OllieSuave-007
This is a pretty intriguing and action-packed movie starring Jet Li in one of his first Hollywood appearances. His plays former Chinese cop Han Sing who breaks out of prison after hearing of his brother's murder in Oakland. When he gets there, he gets entangled in a money scheme plot involving two rival families, where the daughter of a crime lord, Trish O'Day (Aaliyah), is also caught in the middle.It's almost like a modern-day Romeo and Juliet, but with Han and Trish caught in the chaos and them helping each other to stop the war and bring the criminals to justice. What resulted were some awesome martial arts sequences courtesy of Jet Li; seeing him grapple with the gang members left and right were both great and funny, especially him throwing around Anthony Anderson. The humor in the movie was also pretty top-notch and gave me some chuckles, but the acting was a bit average to me and the hip-hop soundtrack was pretty awful. However, Jet Li and Aaliyah had some great chemistry together; in her first motion picture, Aaliyah delivered a pretty witty and dramatic performance.Overall, it's a good action film with a well-paced plot.Grade B
Mr-Fusion
To sit through ROMEO MUST DIE is to go back to that (mercifully) short period when it seemed like every movie was aping THE MATRIX. But this one doesn't have parody going for it. When Jet Li isn't creatively using the props around him to kick some bad guy ass, he's bouncing drop kicks off of walls and nailing ballet scissor kicks in midair. It's East-meets-West insofar as the really obvious wire-fu meets lots of American action-movie gunplay. Throw in the awful hip-hop soundtrack and sore thumb Isaiah Washington, and you get the gist. And were it a little more lighthearted, it might actually be fun. But the quasi-Shakespearean business dealings (Romeo, Machiavelli, it's pretty on-the-nose) come off extremely forced. It's certainly not the worst I've seen, but it's . . . well, it's not great. Although I did crack up at the suitcase machine gun trick they cribbed from GHOST IN THE SHELL.Man, this was lame.4/10
niamhloftus-gti
'Romeo Must Die', where Romeo swaps swords for martial arts. This action, martial arts film was released in 2000, where Andrey Bartkowiak made his debut as a director. It stars Jet Li and Aaliyah, who play Han Sing and Trish O'Day, respectively. The storyline focuses on Han, who seeks to avenge the killing of his brother. On his journey to finding out the killer, he falls for the daughter of a businessman, who is carrying out a major money deal with his father. As the film is categorised in the genre of action, you may think that it is not for everyone. However this would be a wrong assumption to make. The film does have a lot of scenes, which showcase the amazing martial art moves of Jet Li, but there are also other scenes which show emotional sides to the characters, which is why I really like this film. There are underlying themes in the movie, concentrated around the emotion of Love. The first, is the romantic love between Jet Li's character Hans and Aaliyah's character, Trish O'Day. This brings me to the title of the film, 'Romeo Must Die'. The name 'Romeo' has connotations with the character of Romeo in William Shakespeare's, 'Romeo and Juliet'. There are parallels between the character of Romeo in the play, and Hans in this film. When Romeo meets Juliet, he is instantly in love with her, this is the same with Hans and Trish, after their first meeting, he seems smitten by her. Trish comes across as a strong, determined woman, who does not always see eye to eye with her father. This is like Juliet, who acts rebellious towards her father, when he arranges that she is to marry Paris. In the film, it appears that Mac, who is Mr. O'Day's right hand man, is similar to the character of Paris and seems to think he has a chance with Trish. The most interesting similarity between the play and the film, is that Han's family are at war with Trish's family. This war between families adds another dimension to the film, which is not expected in this genre. This dimension is that of being human, which makes the film realistic to the viewer. Action films often concentrate solely on the action, with a bit of a storyline, where the main characters survive anything that is thrown at them. It is almost as if they are indestructible. However in this film, it combines these fight scenes, with a main storyline containing emotional scenes as well. These scenes of emotions, are at the core of the second type of Love, which is family love. This is mostly demonstrated through the father- son relationships in the movie. The relationship Isaac O'Day and his son, Colin have is one of love and protection. This is in contrast to Hans and his father, Ch'u Sing, where there seems to be tension and resentment, over the reasons why Hans went went to prison . These family dynamics also centre around the term loyalty. It is clear from the beginning where loyalty lies within the two families. However, as certain events occur, you begin to question the loyalty of some characters. It is worth mentioning, that as it is mostly an action film, there are some disturbing scenes, which the viewer may find distressing. I would like to mention that I thought the way the director showed these graphic scenes, was unique, as I never seen that been done before in film. So what else can the viewer expect, well there are car chases, fighting, guns and shooting. As some of the content in the film, is quite heavy at times, it is balanced out with the emotional scenes, and also some comical scenes. These comical scenes come mostly in the form of the character of Maurice, played by Anthony Anderson. One is where he is in a music store, with headphones on. He gets so into the music, that he ends up knocking records of the wall. In conclusion, the film does have everything that you would want in any film, a hint of romance , comedy and a lot of action, martial arts. If there was one critique to this movie, it would have to be that unlike Romeo and Juliet, we do not see the passionate scenes between Hans and Trish, but it could also be argued that a relationship is not just based on the passion. In this way, the director may want the viewers to enjoy the growing chemistry between Hans and Trish, with a view to the audience believing that by the end of the film, there is a happy ever after for the two characters. This critique aside, I would definitely recommend this film. The best way to watch this film is to have an open mind when viewing it, as you will enjoy it. It is not one of those films, where you have figured out what's happening next, there are a lot of shocks and surprises along the way. I would also go on to say, that after watching the film, it has made me see Jet Li as more than just a martial arts professional, but an actor. This is down to the main reason that the film is not just about fighting, but love, family and loyalty.
