Romeo Must Die (2000)
reviewed by Vince Yim
As the Hong Kong film industry disipated due to piracy, Triad interference, one of the end results is the influx of very talented individuals coming over to the North American film market. This is a godsend for many film buffs, wishing to see the high-octane fueled gunplay of John Woo, lightning fast fists of Jackie Chan, and charismatic screen presence of Chow Yun-Fat.
The unfortunate byproduct of mixing East and West cultures is that West tends to dominate, leaving mere reflections of what once was. Albeit, the forementioned people have proven themselves, but only after a lackluster turn.
John Woo made the brilliant actioner, Face/Off...but he also did start out with the heavily edited Hard Target. Jackie Chan has most of his Hong Kong films released here, as well as the successful Rush Hour...but then, he also starred in "Battle Creek Brawl" and "The Cannon Ball Run". And then there's Chow Yun-Fat, who received acclaim in Anna and the King...but then, started out with "Replacement Killers".
Romeo Must Die, starring Jet Li, is one of these films.
Hot off the success of the super badass heavy in Lethal Weapon 4, Jet Li comes back to his hero roots playing the role of Han, who escapes from prison to find his brother's killers. Along the way, he meets Tricia (R&B singer Aaliyah), the daughter of a crime boss who helps him along the way. With the two warring families going at it...ah, never mind. The story has a mere passing resemblance to the Bard's play about doomed love.
For the most part, this is a very entertaining film. Once you get past the fact that 40% of the story and characters can be jettisoned, the fact that it takes place in LA but it looks a hell of a lot like Vancouver, a small handful of continuity errors, and the annoying hip-hop soundtrack, the film is actually quite entertaining.
The Matrix blew the door open for martial arts flicks, and the ones they do here work. Of course, after Jackie Chan pioneered Wing-Chun in the films and the use of every day objects as weaponry, it's hard to top. Of course, it's not like these guys don't try.
For starters, there is the much talked about bone crunching which you finally get to *see*, not just hear, thanks to the magic of CGI (one character has his arm broken and you see the x-ray of his bones getting broken). Then, Jet Li also shows off some of his comic flare during a slapstick sequence in which he is forced into a pickup football game. Upon learning the rules ("Why are they hitting me?" "'Cuz you got the ball."), he comes out on top and announces, "I love American football!" Then, there were some of the coolest fight sequences that Lethal 4 only gave hints at.
But does the film work?
Warts and all? Well, kinda.
If you had to actually think of the storyline, you'd put yourself in an asylum. Or, you'd want to take up a screenwriting class and come up with a better script. Included in the 40% jettisonnable script is an annoying subplot about the NFL (which doesn't make that much sense) and a lot of nonsense that could've easily been replaced with more images of Jet Li beating the snot out of someone bigger than he is. But on the plus side, they didn't give too much of a romance between Jet Li and Aaliyah.
For the most part, I was entertained. But then, I'm also from Vancouver and I'm attending film school in the area. A very, very deadly combination for a film viewer/critic/cynic. Much of the 2 hours in the dark theatre were spent counting the cigarette burns (which tell the projectionist when to change reels...but then, I had to watch Fight Club first), noticing the glaring continuity errors during the chase scene (bullet holes appear and disappear), and noticing that the place where Han drops off Tricia in the cab happens to be the the same place that I get off of the Skytrain. And what's up with those "BC" Transit busses?
That, and the fact that movie soundtrack producers seem to think that all Chinese people listen to nothing but hip-hop. I'm Chinese and I hate hip-hop. There are fewer things worse than that Hack Daddy taking old songs from the 80s and turning them into his (c)rap music travesties. The only song I like from Puff Daddy is "All About the Benjamins", and that's only for Foo Fighters frontman David Grohl's contribution. "Come with Me"? Puh-lease. If I have to hear him say "Uh huh...yeah" one more time...! When Jet Li's Black Mask (aka Hap Hak) was released to North American audiences, I went to a Chinese video store and rented the version with Chinese dialogue, English subs, and NO ANNOYING HIP-HOP SOUNDTRACK.
But for what it is, it's not bad, and a worthy first time effort for it's director, Andrzej Bartkowiak, once responsible for cinemetography of the Lethal Weapon flicks and a bunch of others. It's certainly a slick looking picture, and has almost enough martial arts to satisfy the action starved audience. While it doesn't quite match up to the standards already set by Jet Li and his contemporaries, it's okay.
In terms of a film with a Hong Kong star in it, it's not bad. Jet Li could have done a lot worse (and judging from some of the North American debuts had by his fellow countrymen, that's saying quite a bit). But here's to hoping that he'll finally get much, much better.
Rating: B- --
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