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A totally insipid, clichéd and wastefully convoluted subplots within
subplots sprinkled with technically overdone kicks and fists are
what all for which Romeo Must Die. Cry. Its not even a gang war
depicted convincingly, no disturbances if the upright boy and the
upright girl of the warring gangs fall in love, and on top of it
you are made to believe that a cop in Honkong who is imprisoned
(now don't ask for what) coolly manages to escape to New York bothering
not even a single responsible molecule during his expedition.
Honestly,
for how long will we keep on bearing the one-man army syndrome of
the Hollywood? If a solitary man no matter how much blessed he is,
grounds six people to paralysis in one flying kick (hick), if tons
of bullets showered on him fail hopelessly to even scratch pass
his habiliment, well then I really feel sad for the cops. A better
idea could be to pack off the police departments and invest in cloning
technology to produce at least one Romeo for every continent.
And
it's enough for the technically overdone stunts to cover up a spineless
plot. The fascinating action can only act as an icing to a neatly
baked storyline than using it as the only ingredient. The Matrix
from the same producer had a substantial theme, though fuzzy but
certainly credible. And when presented with that kind of action,
it elevates to the category of classics.
For
the story, the lesser said the better with not even a quarter baked
love story (one might argue that its not the main story, but then
you don't have anything else either), Chinese and Blacks gangs at
loggerheads who are touted as not caring a whiff for the law, (You
hardly see any cop in the movie leave aside the hapless Honkong
ones who get a beating from Han (Jet Li) while he escapes the torture
cell. Probably that's the indication from the director). Han's brother
is killed in the fracas making Han to unleash his fist and kick
on the perpetrators. Believe it or die, this is the story of Romeo
Must Die.
Jet
Li's American debut is nothing more than wooden. The computer and
the strings are enough for anyone to perform all the feats he is
depicted to be performing and all that in the name of martial arts.
Also the cinematographer of Lethal Weapon makes his directorial
debut with this film and so does singer Aaliyah as the upright daughter
of the black gang lord Isaak (Delroy Lindo). Even decent performances
from these actors cannot uplift the film from one more clichéd,
indigestible action movies from Hollywood.
Rating:
* (Poor)
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