Romeo Must Die
Tell me if you've heard this one from Joel Silver: a martial artist, a singer, and a comedian walk into a movie.
The punch line: Romeo Must Die.
Romeo Must Die is a slickly produced, big budget action flick that revolves around a gang war between two crime families, led by the African-American Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo) and the Chinese Ch'u Sing (Henry O). They are engulfed in a battle over the sale of Oakland-San Francisco waterfront property, the future location of an NFL stadium. Oozing all over the deal as The White Man is Vincent Roth (Edoardo Ballerini) who embodies greed in a corporate suit.
Isaak has a plan to stop his life of crime after the sale, but his second-in-command, Mac (Isaiah Washington), has other plans. Ch'u has his own lieutenant, Kai (Russell Wong), who doesn't seem to do much but wear sunglasses until the end of the movie.
As a result of all the skullduggery, things don't go as planned. Ch'u son (Po Sing, played by Jonkit Lee) is murdered, setting off what seems like a retaliatory strike against Isaak's son, Colin (D.B. Woodside). Word of the murder reaches Han Sing (Jet Li) in prison, who immediately breaks out and flies halfway around the world to avenge his brother's death.
There, he meets Isaak's daughter, the gorgeous Trish O'Day (Aaliyah). After Han steals a taxi and barges into Trish's house, the two decide to work together to discover who's really behind the murders. Why Trish should trust Han so quickly, given that he is the son of a rival gang leader, is never made clear.
Even more inconceivable is the supposed relationship that exists between the two. That's right folks, Li is supposed to be Romeo and Aaliyah is his Juliet. The two never even kiss. Somewhere, Will Shakespeare is spinning in his grave. With the high death toll, Romeo must Die has a lot more to do with Hamlet than Romeo and Juliet.
This movie is so grossly enthusiastic about its violent content that it actually has special effects to demonstrate how people die. In other words, instead of indicating that an arm has been broken by a loud crack, the movie shifts to an x-ray vision view of the victim's body, showing the bone break. It's like Speak n' Spell for action films, explaining in precise detail the damage inflicted just in case you didn't figure out how the bad guy died. This is alternately amusing and pathetic - now we have to dumb down our action movies too?
Li (the martial artist) has some amazing action sequences, including the most creative use of a fire hose and zip lock ties. When he's fighting, Li is in his natural element. When he's speaking...he's not. The considerably more handsome and understandable Wong should have had the lead role.
Aaliyah's (the singer) presence is breathtaking, but she has very little to do in the movie. Mostly, she complains about her father's criminal activities. Although Aaliyah's music floats in the background of most of the scenes, all evidence of her musical talent is subsumed under two extremely contrived dance moves. Worse, Aaliyah's dancing sucks.
Let us not forget about the comedian, Maurice (Anthony Anderson). Big and loud, Maurice is the bodyguard assigned to Trish. He's also a non-stop laugh machine, churning out joke after joke, sometimes mumbling punch lines that only he gets.
The movie's lack of romance, despite the title, is forgivable. The attempt at a plot (and the inevitable twist) is high-minded if misguided. But what makes this movie almost unwatchable is the rampant racist remarks.
The taxi that Han eventually steals is driven by "Akbar," an Indian man. Everyone calls Han "Akbar" with a sneer, because clearly that's a name for Indian people who drive taxis, not Chinese guys driving taxis. Then Han is called "Dim Sung," after he pretends to be a Chinese food delivery guy. The blacks have rhythm, swear a lot, and break out into random dance moves. The Chinese are unfailingly polite, grieve in private, and all know martial arts (a trait Han says, with a smirk, is "state law"). And the white guy is a corporate suit, with slicked back hair and his own crony.
Ever since the success of Exit Wounds, starring DMX (who made a guest appearance in this film) and Steven Seagal, Joel Silver has been trying to create more cross genre pictures of this type to attract the hip-hop and martial art crowds. Romeo Must Die simply doesn't have the guts to go all the way with its romance, with its plot, or by breaking any stereotypes.
The punch line: Romeo Must Die.
Romeo Must Die is a slickly produced, big budget action flick that revolves around a gang war between two crime families, led by the African-American Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo) and the Chinese Ch'u Sing (Henry O). They are engulfed in a battle over the sale of Oakland-San Francisco waterfront property, the future location of an NFL stadium. Oozing all over the deal as The White Man is Vincent Roth (Edoardo Ballerini) who embodies greed in a corporate suit.
Isaak has a plan to stop his life of crime after the sale, but his second-in-command, Mac (Isaiah Washington), has other plans. Ch'u has his own lieutenant, Kai (Russell Wong), who doesn't seem to do much but wear sunglasses until the end of the movie.
As a result of all the skullduggery, things don't go as planned. Ch'u son (Po Sing, played by Jonkit Lee) is murdered, setting off what seems like a retaliatory strike against Isaak's son, Colin (D.B. Woodside). Word of the murder reaches Han Sing (Jet Li) in prison, who immediately breaks out and flies halfway around the world to avenge his brother's death.
There, he meets Isaak's daughter, the gorgeous Trish O'Day (Aaliyah). After Han steals a taxi and barges into Trish's house, the two decide to work together to discover who's really behind the murders. Why Trish should trust Han so quickly, given that he is the son of a rival gang leader, is never made clear.
Even more inconceivable is the supposed relationship that exists between the two. That's right folks, Li is supposed to be Romeo and Aaliyah is his Juliet. The two never even kiss. Somewhere, Will Shakespeare is spinning in his grave. With the high death toll, Romeo must Die has a lot more to do with Hamlet than Romeo and Juliet.
This movie is so grossly enthusiastic about its violent content that it actually has special effects to demonstrate how people die. In other words, instead of indicating that an arm has been broken by a loud crack, the movie shifts to an x-ray vision view of the victim's body, showing the bone break. It's like Speak n' Spell for action films, explaining in precise detail the damage inflicted just in case you didn't figure out how the bad guy died. This is alternately amusing and pathetic - now we have to dumb down our action movies too?
Li (the martial artist) has some amazing action sequences, including the most creative use of a fire hose and zip lock ties. When he's fighting, Li is in his natural element. When he's speaking...he's not. The considerably more handsome and understandable Wong should have had the lead role.
Aaliyah's (the singer) presence is breathtaking, but she has very little to do in the movie. Mostly, she complains about her father's criminal activities. Although Aaliyah's music floats in the background of most of the scenes, all evidence of her musical talent is subsumed under two extremely contrived dance moves. Worse, Aaliyah's dancing sucks.
Let us not forget about the comedian, Maurice (Anthony Anderson). Big and loud, Maurice is the bodyguard assigned to Trish. He's also a non-stop laugh machine, churning out joke after joke, sometimes mumbling punch lines that only he gets.
The movie's lack of romance, despite the title, is forgivable. The attempt at a plot (and the inevitable twist) is high-minded if misguided. But what makes this movie almost unwatchable is the rampant racist remarks.
The taxi that Han eventually steals is driven by "Akbar," an Indian man. Everyone calls Han "Akbar" with a sneer, because clearly that's a name for Indian people who drive taxis, not Chinese guys driving taxis. Then Han is called "Dim Sung," after he pretends to be a Chinese food delivery guy. The blacks have rhythm, swear a lot, and break out into random dance moves. The Chinese are unfailingly polite, grieve in private, and all know martial arts (a trait Han says, with a smirk, is "state law"). And the white guy is a corporate suit, with slicked back hair and his own crony.
Ever since the success of Exit Wounds, starring DMX (who made a guest appearance in this film) and Steven Seagal, Joel Silver has been trying to create more cross genre pictures of this type to attract the hip-hop and martial art crowds. Romeo Must Die simply doesn't have the guts to go all the way with its romance, with its plot, or by breaking any stereotypes.
Labels: Martial Arts, Movies
posted by talien | 12:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home