Here's a simple question: WHY would you take one of the most gifted action stars alive and then use terrible special effects and WIRES to just ruin every action scene? That's like advertising a movie as an action film, but it's really just a drop-dead dull drama! (Hey wait--This movie does both!)
The title Romeo Must Die raises a few questions: Why is that the title for example? There's not ONE character named Romeo, and any connection to the Shakespeare work is minimal at best. So if we have no idea who Romeo even is, then how are we supposed to know why he "must die"? My guess is the producers just wanted an artsy sounding title. (It isn't.)
There are two warring Mafia families, one black and one Asian. (There's the only noticeable connection to Shakespeare I noticed: warring families. By that note, I suppose this movie could also be called "Family Feud" without losing any credibility.)
The Asian boss' son gets killed, so he's angry. Then the son of the black gang is killed, so we have more anger. This combines to give us lots of rage and then about 97 minutes of just really dull scenes of unconvincing Mafioso types and fancy restaurants.
Here's the entire plot of Romeo Must Die:
Angry Black Man: "You killed _______!"
Angry Asian Man: "No..No.. We no kill _______! But you kill ________!"
Angrier Black Man: "Kill that ________! You both killed ________! And I like rap!"
Angriest Asian Man: "I start shooting all you guys at random now."
The tedium is intermittently spoiled by the requisite action scenes. Now, these scenes are generally what we look forward to in movies like these. You won't in this movie. The kung-fu chops and air flips are completely silly and unrealistic.
Someone apparently decided that Jet Li couldn't handle doing exciting action scenes, so they added a bunch of CGI effects and guys hanging on wires and things. It's really an amateurish technique. We're also treated to several looks inside the body of the guy being beaten upon, so we get to see the bone actually crack or the spine crunch, ala X-ray vision. That particular trick sounds a lot cooler than it looks in the movie.
Something specific that bothered me about the action sequences: While he's kicking lots of ass, Jet Li flies all around, bouncing off faces, and basically defying all physics. Why then is there no explanation for his OBVIOUSLY superhuman skills? Is he a closet superhero? (Hell, even Big Trouble in Little China explained the freakish goings on.) Bottom Line? If the audience is giggling at the violent parts, something is wrong with your movie.
In her film debut, singer Aaliyah is just not a good actress. You tire of her character early, and that's too bad, since she's in almost every scene. Delroy Lindo shows up for a paycheck and a snack at the caterer's table. He's just playing the same guy he always does. Jet Li shows that as an actor, he's a damn good fighter.
I simply can't understand why most action movies are so action-free! There are easily 25-minute stretches in this movie where there is nary a knee-kick or face-chop. That would be fine if I were watching Terms of Endearment, but if you put Jet Li in a movie, you better let him kick a little ass.
Romeo Must Die is, to put it bluntly, an extremely BORING movie. The predictable "gang war" scenario was a cliche 40 years ago, so don't expect the plot to entertain. And since the action scenes are only almost as realistic as an episode of The Jetsons, my advice is to stay far away from this junk.
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