Hello! Finished with the studying...now searching for work desperately! Will be popping by now and a...
Hello! Finished with the studying...now searching for work desperately! Will be popping by now and again and who knows I might surprise you all with a much needed op!
Take care, c u soon, Fiz_whiz
Member since:19.06.2002
Reviews:19
Members who trust:39
Romeo Must Die – action filled, stunt-tastic and special FX galore with a brilliant soundtrack – need anymore reasons to see this?
The DVD itself comes cased in a regular DVD case and the artwork on the front is some nice black and white photography showing the faces of both Jet Li and Aaliyah. The title of the DVD is written in a red graffiti-ish scrawl and really stands out on the dark background. The usual movie details and a couple of still clips from the movie are displayed on the back against a red background.
STARRING:
Han Sing - JET LI Trish O'Day - AALIYAH Mac - ISAIAH WASHINGTON Kai Sing - RUSSELL WONG Silk - DMX Isaak O'Day - DELROY LINDO Colin - D.B. WOODSIDE Maurice - ANTHONY ANDERSON
Now onto the film itself. This is basically about two rival gangs (one Black and one Chinese) fighting for turf on the same territory for a new property deal. Things get serious however, when the son of the leader of the Chinese gang is murdered. Suspicions and accusations are rife. This is where Han (Jet Li) comes in. We are introduced to the character in a Hong Kong prison and upon hearing about the news of his brother he makes a dramatic escape (with a great fight scene) to hunt down and avenge those responsible. Incidentally it turns out that the reason Han was in prison was because he came forward to protect his father’s swindlings in the past. So now the focus of the story moves to the US in Oakland where all the action’s at! It is here that a coincidental meeting between Han and Trish (Aaliyah) from the black gang takes place and a new friendship is formed. The new friendship causes a few fight scenes where Trish’s bodyguards and her father’s associates (Mac and Maurice
played by Isaiah Washington and Anthony Anderson respectively) are after Han and these provide some light entertainment. Anderson provides the comic relief to the movie which is needed to lighten the tone of the whole gang warfare going on in the background. His character Maurice is often the subject of Han’s various stunts which enable him to escape with style. The story continues whereby both Han and Trish join forces to get to the bottom of the murders in their families. I shall say no more as I don’t want to ruin the film for those who haven’t seen this yet.
Romeo Must Die has been marketed as a fusion of Hip Hop and Kung Fu and though rather odd, I feel the combination has worked superbly throughout this film. What attracted me to this the most was that this was the film debut of (the now late) Aaliyah who happens to be one of my fave RnB stars. The soundtracks to the film are awesome and being from the Hip Hop genre adds to the atmosphere of gang warfare which is theme of this film. Hip Hop star DMX shows up for a few minutes but his role is quite insignificant and I feel he only appears because he is featured in one of the main soundtracks to this film alongside Aaliyah in "Come back in one piece." This also adds further appeal of the movie to DMX, Aaliyah and Hip Hop fans in general as potential audience and I believe it to be one of the factors which make the combination of Hip Hop with Kung Fu so successful.
Hip Hop aside, Jet Li also stars in this movie and is involved in many little stunts throughout. The stunts and special effects used are also highly commendable but you’d come to expect that especially as this is work of Joel Silver - the same producer who worked on The Matrix. There are numerous stunts throughout the film and these are for the most part original and even comical at times with a “kung fu football scene”. Special effects are also plentiful and there’s a great scene where some people are thrown out of their apartment and straight into the sea/ocean front below. In the fight scenes I also noticed some sort of an x-ray filter device being used to show which parts of Li’s opponent’s body parts were affected. Looks painful. If you’ve seen The Matrix I’d say it reminds me slightly of the effect used to show the signal transmitted through the phone line yet it manages to maintain its originality because it’s being used in a fight scene and also the effect is somewhat different.
The only criticism of the movie I could make is the fact that I found it a bit too predictable for my liking. Yes! I was the annoying bugger sitting there and guessing out loud how the plot would unfold! However, it didn’t really mar the movie itself as all the performances were good and the roles weren’t really too stretching for the actors/actresses involved. The roles of Trish and Han were moulded around the actors from the start and there are good performances also from the supporting cast. The special effects, stunts and soundtracks made up for the slight predictability and you couldn’t fault these at all.
I will mention a little about the soundtracks as they really enhance this movie and as stated earlier help to build up the atmosphere. Aaliyah has contributed four tracks to this amazing soundtrack, which definitely helps in stamping it as “her” movie. Other great RnB and Hip hop acts have also contributed. The main soundtracks featured (in order that they are heard) are: This Is a Test by Chante Moore It Really Don’t Matter by NY Confidential Perfect Man by Destiny’s Child Rose in a Concrete World by Joe I Don’t Wanna by Aaliyah Are You Feelin’ Me? by Aaliyah Try Again by Aaliyah Somebody’s Gonna Die by Dave Bing Come Back in One Piece by Aaliyah and feat. DMX
My personal faves are….well…all of them! Hehe ok ok I like them all but Joe’s Rose in a Concrete World, Destiny’s Child’s Perfect Man and Aaliyah’s I Don’t Wanna. The remaining three Aaliyah tracks are also top! Didn’t leave out much there now did I??
As part of the extras included in the DVD it is great to see a couple of the videos to the soundtracks mentioned above. Music videos you can watch in full are Aaliyah’s “Try Again” and Aaliyah’s and DMX’s “Come Back in One Piece”. The making of Aaliyah’s “Try Again” video is also included.
There are many more extras included in this DVD which certainly makes it more enjoyable and value for money. Other special features include:
MAKING ROMEO MUST DIE: Behind the scenes documentary. CRAFT MINI DOCUMENTARIES: Anatomy of a stunt, inside the visual effects and soundstage. ACTION SCENE MINI DOCUMENTARIES PERONALITY PROFILES: Showcasing Aaliyah, Jet Li and Anthony Anderson
Alongside the music videos, I particularly enjoyed watching the action scene mini documentaries and it was interesting to see how the stunts were directed and where the ideas came from. All main action scenes were included rather than a few which was nice.
If you thought the extras were good, there’s also an additional set of extras included specifically for use/viewing via a DVD rom which means basically you need to have this running on your PC in order to access these extra enhancements. These enhancements are:
A MARTIAL ARTS EXPERIENCE – this is basically a game in which you can fight your way through levels. I did try this as it sounded pretty good but was disappointed by the game as it involved you (who happened to be a pair of hands on the screen) fighting an opponent. Apparently apart from punch, you could also kick your opponent though I saw no legs. It wasn’t very realistic and quite frankly this bored me very quickly and I can confidently say it is the worst part of the DVD. Having said that though, the purpose of the DVD was certainly not game play; so it shouldn’t be much of a deciding factor if you’re considering buying this.
ORIGINAL THEATRICAL WEBSITE – This is the official website which is permanently “housed” on the disc. Web links are also included. A great resource for the ultimate fan of this movie!
Note: Minimum specs required to access these from your pc are:
Microsoft Windows 95 or above DVD drive 166 MHz Pentium processor 32 MB RAM Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or higher. (This is included on the disk for convenience.)
Some of the features require an internet connection.
Unfortunately these DVD rom enhanced features do not work on Mac’s.
This DVD can be brought from places like HMV, Virgin megastores, WHSmiths or many online dealers like amazon, cd-wow and streetsonline. I bought mine on special offer from WHSmiths for about £10 and consider it money well spent and well worth it for what’s on offer here.
I would definitely recommend renting it out at least.
So to end with, if you like action, tons of stunts, Hip Hop and special effects this is a must see movie. Don’t let the Hip Hop put you off though – as if it would!
Thanks for the read. Your comments appreciated as always :)
Fiz
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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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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Romeo Must Die (DVD)
Advantages: The fight scenes are an excellent showpiece for Jet Li's awesome talents Disadvantages: The poor plot and infrequent action land this firmly in the mediocre
Mercury 21.06.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Romeo Must Die (DVD)
![Romeo Must Die [DVD] [2000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78549142.jpg "Romeo Must Die [DVD] [2000]")
Sep 19th, 2002
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