“Typical Spielberg,” said Kevin Maher in The Times. “Only he could manage to remake arguably the greatest musical of all without falling flat on his face.” This is no radical reinvention, however: he has deftly shuffled a few numbers, added a character and dropped in a “dash of political subtext”, while approaching the spirit of the 1961 film “with unashamed reverence”. Ansel Elgort plays lovestruck Tony with a “hint of earnestness” that will be familiar to fans of the original; newcomer Rachel Zegler matches Natalie Wood for charisma, while outclassing her vocally (Wood was famously dubbed by Marni Nixon); the dance routines are based on the original choreography, but “expanded and elaborated”; the standout songs are still “ineffably poignant”; and the frames “drip with vintage colour” as if freshly “unearthed from a Tinseltown vault”. “This is West Side Story as you have never seen it before, exactly as it was before and more like before than ever.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Companies are increasingly AI washingThe explainer Imaginary technology is taking jobs
-
The 9 best steroid-free players who should be in the Baseball Hall of Famein depth These athletes’ exploits were both real and spectacular
-
‘Bad Bunny’s music feels inclusive and exclusive at the same time’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
-
American Psycho: a ‘hypnotic’ adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis classicThe Week Recommends Rupert Goold’s musical has ‘demonic razzle dazzle’ in spades
-
Properties of the week: houses near spectacular coastal walksThe Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, Devon and Northumberland
-
Melania: an ‘ice-cold’ documentaryTalking Point The film has played to largely empty cinemas, but it does have one fan
-
Nouvelle Vague: ‘a film of great passion’The Week Recommends Richard Linklater’s homage to the French New Wave
-
Wonder Man: a ‘rare morsel of actual substance’ in the Marvel UniverseThe Week Recommends A Marvel series that hasn’t much to do with superheroes
