This article contains spoilers for both screen versions ofWest Side Story.
For most of his career,Steven Spielberghas spoken of his desire to make a musical.
It turned out to be well worth the wait.
As if by magic, it returned to the Oscar winning director some of the irresistible exuberance of youth.
Corey Stolls Lt. Schrank is rewritten to be a slightly more rounded character.
He calls them the children of whites who couldnt make it.
Faist gives a terrific performance thats easy to imagine as compelling when amongst teenagers.
But the friendliness in the eyes belies an angry, broken piece deep within.
Meanwhile, Ansel Elgorts Tony shows promise.
The Jets are heading toward an inevitable dead-end, and Tony shows such promise and sensitivity.
Hes also a much better developed character in the 2021 movie.
Be a good member of society, kids.
Elgorts Tony is clinging to his job at Docs as his last hope.
Unlike the 61 film, this Tony has no off-screen parents who Riff fondly talks about.
This is not to discredit Woods famous performance, which was quite glowing in its own right.
He also doesnt want this kind of lifestyle for his little sister Maria.
He sees Chino as one of the smartest boys in the neighborhood with a future that doesnt involve violence.
The gringos will kill you if you shoot one of them, his friends warn.
He forlornly replies, The gringos kill everything, eventually.
But more than the violence, the newWest Side Storytries to explore how the Shark characters live.
Among them, there is also a greater emphasis on warmth.
Morenos Valentina is his widow and heir to the drugstore.
This also allows Spielberg and Kushner to develop an originally tertiary role into a much more dynamic presence.
It adds an uncomfortable context.
It also provides the films diverse and rich book of musical numbers to more fully hit their high notes.
And frankly, with two glaring exceptions, theyre generally done far better in the 2021 film.
If Spielberg waited his whole life to do a musical, he shows all that pent up dexterity here.
Nearly every scene reveals a kinetic virtuosity for blocking and camera placement.
This is probably most notable in the Tonight sequence, the first duet between Tony and Maria.
But that is just one example of how Spielberg has reimagined and revitalized musical sequences.
Theyve lived on in the public imagination for six decades and almost as many generations.
Although he mightve been most focused on just photographing his elaborate choreography on-screen.
Its just a much more engaging scene, daddio!
The actual dynamics between Maria and the other characters are largely heightened by the new film as well.
Instead its going to be an all-out brawl.
To put it mildly.
Tony hides at the drugstore, Maria is delayed by the cops, and fate intervenes.
Anita is even forced to reluctantly help after bitterly discovering Maria and Tonys affair.
(Also props to how justifiably wrathful DeBose sings A boy like thatwill kill your brother.)
Yet the execution of the ending moments are subtly, yet strikingly, different.
This begins with how the near rape of Anita is handled much more honestly in the 2021 film.
In the 61 film, she also revels in her Jets buddies trying to rape Anita.
in both versions, although in 61 Anybodys unbelievably partakes in this violence against a woman.
She also insults Valentina for living among these hateful white devils.
And to be fair, Valentina doesnt sugarcoat it.
(Kidz these days, amirite?
Valentina calls these kids she watched grow uprapistsand drives them from her store.
It, sadly, doesnt work and Tony goes looking for Chino.
Admittedly, Spielberg is returning to how the original 1957 Broadway production ofWest Side Storyended.
While the 57 production didnt do it that way, almost every production since 1961 has.
