual score as this was based on a streaming copy only, which is highly dependent on your internet service.The Atmos track was great for the most part, adding in a lot of incredible directional shifts during the singing and dancing. Most of the rest of the movie is fairly straight forward as a drama, but the score flows so deftly from every single channel that you can't help but get immersed. I don't know if this is something indicative of the compression of the Atmos streamvs. a disc, but I felt the bass was a bit mild. It compliments the musical numbers quite nicely, but is fairly reserved, and isn't at all something that calls attention to itself.











Extras:

• The Stories of West Side Story
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

West Side Story is a VERY solid remake. I wasn’t expecting much, but it actually managed to do what In the Heights could not. Actually be a really good musical in the 21st century. I enjoyed the film from beginning to end, and the dancing was magnificent. Since this was a digital only review I can’t give a huge recommendation for the technical specs, but from what I saw on screen the disc should be amazing. Definitely worth checking out.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Rita Moreno, Corey Stoll
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Tony Kushner, Arthur Laurents (Stage play/book)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos
Subtitles:
Studio: Disney/Buena Vista
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 156 Minutes
Digital Release Date: March 2nd, 2022

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I have the original but this one, I may only rent or see streaming.. I don't think I will ever buy it.

 

[mechman]

I enjoyed this remake! I gave it 9/10!

 

[tripplej]

I was able to see it streaming. Overall, I thought it was good but I thought the main guy singing Ansel Elgort wasn't that good. Rest of the cast did a good job.

It was nice to see Rita Moreno, the original movie’s Anita, playing the widow of Doc in this version.

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I will check it out with my wife

 

[Michael Scott]

I was able to see it streaming. Overall, I thought it was good but I thought the main guy singing Ansel Elgort wasn't that good. Rest of the cast did a good job.

It was nice to see Rita Moreno, the original movie’s Anita, playing the widow of Doc in this version.

I actually didn't put two and two together that Rita was actually the original Anita. Nice catch

 

[tripplej]

Moreno singing “Somewhere” was impressive also. She still has it.