Romeo Must Die (2000)

Posted by fetchblog

June 1, 2008

If Shakespeare’s most enduring tragi-romance Romeo & Juliet were ever realised as martial arts slug-a-thon, and shot with the brio of an MTV commercial, the result surely would be more entertaining than Andrzej Bartkowiak’s directorial debut Romeo Must Die.

A ludicrous East-meets-West love story set to an ear-splitting mish mash of rap and R&B, the film marks an inauspicious Hollywood topline bow for action star Jet Li, who was far more effective when he kept his mouth shut and played the villain in Lethal Weapon 4.

Former police officer Han Sing (Li) languishes in a squalid Hong Kong jail, having taken the rap for his father Ch’u (HenryO) and brother Po (Jonkit Lee). Whilst he has been behind bars, his family have moved to Oakland, California, where they are installed as the Asian mob, vying with the local African-American mafiosi run by Isaak O’Day (Delroy Lindo) and his sadistic right-hand man Mac (Isaiah Washington).

When news reaches Han that Po has been killed in gang warfare, the former good guy cop breaks out of jail and heads straight for America to avenge his brother’s death.

There, he meets and immediately falls under the spell of sassy shop owner Trish O’Day (singing star Aaliyah) who, alas, is Isaak’s cherished onlydaughter. Despite the animosity which festers between their two families, Han and Trish fall madly in love, and join forces to unmask Po’s killers. With the turf war spiralling rapidly out of control around them, Han and Trish dice with death in search of the truth.

I’m not at all sure how to judge this film. I suppose a fan of the Kung Fu genre goes to see the fist-and-foot action, and this is the least impressive part of the film. Jet Li is legendary for his martial acrobatics, and he does indeed do some amazing, well-choreographed moves in this film, but the fight scenes are digitally fiddled with to the point that his skill is almost irrelevant. When you have guys with computers who can make it look like you’re hovering in the air for five minutes stomping repeatedly on peoples’ faces, it doesn’t really matter who’s playing the lead role. You could have Orson Welles doing it.

Where can I find this flick?