Hip Hop Meets Hong Kong (Romeo Must Die (DVD))

Name: plipplop

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Product:	Romeo Must Die (DVD)
Date:	11/06/01 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stunts, Action, Martial Arts

Disadvantages: Far-fetched

I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that one of the key attractions of this film for me was that it was produced by the same guy that produced The Matrix. Pitched as a sort of Hip Hop meets Martial Arts fusion, Romeo Must Die is an effective action movie that is genuinely very entertaining.

The film portrays two warring gangland families – one black, the other Chinese – who are about to venture into a joint contract with a property developer. When the son of the Chinese family is found murdered, suspicion becomes rife as to who is responsible, which threatens the fragile peace between the two factions. Han Sing is another son of the Chinese gang leader, who became incarcerated in a Hong Kong prison in order to protect his family. When he hears of his brother’s murder, he escapes from prison, and travels to America intent on finding those responsible. A number of coincidences lead to Han Sing becoming involved with the daughter of the rival black gang leader, and together they attempt to discover who murdered Han’s brother. The film twists and turns as all the players start to reveal their true colours, in a desperate bid to become the turf war winners, with the two children caught in the middle of the conflict.

For most of the film the action is fast paced and things move along quickly, but I couldn’t help but think that the plot weakened in places. The title of the film, and certain elements of the plot, certainly lean towards a modern-day rendition of Romeo And Juliet – but this is not a love story. The relationship that develops between the two lead characters is purely based on friendship, and I for one found them all the more likeable as a result. Fans of martial arts movies will certainly appreciate the fight sequences in Romeo, which utilise both skilful choreography, and visual effects – very much like the fight scenes in the Matrix. There are some very imaginative fight scenes which were, a
lthough somewhat far-fetched, visually very impressive. There are also a number of excellent stunts in the film - two gang members are thrown from the window of an exceptionally tall building and plunge to their death; a chase between two motorbike riding assassins and a Mercedes; and a scene involving the improvisation of a hose pipe as an offensive weapon. I also liked the use of an X-Ray simulating filter in certain scenes, which was used to show us the effect of various impacts on Han Sing’s aggressors’ bones – ouch.

Romeo Must Die marked the acting debut of the American R & B singer Aaliyah, who generally performs very well. Resisting the temptation to break out into song throughout the film, she certainly looks the part, although the role was never stretching for her, and I can’t help but think she ultimately plays herself. Jet Li, previously seen in Lethal Weapon 4, is an extremely skilled martial artist and special effects aside he was very impressive to watch in action. Russell Wong provides the (rather over-cool) adversary for Han Sing and Isaiah Washington rather lacks any edge as the leader of the black gang.

Another positive element to the film is the excellent soundtrack. Although I’m not big on Hip Hop or R n B I have to say that I thought the music was really good, and certainly gave the film a cutting edge. Aaliyah’s top five single “Try Again” doesn’t actually crop up until the final credits, but there are loads of other great tracks throughout the film.

Where I think this film falls down is in its target audience. Conscious of the fact that many of the target viewers will be teenagers or younger, the film- makers took steps to ensure that the film lacked the gritty edge that you might expect any such gang war related film to include. Consequentially, a comic character is introduced – the obese Maurice – who has more than his fair share or sharp lines and w
itty quips which really start to wear a bit thin. Although the fight sequences are great fun they are also relatively tame - all the violence had a distinctly toned down feel to it. Throughout the film, I couldn’t help feeling as though I was watching a feature length version of The Fresh Prince, as there was a definite teen feel to the whole thing. There is the occasional use of a swear word, but generally things don’t get anywhere near as nasty as you might expect.

The DVD has one of the widest selection of Special Features that I have seen in recent months.:

Making Romeo Must Die – a relatively short behind-the-scenes programme which features interviews with the cast and the production team. Although you get an idea of how some of the scenes were filmed, the documentary never really goes into much detail, and I was rather disappointed until I saw the other documentaries.

3 Music Videos – a great feature on any modern day DVD, with two videos from Aaliyah as well as a “making of” for the video of Try Again (overkill methinks).

Theatrical trailers – which I can never really see the point of on a DVD but there are two here anyway.

Craft Mini-Documentaries – providing greater detail on some of the visual effects processes and stunts.

Action Scene Mini-Documentaries – explaining in depth how some of the key fight scenes were choreographed and put together.

Personality Profiles – of Jet Li, Aaliyah and Anthony Anderson.

There are also additional features for the PC including an interactive fight challenge and the original theatrical website.

The menus for accessing the special features are not as simple as they could be – to get to the mini-documentaries you have to keep going onto a new screen, and I lost interest very quickly. The whole DVD package is well put together though, and with the special features offers excellen
t value for money.

Whilst Romeo Must Die could never be described as intellectually stimulating material, the film has a genuine appeal that sets it above a lot of other films in this genre. The DVD is a good value package but I’m not sure the movie merits purchasing it.

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