Haven't been here for years... all new and shiny these days.
Haven't been here for years... all new and shiny these days.
Member since:31.10.2000
Reviews:148
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Romeo Must Die is Shakespearean influenced martial art film set in a trendy hip-hop style backdrop that stars the unbelievably talented martial artist Jet Li and is, unfortunately, decidedly average. The plot is convoluted and almost nonsensical (as is often the case in this genre), the fight scenes are few and far between and Jet Li, beyond his awesome fighting skills, appears to be a limited actor. Put simply when the best thing in a movie is a singer (Aaliyah) trying her hand at acting you know you’re not in for the worlds greatest movie.
Whilst I realise that I could and probably will be accused of being overly harsh and that martial arts films are different, relying on visually astounding fight scenes to cover over the huge plot deficiencies, I have to disagree. The main problem is that I’ve seen The Matrix (this shares the same producer Joel Silver), a film that combined some stunning fight sequences with an engrossing storyline and a healthy dose of original
and impressive filmmaking. Romeo Must Die is sadly an unwelcome return to the Steven Seagal school of filmmaking. Anyway enough ranting what’s it all about.
The plot is flimsily ‘based’ on its namesake Romeo and Juliet or perhaps more realistically West Side Story and concerns two rival factions, the African Americans and the Chinese mobs who control the waterfront in Oakland. When the land they control becomes the potential site for a new NFL football stadium gang warfare breaks out as tenants on the land who are unwilling to move are ‘persuaded’ by one or other of the gangs. In all the mayhem Jet Li’s brother is killed and a mission of vengeance becomes the order of the day.
The vague Shakespearean influence is that Jet Li happens to be the son of Chinese mob leader and Aaliyah, the girl he befriends, happens to be the daughter of the African American gang leader who is played by Delroy Lindo. If all of this is beginning to sound a little fatuous, well it is, basically having set the scene the movie follows the various clichés through an unnecessarily confusing plot until the inevitable showdown. Yawn.
Whilst I have been nothing but negative so far I must admit that I didn’t dislike this film and as far as the fight sequences go, I’ve rarely seen better. I was lead to believe, through certain reviews, that this had something new to offer to the most tired of genres and as such my feelings towards the movie are more of disappointment than dislike. It is true that Jet Li is truly an awesome practitioner of wushu as he demonstrated in Lethal Weapon 4. Unfortunately there are far too few fight scenes in which he can demonstrate his God-given talents and his ability as an actor is at the opposite end of the scale to his ability as a martial art. As a result the two supposedly romantic leads generate very little on-screen chemistry, although Aaliyah does try, and hence the huge gaps between the fight scenes are certainly less than engrossing and you’ll quickly find your mind wandering.
In trying to create a film with more depth than a standard martial art affair, director Andrzej Bartkowiak (who?) has instead created a confused and convoluted story that is too lacking in genuine thrills to impress. The addition of the hip-hop music and the vague reference to Romeo and Juliet come across as gimmicks to try and inject some substance but are merely window-dressing to a run-of-the-mill film. Even the CGI wizardry that regular appears to show x-rays of various bones being broken in the middle of the fight sequences fails to raise this from mediocrity.
So to the advice. Well if martial art movies are your thing then don’t miss this… it goes a long way to affirming Jet Li as the next huge star in this genre, he is an incredibly talented martial artist, however a better script and more action scenes are essential for a successful career in Hollywood. For those to whom martial art films have no real allure I’d advise they avoid this as it has very little else to offer and certainly won’t convert you. Aaliyah may have made herself a future in films and Lindo is a consummate performer but the plus points are too few for any real commendation. Disappointing.
Running Time: 115 mins
Rating: 15
Tomatometer Rating: 34% (From www.rottentomatoes.com see opinion)
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Production Year: 1972 - Martial Arts - Director: Bruce Lee - Original Language: English\Cantonese\Chinese - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Bruce Lee, Nora Miao, Chuck Norris, Robert Wall, Jon T. Benn
Production Year: 1981 - Martial Arts - Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida, Masahiro Tomikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama
Martial Arts - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Bruce Lee, Sho Kosugi, James Ryan, Jim Kelly, Jimmy Wang Yu, Bolo Yeung, Christopher Lee
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Advantages: Fun, loads of action, few good one-liners plus a couple of humorous moments and an interesting use of X-ray effects during fight scenes Disadvantages: Poor plot, weak acting, scripting etc. and it's dumber than hell...but in this genre who cares? :oP~
wampyrii 01.02.2003 (03.02.2003)
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Review of Romeo Must Die (DVD)
Advantages: Entertaining, clever visual effects, good performances. Disadvantages: Watch it, and enjoy it. But definitely don't expect anything from it.
krabople 11.09.2001 (11.09.2001)
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Review of Romeo Must Die (DVD)
Advantages: good story/acting, excellent soundtrack, bursting with special features Disadvantages: *slight* predictability though not too much to put you off the movie itself. Game on PC enhancement not worth playing.
Fiz_whiz 19.09.2002 (19.09.2002)
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Review of Romeo Must Die (DVD)
![Romeo Must Die [DVD] [2000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78549142.jpg "Romeo Must Die [DVD] [2000]")
Jun 21st, 2001
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