ROMEO MUST DIE R
Starring Jet Li, Delroy Lindo, Aaliyah, and Russell Wong
Eric says: ******* (7)
Jet Li wowed me in Lethal Weapon 4 opposite Mel and Danny. I had never seen anyone move quicker. He showcased his amazing athletic ability and martial arts skills. When I heard that he'd be starring in a movie based in my home area of the San Francisco East Bay, I was eagerly anticipating the release of Romeo Must Die.
Starring Li opposite R & B singer Aaliyah, the film mirrors Shakespeare's play in basic outline - two families on opposite sides clash as two of their own try to connect. Aaliyah's father is Delroy Lindo, always a steady presence. He heads a mafia-style crime family in Oakland. His main competition is a Chinese crime family with ties in Oakland and San Francisco. They are trying to pool their collective resources to secure water-front property in Oakland so that a wealthy businessman can buy the property and develop a stadium for a pro football team to move in (its been explained that the Raiders skipped town again), making all parties very rich. The lucrative deal threatens to go south when some long-standing property owners refuse to sell. We know how that will turn out.
Li enters the scene after breaking out of prison because he hears his brother's been killed. The main suspect is the black crime family headed by Lindo. He ends up meeting Aaliyah as they form an alliance to figure out exactly who the bad guy is. Their chemistry is almost immediate, if a bit akward. We even get a cute running joke centering on his name.
As should be the case of a movie such as this, the fight sequences take center stage - especially due to Li's knowledge of English. We get some fun over-the-top Super Kung Fu, compliments of our filmmaking brothers in the east. Li gets to hang in the air longer than MJ, change direction in mid-air, and then execute another devastating kick. Sure, we know that wires are involved, but do you think that Peter Pan really flies? The heightened fantasy just adds another dimension to the scenes. The cream of the crop, though, is a scene where Aaliyah is his puppet (Li's honor prevents him from fighting with women) during a combat scene with a superbike-driving chick. It is more of a dance than a fight, the way Li leads her. The Final Confrontation is also exciting, but, as is usually the case (except the main boxing scene from Play It to the Bone), I think it ended too soon.
We are also treated to silly little special effects shots, like x-ray vision, that will be familiar to anyone who's seen the cult classic, Story of Ricky. Sure, our main characters aren't allowed any steamy inter-racial escapades, but they have been having a rough few days, after all. Just give them (and Hollywood) some time.
My only main sticking point, which I must mention: with the exception of a cool night driving scene through San Francisco to the Bay Bridge, the film obviously wasn't shot in the Bay Area. As movie production companies are want to do, they tried to call Canada the East Bay. The three most telling shots of that were: A) an exterior shot of the neighborhood where Aaliyah's store was that had neighboring businesses with French signs in the windows, B) a bayside scene that had a bridge that definitely didn't belong, and C) an opening scene where we see a boy delivering the paper and there's snow (!) on the ground. If you're gonna call it Oakland, then it better look like Oakland. A fun movie, anyway. And who wouldn't enjoy watching Aaliyah for 90 minutes?