Jet Li blew
me away when he did his thing in "Lethal
Weapon 4." Though I'd heard a lot about him from the martial
arts fanatics out there, "Lethal Weapon 4" was my introduction
to him. The guy is unbelievably quick, and his martial arts skills are
incredible. I was looking forward to his movie "Black
Mask" when it was released theatrically in the United States
(it was a Hong Kong import), but I was very disappointed in that one.
It sucked royally. One of the guys I work with (a martial arts enthusiast
named Lionel) was also disappointed in the movie, but he wanted to make
sure that "Black Mask" didn't tarnish my opinion of Jet Li,
so he let me borrow a movie called "Deadly China Hero." What
a masterpiece! Sure, it was cheesy as hell, but that's to be expected
with those kinda movies. The thing is, despite the cheese, it had some
amazing fight choreography, and even though some of the moves defied the
laws of physics (most film geeks refer to it as "wire-fu" because
of how wires are used to move them in ways that are otherwise physically
impossible), it was fun to watch, and that's all that matters. Since then,
I've seen a few more Jet Li movies, including "Fist of Legend,"
and "The New Legend of Shaolin" (he's best known for his "Once
Upon a Time in China" movies, but unfortunately, I haven't seen them
yet), and I like his movies a lot. Then I heard that he was finally gonna
star in his first American-made movie, and I was skeptical. The reason
was because it was yet another "Romeo & Juliet" update,
with Jet Li playing "Romeo" to R&B star Aaliyah's "Juliet."
"Romeo Must Die" seemed pretty lame, but I was curious. Then
I saw the trailers and I got excited. It looked great! I finally saw the
movie, and as it turned out, my initial reaction was correct. It was pretty
lame.
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
in fair Verona, where we lay our scene."
Anyway...
Although there ARE two families at war, and the guy of one family has a close
relationship with the girl in the opposing family, that's where the similarities
to "Romeo & Juliet" end. This is a good thing because if they
tried to make it more similar, I think it woulda been an even worse movie. Also,
"Romeo & Juliet" is one of my favorite stories of all-time, and
I wouldn't wanna see it tainted.
No one seemed to know where "Romeo Must Die" should go. Serious gangster
movie? Cartoony martial arts movie? Urban drama? Silly urban comedy? The movie
went in all those directions at once, but it was unsuccessful with each one.
That's a shame, because if it stayed within one genre, it may have been a much
better movie.
Jet Li has always been a good actor, and when he does his ass-kicking thing,
he's amazing. Actually, as a whole, the acting is fine. Aaliyah is pretty good
in her first big movie role, Delroy Lindo is perfect in the role of her gangster
dad, and Isaiah Washington (a brilliant young actor) is excellent as his underling.
Bad news, DMX fans. Your homeboy is good in the movie, but he's in it for no
more than three minutes. There's also a VERY brief appearance by the beautiful
Francoise Yip (she was also with Jet Li in the horrendous "Black Mask,"
but I remember her most as the gorgeous bad girl in Jackie Chan's "Rumble
in the Bronx"), but she's in it for maybe 30 seconds, and she has a single
line (the line is "no shit").
The story was by Mitchell Kapner, who wrote "The
Whole Nine Yards," a simple movie that I enjoyed. The screenplay was
by Eric Bernt ("Virtuosity" and "Surviving the Game") and
John Jarrell ("Restraining Order," which I never heard of). Since
there were three (known) writers, I don't know who's to blame, but there's something
that you should keep in mind. In the world of Hollywood filmmaking, the "story
by" person/people write the story, and then it's handed off to the "screenplay
by" person/people to work on. The director was Andrzej Bartkowiak, and
this is his directing debut. Prior to "Romeo Must Die, he was a DP (director
of photography), having worked on "The
Devil's Advocate," "Dante's Peak," and with Jet Li on "Lethal
Weapon 4." Bartkowiak did a decent directing job, but he made the mistake
that lotsa people make when directing martial arts sequences. He felt the need
to have quick cuts, close-ups, and general chaos, so it's hard to really know
what's going on during the fights. Also, there's lotsa "wire-fu" and
computer animation assistance during the fight scenes, and it just seemed really
inappropriate for this movie.
"Romeo Must Die" isn't a total loss. Aside from the good acting, there's
Jet Li's charisma, there were a few genuinely funny moments, and I wasn't bored
at all. It was painful to hear Jet Li speak English, though.
By the way, I didn't like the movie, but Lionel, the guy who got me into Jet
Li movies in the first place, said he enjoyed it.
I'd love to see Jet Li make it big in the United States, and "Romeo Must
Die" may help him do that, but what he really needs is a big movie with
a great script. Ya know, Joel Silver was one of the producers of this movie,
and he also helped produce "The
Matrix." It would TOTALLY kick ass if Jet Li was to have a major role
in the sequel. Ya hear me, Joel?