Romeo Must Die was Jet Li's breakthrough movie into mainstream Western cinema. Yes, I know before then he had appeared in Lethal Weapon 4 but let's be honest, no one was paying much attention to him or knew that back in his homeland he already had around 20-something movies under his belt and was one of their biggest stars when they saw that now were they? Mention he was in it now to people and they're like "oh that was Jet Li?" (or "who?!" of course lol) so this was his big break as a Hollywood movie lead. Compared to his previous movies it's umm, well it's not that good but as an introduction to his work for Westerners it's not a bad place to start. Unfortunately since then he has turned in some real tripe, like "The One" after apparently turning down(!) the part subsequently offered to Chow Yun Fat in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon...but hopefully the descent into B-movie hell will be halted there. The world really doesn't need a 21st century replacement for Jean Claude Van Damne et. al. but Hollywood could do with a Jet Li on top form...not that they seem to have a clue how to use the likes of him and Jackie Chan but you live in hope eh?

You really only watch this kind of thing for the action, the stunts and the martial arts and this has it by the bucketload. In terms of Jet Li's other movies, it's not a good one, but in terms of what usually gets churned out by Hollywood in this genre it most certainly is. The plot all the action is weaved into isn't great but it works in a seen-it-all-before kinda way, in fact, it probably couldn't fail as it's all so tried and tested in that respect! Every time the bad guys catch up with Li some butt-kicking ensues and every time it's pretty entertaining stuff...dumb, but entertaining. As is the way of things we have everyday objects used in surprising ways, a fire hose becomes a lethal weapon in one fight, Li plays puppeteer with Aaliyah in another because he refuses to hit a girl himself but she has no such qualms...and so on. It's inventive and it's entertaining but you'll be wanting to suspend your disbelief for 100 minutes too...

Hmm, first impressions...suck! Why? Well the first impressions of this DVD are the case itself which is an ugly flimsy black plastic on three sides with a cardboardback and front wedged between it. To open the case you have to manipulate the cardboard front to unhitch it from under a plastic lip and to close it, more manipulation to fit it back under...who the hell designed this crap? Much tinkering later you'll accidentally discover that the front bit of 1/2cm flimsy black plastic clips off to make things easier, but don't plan on opening the case too many times before it stays off! Inside, more of the same, ugly black housing which clamps the disc quite mercilessly and geez, did someone say cheap and nasty? Warner Home Video should be ashamed of themselves!

Rap video from DMX featuring Aaliyah...in all honest, a pretty dire track from DMX(which in itself is saying something in my opinion!), pretty dire video and not exactly Aaliyah at her best either! Umm, not much to say really. If you are a big fan of either then you might be interested, otherwise you won't be...it's your basic rap video format with a clip from the movie front and back and then little else to speak of unless you're impressed by dudes hanging around looking mean...or trying to anyway.

The music video "Try Again" from Aaliyah. What's to say, it's not a bad track, the video is more inspired than it first looks(cutting martial arts into the dance choreography and the mirror room backdrop inspired by "Enter The Dragon") but otherwise it's still just a music video and you'll probably not watch it more than once unless you are a fan of Aaliyah.

In all, you buy the movie itself and it's pretty well presented here give or take a few niggles and some really crap packaging! The extras on the disc aren't bad, pretty much what you'd expect really but nice to see it in volume. A notable absentee from the extras is a director's commentary, or a commentary from any one of the cast or crew would have been nice. It would also have been nicer to have had a little more depth in some of the documentary footage we're treated to but there ya go. Overall, not bad, better than a lot of DVD releases out there and if you liked the movie then a worthy purchase, especially since you can pick it up at prices below £10 now.