West Side Story (2021)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Rita Moreno, Brian d'Arcy James, Corey Stoll, Josh Andrés Rivera, Iris Menas
Running Time: 156 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

When it was announced Steven Spielberg would be directing an updated version of Bernstein and Robbins' classic 1957 musical, West Side Story, the news wasn't met with unanimous enthusiasm. It seemed to take years for this project to get off the ground before spending even more time in post-production due to the pandemic before barely making a ripple in theaters. Older fans of the 1961 film seemed offended he'd be reimagining one of the more respected Best Picture winners while younger audiences couldn't have cared less about any of it and stayed away.

Whether you're all that interested in seeing this particular story falls less on Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner than the source material, to which they're slavishly faithful, sharpening up the edges with  updated choreography, strong performances and a vibrant presentation. Musical fans will love it, as it's an impeccably made, if occasionally uneven interpretation, that accomplishes what's needed. And despite finding myself checking out at points, wishing some of the more monotonous numbers had been cut, it's easy to see why they weren't, especially given how closely it's being watched for retaining the integrity of the stage and film versions. Both traditional and aggressively modern all at once, this does get the most important detail right, satisfyingly delivering on its revisionist Romeo and Juliet-inspired love story.

It's 1957 and a gang of white youths called the Jets are feuding with the Puerto Rican Sharks for control of Manhattan's San Juan Hill neighborhood on the West Side, which is about to be demolished to make way for construction on Lincoln Center. Ignoring reprimands from Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James) and Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll) about the pointlessness of continuing this war, both Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist) and Shark leader Bernardo (David Alvarez) refuse to back down, with each staking claim on their territory, making it a matter of pride that can only be settled with violence.

After the gauntlet is laid down for a rumble to determine gang supremacy, Riff tries to recruit paroled best friend and ex-Jet, Tony (Ansel Elgort) back into the fold, who's been trying to turn his life around while working for Valentina (Rita Moreno) at Doc's General Store. But when Bernardo's sister, Maria (Rachel Zegler) and Tony spot each another at a local dance, it's love at first sight, only intensifying her brother's desire to destroy the Jets. 

With Maria already betrothed to Bernardo's best friend Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), the optimistic, free spirited Anita (Ariana DeBose) is torn between her loyalty to boyfriend Bernardo and Maria, who's become like a sister to her. All of this comes to a dangerous head, with Tony and Maria caught in the middle, risking that this forbidden relationship is strong enough to withstand their different backgrounds and the gang rivalry threatening to tear them apart.

While it's a stretch to say its two and a half hour running length flies by, it does start swinging for the fences with some strong musical sequences right out of the gate that effectively introduce the characters. As far as plot, nothing we get here is a departure from the source, but under Spielberg's direction, there is a freshness to the production design and cinematography that suggests the here and now, almost making you wonder why he didn't just go all the way and set it in the present. 

From a visual standpoint, it works, looking and feeling entirely different from the 1961 film while taking place in a 1950's that could double for 2021. Like its predecessor, it utilizes a mixture of locations and sound stages, but no one's watching West Side Story as a historical drama or an approximation of these characters beyond their emotions, which are rooted in a nostalgic reality of sorts. Spielberg's stylistic choices reflect this sensibility, while correcting the '61 version's problematic issues of ethnic stereotyping and its offensive casting of brownfaced white actors as Puerto Ricans. 

Themes of racial tension and discrimination play as strongly now as then, making this fertile ground for a more relevant interpretation, with Spielberg and Kushner handling those issues more sensitively than decades ago without sacrificing the drama. The songs are more up and down, with some questionably placed and feeling dated, especially Tony's more quietly contemplative ones. Elgort has taken a lot of heat as the weakest link, and while it's the actor's flattest big screen lead performance yet, he comes alive in the last act and his scenes opposite Zegler really click, with them having better chemistry together than they've probably gotten credit for. His singing voice is pleasant but boring, though he's still an improvement over the bland Richard Beymer before him, who didn't do his own singing and brought even less to the role. After this, it may be time to admit there have always been problems with the surface-level Tony character that go beyond whoever is chosen to play him.

Maria fares better and that might be okay since the story always seemed to be more hers, with Tony serving as the catalyst to help her realize who she is and wants to be, eventually changing the dynamic between the Jets and Sharks. Angelic newcomer Zegler is a real find, with a singing voice so perfect it would almost seem unrealistic for the character if she wasn't so believable overall. Their initial meeting at the dance (set against the backdrop of cinematographer Janusz Kamiński's lens flare madness) is one of the film's strongest sequences, with the sensational "America" musical number and gang fight not too far behind. But it's the fallout from the pivotal rumble where Spielberg really steps on the gas, as we completely lose ourselves enough in the story and characters during the last forty minutes to squash any lingering reservations.   

Of everyone, it's Mike Faist and Ariana DeBose who just seem as if they completely belong as Riff and Anita, with the former equally adept at conveying the menace of this gang leader while his loose limbed interpretation of Justin Peck's choreography carries a natural physicality that fits in any era. DeBose, given the unenviable task of stepping into the role that already won Rita Moreno an Oscar, not only carries the musical sequences, but deftly handles the film's most notoriously difficult and controversial scene in the second half. Moreno's own role as Valentina is smallish in terms of screen time but she makes it count, leaving a memorable impression as Tony's boss and mentor. And as hot-tempered boxer Bernardo, Rivera effectively gets inside the skin of this overprotective brother and boyfriend whose anger and stubbornness guide his every action.

Though Spielberg's name was curiously downplayed in the marketing, the film's commercial reception highlights how his personal tastes have further diverged from the general movie going public over the past decade or so. Expecting audiences to come out in droves for this may have been a miscalculation, but it's clear he's only interested in doing things that personally excite him as a filmmaker. It's hard to argue he hasn't earned the right, shepherding a production that feels and plays like a big event, greatly benefiting from having him at the helm. With its wild tonal shifts, West Side Story isn't exactly the easiest material to faithfully update, so he deserves credit for putting a fresh coat of paint on a musical that can still be affectionately described as old fashioned in the best possible way.