Romeo Must Die (2000)

Very well executed

Overrated

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

"Romeo Must Die" is an action drama starring Jet Li, Aaliyah, and Delroy Lindo.Hong Kong cinema standout Jet Li spent the 80s and 90s mostly known to Asian and select international audiences. His American introduction was as a heavy in "Lethal Weapon 4"-- for Li, a rare turn as a villain.Apparently, "Lethal" producer Joel Silver promised a lead heroic role as a follow-up, and "Romeo Must Die" was the vehicle.The film is a very loosely-updated take on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet-- but don't look for any allegories except in the broadest of strokes.Li plays Han, a 30-ish Hong Kong police officer who took the fall for a crime he didn't commit, allowing his father (and younger brother) to escape the Chinese mainland to the United States.Po's father Chu turns out to be a career racketeer, and as the story opens up in Oakland, California, he is in the midst of a violent "turf" conflict with a prominent black gang boss, Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo). Aggravating the conflict is the recent mysterious murder of Han's brother Po-- Chu blames O'Day's gang, but Isaak is firm in denying any involvement.Meanwhile, Isaak is working on a mysterious real estate project, and his top lieutenant Mac (Isaiah Washington) may have his own secret plans.Trish (Aaliyah) runs a small boutique in Oakland, possibly a vanity gift from her dad, and she catches the eye of Han, who comes to her store while following clues left behind by his brother.The bodyguards who work for Isaak openly don't like the Chinese fellow getting too close to Trish, so problems ensue and the fists and feet start flying.The mystery gradually unfolds about who killed Po and just what the big plans are of Isaak. This is explored alongside a very chaste romance between Han and Trish.Character actors like Lindo, Washington, and Russell Wong help anchor the film which could have gone in a campy direction.Aaliyah is very pleasing in her debut role, and comes across as very natural in portraying the college-aged Trish.Jet Li is very capable in all the martial arts sequences, which, likely is the main reason for watching this film. Since English is not his native language, it's difficult to judge him for coming across as a little stiff. Still, at a fantasy level, it would have been interesting to see an Asian-American in the Han role and dispense with the conceit of being foreign born-and-raised.Viewers should also recognize a younger Anthony Anderson ("Black-ish") in an early role here as a hapless henchman.Rapper DMX has an important bit role here as well.The director, Andres Bartowiak, is Eastern European in origin, making this movie very multicultural in its filmmaking pedigree.This movie is very worth checking out, as it is basically taking a B-movie premise and giving it an extremely glossy look. In fact, it is not unlike a 90 minute music video, full of hip-hop music in the background for various scenes.

Let me start by saying I adore the late Aaliyah. For her first role, she did a pretty good job. She played the part well and this part was made for her. However, I enjoyed the soundtrack more than the movie itself. Not saying it was a horrible movie, it was just OK. I wish the fight scenes were more authentic. You could tell they were choreographed. When I watch a movie like this, I want it to look like people are really fighting each other. I also felt that Jet Li and Aaliyah lacked in the chemistry department. Sure, they look good together as friends and/or partners in crime, but nothing more and I mean nothing. Anything beyond that seemed forced. I actually felt the entire cast lacked in chemistry. There were a couple of twists that were unexpected and the plot was OK, but nothing to really knock your socks off. It is entertaining if nothing else is on TV, or if you just want to watch the beautiful Aaliyah in action. For me, it is a bit nostalgic for that reason. Also, I was still a teenager when this came out and this was the movie to watch at that time. Again, not the worst movie, but not the best. I will admit that I have probably watched this at least 5 times. Sometimes, I just can't say no because although it is not perfect, it is still entertaining.

'Romeo Must Die' is a film so loosely based on its original Shakespearean source material, 'Romeo and Juliet', that I believe that their relationship to one another does disserves to both. The plot of the film focuses around two rival gangs vying for more money than the other and how this affects the main characters Han and Trish. The rivalry takes the form of plans to develop a sports stadium. This is easily the least engaging part of the story. From boring golf meetings to uninteresting characters this unique plot point offers simply a backdrop for the events of the film. This is a flaw the film carries throughout the story whilst I can confidently say that the characters are the saving grace of the movie. Unfortunately they rarely develop engaging drama for the characters to be involved in. The major issue I had with the film was pacing. This movie definitely would have been aided by heavy cutting. Roughly the first twenty minutes, in my opinion, are completely unnecessary and I believe the movie should have begun with the prison scene. Not only is this the first time we are introduced to our protagonist Han but his break out is the most interesting action scenes in the entire film. Arguably one of the best I've ever seen in film but it is heavily truncated but terribly executed exposition; and when I say that it was the best action scene in the film that actually holds a lot of weight because this movie is abundant with action. Obviously with Jet Li as the main actor you should set your expectations at a certain level but this movie goes far and beyond that. Action after action after action with the bare minimum of story during the first half leaves the viewer feeling disconnected. It would have been of far greater value to cut some of the fight scenes and replace them with more interaction between Han and Trish, the female protagonist, especially since the chemistry between the two was very palpable. As stated previously the characters and their relationships are what I found to be the peaks of this film. The three core relationships in the film, Han and Trish, Han and his father, and Trish and her father, all hit the correct notes. From the flirtatious nature of the protagonists to Han's damaged past with his father the actors are very crucial in the portrayal and the strong response they encourage. Whilst I know the romance plot is very important to this movie I particularly found the conversations between Trish and her father Isaak the most powerful. Isaak is the leader of a mob family but is not blind to the realities of his world. He is making plans to secure a legal income based future for his children. This comes to a front when Isaak's son and Trish's older brother is murdered. Isaak only wishes to help his children and whilst Trish initially blames him for her brother's death she doesn't play the stereotypical spoilt child. She instead recognises what her father is trying to do and agrees to trust him. Every time these two interacted I felt as if the film should have dropped the unnecessary ties to Shakespeare's writing and had a larger focus on these very dynamic characters. However, that's not the film we have and it leaves us with the relationship between Trish and Isaak and my greatest take away from the film. The third also falls apart in minor ways. Firstly due to the pacing issues it feels a long time coming and as result I was thinking about it more than I should have; this lead to me realising the slight twist ending where the henchmen of both of the families would betray their respective superior. I feel like this was supposed to hit a lot harder than it did but I feel like it was communicated and foreshadowed far to on the nose. Perhaps this also on the actors playing the roles, especially the Mac character because from the second he appears on screen you can't help but question his motives. This is contrasted nicely against Han's father who we are ambiguous about until he opens up to his son. However, before that moment he genuinely could have gone either way showing shades of good and bad; and coincidentally that is how I would also describe this film. There was huge potential here and the execution is done very well in regards to the primary characters. Unfortunately pretty much everything outside of that from the music, to the editing falls flat or worse. Overall I see Romeo Must Die as a platform for the main actors and the screenwriters and bar that it is a lackluster action film with untapped potential.

Despite the title, "Romeo Must Die" is not truly an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." While the main characters are children of two families of equal standing and bodies accumulate throughout the film, that is where the similarities end. In fact, contrary to Kai's initial exclamation of "there's a war going on," the families' heads are actually in a business partnership when the film opens. Even the underlings seem to be working in tandem, with both Kai and Mac killing the sons of their bosses in order to further their "careers." There is some fighting between the two groups (both with martial arts and with automated weapons, prompting the ever-popular "guns don't kill people, people kill people"), but it seems to be over turf disagreements more so than any real hatred.Han, son of the Asian gang boss, is like Romeo in that he is not present for the initial fight scenes and rising action. Unlike Romeo, he is not away on the waterfront mourning a love unrequited. Instead, Han is serving time in a Hong Kong prison for having protected his brother and father from the barred enclosure. He is much less sheltered than Shakespeare's Romeo, an effect brought about by Han's older age, work as a police officer, and lack of reluctance to violence. Han is also more isolated than Romeo. Where Romeo has a good relationship with his parents and his gang of friends like Mercutio and Benvolio, Han's mother is dead and his father betrayed him and Kai, the friend he thought he could trust, murdered Han's brother because he was getting in the way of business.Trish, daughter of the African American gang boss Isaak O'Day, is like Juliet in her beauty but little else. Where Juliet is passive, Trish makes her own decisions at every turn. She runs her own business, has her own apartment, and avoids her father's men whenever she can. Unlike Juliet, Trish stands firm in her romantic prospects. When the Paris figure (who also seems to embody Tybalt), propositions her over a meal, Trish continuously shuts him down using dry wit, sarcasm, and a disgusted sneer.These representations of Romeo and Juliet, Han and Trish, do not have the all-consuming, riotous emotions typical of Shakespeare's protagonists. In fact, the two seem to use one another to fill the gap left by their deceased siblings. They team up to get to the bottom of the two murders, fighting and joking together, but never showing romantic inclinations. At one point, Han and Trish literally fight as one entity so that Han can avoid hitting a girl. Trish kills her other "suitor" in order to save Han, much more active and protective than other interpretations of Capulet's fair daughter. In both cases, Han tries to protect Trish from the horrors of death by turning her attention from the body. He tries to protect her in more ways than just physically. "Romeo" gets confused and then angry by Maurice asking if Han had really thought that he "was gonna get them panties, now did you?" While this could simply be a translation issue, the fact that the reunion of the "star crossed lovers" was not sealed with a kiss hints at a more platonic interpretation.Without the completely biased and long standing war between families and the all-consuming love between doomed lovers, "Romeo Must Die" is really only linked to Shakespeare given the number of times people derisively call Han "Romeo." Despite the expectation (and subsequent let down) of this film being a "Romeo and Juliet" adaptation, it is an interesting watch. A mix between mystery, mob, and martial arts, "Romeo Must Die" is an engaging, fast-paced, violent two hours.