It's common knowledge how Romeo and Juliet concludes, but after experiencing this adaptation, it’s difficult to predict how the story might unfold initially. The film begins with the well-known lines, “Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” Then, unexpectedly, the narrator inserts: “And so the prince has called a tournament [as in jousting] to keep the battle out of the city streets.” Anyone familiar with Romeo and Juliet will recognize that there’s no mention of a jousting competition in the original play, and strangely enough, it doesn't appear in this movie either. We are shown knights in armor on horseback, holding lances, but director Carlo Carlei and screenwriter Julian Fellowes seem to quickly disregard this unusual element once they introduce it. Do Romeo and Tybalt determine Juliet’s destiny in a manner similar to Wilfred of Ivanhoe and Brian de Bois-Guilbert deciding the fate of Rebecca? Certainly not; as I suggested earlier, the story's ending remains mostly consistent with Shakespeare’s original work. Of course, there’s always the potential to appreciate the actors' performances even if the overall presentation feels familiar—though that isn’t really true here; Douglas Booth and Hailee Stanfield aren’t on par with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, let alone Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. I can see why someone might want to alter aspects of a story so well-known to avoid a sense of repetition, but Carlei and Fellowes don't even maintain their own invented element, which only serves to make Prince Escalus of Verona (Stellan Skarsgård) appear foolish. His “tournament” not only fails to prevent the Capulets and Montagues from fighting in the streets, but it shouldn’t even attempt to do so, given that these public disturbances are integral to the plot. Among the few things Carlei handles well is maintaining the traditional Renaissance Verona setting. On the other hand, he portrays Romeo as a sculptor seemingly just to elicit admiration from female viewers at the sight of his bare chest, which he frequently exposes while working with marble.

Source on TMDB