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Which is why Romeo Must Die is a notch or two above your basic banal beat-down bonanza. It has an actual smattering of story and a dash of decent acting. And the good bits in between are very, very good.
Romeo Must Die, opening in theatres today, stars Hong Kong martial arts sensation Jet Li (Black Mask) in his first leading role in a Hollywood film, after first wowing audiences over here as a baddie in Lethal Weapon 4.
Set in Oakland, California (but very obviously filmed in Vancouver), the story revolves around two warring crime syndicates, one black, one Chinese. An uneasy truce between the two family-led gangs is jeopardized when the son of crime boss Ch'u Sing (Henry O) is murdered, and the finger points across the street to the black organization led by Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo). Things quickly turn ugly as more members of each side turn up dead.
Li is Han Sing, apparently the only good apple in his rotten family. Learning of his brother's death, he joins forces with O'Day's hottie daughter, Trish (singer Aaliyah). as they try to figure out who's really killing whom.
But the plot, while serviceable, is mainly there to fill the gaps between the too-few action scenes, set to a pulsing hip-hop and techno score. With all due respect to Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and director John Woo, Romeo Must Die has some of the best fights of any film, ever.
Li's frenetic combat acrobatics truly are a sight to behold, especially those that make use of the same wire-fighting effects seen in The Matrix (with the bone-snapping results sometimes viewed in X-ray vision. Ouch)!
While there's only a touch of the comedy found in a Jackie Chan movie, Romeo Must Die makes up for it by making Li's character so intensely honourable that he won't hit a woman, play dirty in a football game or use lethal force unless necessary. Naturally, he finds some truly novel ways of overcoming these moral qualms.
Li's no actor, to be sure, but at least he appears to realize that instead of mugging for the camera like a Jean-Claude Van Damme. And with his bad haircut, crooked teeth and pockmarked nose, he's certainly got enough boyish charm to go with those flailing fists
Cinematographer-turned-director Andrzej Bartkowiak shies away from making the romance between Li and Aaliyah anything more than a platonic buddyship, possibly out of some sort of fear of treading on racial taboos. Romeo and Juliet they aren't, and that's really too bad.
But that's about the only place punches are pulled in this super-slick extravaganza of flying fists and bullets. Yeah, it's just an action film. But what an action film it is!
(This film is rated AA)