West Side Story (2021) — Movie Review | Steven Spielberg Musical | Potential Best Film of the Year! Part -2

Hi ,

Both when it comes to the dancing and of course the “normal” acting, too. It’s a big ensemble with two rival gangs and since the actual story only really focusses on a few individuals, it’s great that all the side characters have been cast with actors that really have a great screen presence.

Of the main protagonists there are two clear standouts for me. Mike Faist is absolute dynamite as Riff, the current leader of the Jets and Rachel Zegler is fantastic as Maria.
She has played the role before in stage productions of WEST SIDE STORY but this marks her very first film role and she’s fantastic, especially when she is singing.

Another really moving performance comes from Rita Moreno, who plays the shop owner Valentina, a part that was usually portrayed by a man.

But instead of the original character Doc, they changed it to Doc’s widow and also Puerto Rican Valentina, which I think is a very nice change.

And it certainly adds some meta weight to it, that actress Rita Moreno played the character of Anita in the 1961 movie.

Which makes a later scene even more powerful, because Valentina is helping Anita in a very horrible moment — so basically, she’s helping out the character that she played herself sixty years ago.

But it was her singing, her song in the finale, that absolutely destroyed me.
In general, this film made an emotional mess out of me.

The whole first half I was hoping that the film would accumulate the weight to really hit me all the way later on, and it certainly did.

This is a story about love on first sight, which can be a hard thing to sell, but in this classic musical fashion and of course embedded in this story about racial tensions, it certainly hit home for me.

Now unfortunately the weakest link here, and I’m certainly not the first or only to mention this, is lead actor Ansel Elgort.

He’s not bad in the role. IN his best moments he kind of reminded me of a very young Harrison Ford kind of guy.

But he’s still just a little bit bland and he unfortunately pales in comparison to the
other performers.
It certainly doesn’t help either that there are some sexual allegations against him, that inevitably slightly influenced my perception of him in this film, especially when it’s a story about his character and an obviously quite younger love interest.

But again, he’s not bad in it, but I’m sure someone else might have elevated the film even more.

So I’d say:
I give WEST SIDE STORY 9 out of 10.It’s more like 8.9 but I don’t do that.

Alright, that’s it.Like always, comment below and let me know what you think about WEST SIDE STORY.

And also, what is your favorite film by Steven Spielberg?

And if you enjoyed this episode, please give me a thumbs up — whatever you like.
And make sure you hit that clap button, for all I have to tell!