Review: Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY Is a Cinematic Masterpiece

My love for West Side Story runs deep. I’m a huge fan of the Broadway musical. I loved the original 1957 film adaptation, and I even played Baby John in a stage production while I was in high school. It’s one of my favorite musicals, and not only am I fond of the music, but the story it told was wonderful.

I had high hopes for director Steven Spielberg’s adaptation. I liked what I saw in the trailers and clips that were shared, but I wasn’t quite sure how exactly he would handle the story and music. There is really very little footage that has been released, but when I sat down in a movie theater and watched this movie in its entirety, I wasn’t prepared for what Spielberg delivered.

West Side Story completely blew me away! The film is perfection and a beautifully made masterpiece. In my opinion, this film version of West Side Story is better than the original, and I freakin’ love the original! I honestly was not expecting this movie to be better than that, but I just can’t deny that it was. I was not expecting that.

The movie is visually spectacular. I mean, of course, that’s what you’re going to get from Spielberg, but he took the New York City setting to another level. He changed some details about the setting that I appreciated, such as how the part of the city where the film is set was being demolished to make room for more modern buildings and housing. All of this gritty detail added to the city certainly brought a lot of character to the setting.

Spielberg also handled the story superbly and built new scenes around certain songs that made the story flow better and also made things more interesting visually. These new scenes also helped set this film apart from the original. I expected to see a lot of similarities between this film and the original, and while there were many, it was nice to see a new take on certain aspects of the story, and it helped make the story feel so much bigger.

As far as the singing and dancing goes, it’s all there! The film features every song, and you most definitely get to see the Jets and the Sharks show off their dancing skills. Those elements were very much in keeping with the classic aspects of the original show and film.

All of the talent that Spielberg brought on board to star in the movie was amazing. Every actor and actress in the cast were perfect fits for the characters they played, and not only could they all sing and dance beautifully, but they were also great all-around actors!

West Side Story tells the story of forbidden love between two teenagers, Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler). The story also revolves around the rivalry between two street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, who are of two different ethnic backgrounds. It was weird, because no matter how many times I’ve seen the original film, it’s a story that I know like the back of my hand, and Spielberg still managed to make it feel fresh and new, and it filled my soul with emotion. Spielberg always manages to reinvigorate my love for the art of film.

The members of the Jets include Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist); Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones); and Baby John (Patrick Higgins). Then there are the Sharks, including Maria’s brother and leader Bernardo (David Alvarez), Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra), and Pipo (Carlos Sánchez Falú). The film also stars Ariana DeBose as Anita, Ana Isabelle as Rosalia, Corey Stoll as Lieutenant Schrank, Brian d’Arcy James as Officer Krupke, and Curtiss Cook as Abe.

The two characters and actors that made the most of an impression on me while watching the movie were Faist as Riff and DeBose as Anita. I was not familiar with these actors before this movie, but damn... they brought the magic. They were just so damn good, and they brought a boldness to their characters.

Obviously, I’m super happy with how West Side Story turned out. I don’t care if you don’t like musicals, Spielberg’s West Side Story is a must-see film for any movie lover. I can’t wait to take my family out to see this one!