West Side Story Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

2. Too. Many. Lens Flares.

Though this is a beautifully shot film for the most part courtesy of Janusz Kamiński's likely-to-be-Oscar-nominated cinematography, there's one aspect of its aesthetic that feels overdone to the point of self-parody.

Spielberg and Kamiński made the decision to include aggressive lens flares in basically every single scene, and while it certainly gives any movie a cinematic sheen when deployed sparingly, here it's used to comical excess.

As much as J.J. Abrams rightly gets flak for his own obsession with lens flares, there are scenes in this movie where it's hilariously obvious that numerous light sources were being intentionally shone directly into the camera lens to generate the effect, rather than it being a natural consequence of filming.

It's hardly a deal-breaker and more casual-minded audiences probably won't even give it a second thought, but Spielberg and Kamiński could've saved themselves some criticism by just toning the flares down a bit.