West Side Story (2021) – Film Review

Love at first sight strikes when young Tony (Ansel Elgort) spots Maria (Rachel Zegler) at a high school dance in 1957 New York City. Their burgeoning romance helps to fuel the fire between the warring Jets and Sharks — two rival gangs vying for control of the streets.

Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg is obviously a household name and it’s for good reason. Throughout the course of his decade-spanning career, he has been at the helm of some of the most popular films known to humankind including E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park just to name a select few.

He’s directed a large heap of films and yet he has never made a musical for some reason – until now, in the form of West Side Story. I’m not totally sure why he waited this long to make a musical because this is without a doubt one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen and easily one of the best movies of the year. And, yes, it even surpasses the beloved original.

From the moment it begins to the moment it ends, West Side Story continuously feels incredibly grand and large in scale, and you can chalk that up to Spielberg’s amazing talents behind the camera and the fact that everybody that was involved with this project brought their A-game.

West Side Story is practically brimming with joy, delight, emotion, and glee in every single scene. We have been blessed with a ton of amazing films in 2021, but oftentimes, the overall theatre experience was a bit lacking. There were only a few truly memorable theatre experiences this year for audiences such as Dune and No Time T0 Die. But aside from those two, what other movies commanded to be seen on the big screen?

Spielberg’s latest is one that you absolutely must see on the biggest screen possible with the best audio. It’s not only a marvelously shot film by Janusz Kamiński, but it also feels miraculous due to the amazing choreography put together in every musical number. This movie has a ton of them, and they’re all fantastic. Usually, when I am watching a movie musical, I find myself enjoying the songs but not really wanting to add them to my personal playlist later on. The same thing cannot be said about West Side Story.

Funny enough, I actually found myself tapping my feet along to the tune of most of the songs in the film, and staring at the screen in awe of how excellently put-together everything was. Surely this must’ve been a back-breaking exercise for Spielberg and company, but they more than rose to the occasion. Every number is sweeping and sung with tons of emotion, and the stunning costumes are the cherries on top.

This is a classic love story and one that is steeped in tragedy, comedy, swooning, and joy, and yet none of these things ever come off too strong here. The relationship between Tony and Maria feels grounded and real in virtually every scene, and screenwriter Tony Kushner did a fantastic job at making us care for them. By all accounts, these two could’ve come off as incredibly cliche but that’s gratefully never the case.

And speaking of Maria, Rachel Zegler is an absolute show-stopper in the role. To think that this is her feature film debut is truly staggering because it’s crystal clear that she is not only extremely talented but that she will also have a thriving career in both the film and music industry. She has already been confirmed to have a starring role in Shazam!: Fury of the Gods and is also set to portray Snow White in an upcoming feature as well. The future has never been brighter for Zegler.

Mostly everyone here is truly phenomenal, as well. Ariana DeBose absolutely commands the screen in the role of Anita, as does David Alvarez in the role of her boyfriend Bernardo. Both actors bring a huge level of intensity to the screen to the point where it’s almost impossible to not feel totally swept away by their work and dedication to their characters. And Rita Moreno – who portrayed Anita in the 1961  film – has a smaller but still remarkable role here as well, in the form of Valentina.

When you really boil it down, it’s hard to find anything to truly dislike about Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story. It has absolutely everything you could ever hope for in a musical and so much more. At long last, the movie theatre experience has returned.