coming March 22nd 2000
Official website: www.romeomustdie.net
1/23/2000
Pictures of the movie!
Picture of Jet Li with Aaliyah
Picture of Aaliyah
Jet Li in Action
Real Video Movie trailer
1/6/2000
A Review of "Romeo Must Die"
There's been a few test screenings happening for Jet Li's next film, set for a March release. Here's our latest review of Warner Bros. Romeo Must Die:
"God I high hopes this film does well at the box office. The last film that I loved this much was Fight Club, and it was a flop at the box office. Let me start off at the way you should go into this film. Don't go in and expect to see some Oscar-worthy performances. Don't expect great dialogue or great character development either. Just go in and expect to see a kick-ass martial arts film.
"Is this film perfect? No. Far from it. The one main problem I had with the film was the editing. There is a fight scene early on in the film that could have been very cool, but the editing is so fast and sharp that it is very hard to understand what is going on. Is it as hard to follow as the opening football scene in Any Given Sunday? No. It kind of reminded me of the fight scene in Sleepy Hollow when Johnny Depp and Casper Van Dien were going against the horseman. I just wanted them to pan out and show it from a longer perspective instead of all thoses close-ups that make it hard to follow. The fight scenes seemed to get somewhat better editing wise as the film progressed though. Another thing I did not like was all this flying through the air shit. They did that kind of stuff in The Matrix because it was not real. This is supposed to be happening in the real world. Even though these leaps of logic were great eye candy, I just wanted a little something more realistic out of this film. The draft I saw was not a finished copy and did not have a final score. I did express how the editing ruined some scenes, so maybe these little nit-picks will be changed before the film's release.
"Now for the good stuff. When this film is in high gear, you may want to have a napkin ready to wipe the drool off your face. I had no idea Jet Li was this awesome. When I first saw Lethal Weapon 4 I knew Li had a future in front of him. I just thought he was a decent martial artist and thought that Jackie Chan could whoop his ass any day of the week. After seeing Li in action here, I have changed my thinking. Remember in the trailer when you see him doing something crazy with a hose? That my friends is just a taste. He also makes good use of a football in one scene. This guy is not a bad actor at all either. In fact, this film has decent performances all around. The main surprise here was made by Aaliyah. If you don't know her she is a female pop artist. I did not expect a lot out of her but she did fairly good job. I must also give kudos to the cinematographers that worked on this film. It is just great to look at, and the scenery just sucks you into every situation. Something I did not get out of The Matrix.
"That's about all I can say about this overall great film. I know this film will probably be compared to The Matrix. And for the record, I liked Romeo Must Die better. Fans of martial arts and action movies will not want to pass this one by when it is released. We may not get another one like it for a long time." [Scoop provided by 'Ryan'.]
Spoiler warning!
The opening scene has Jet Li and his brother playing by a river in China. When Jet gets caught in the current his brother comes to his rescue. Fast-forward to present day. Jet's brother lives in L.A. and is a top notch gangster. When he and his Asian friends tend a African American Only club all hell breaks loose. Jet's brother along with Russell Wong (his bodyguard) beat the living crap out of the African American gangsters and bouncers using all sorts of KUNG FU AND WIRE FU. After leaving the club Jet brother's get shot in the back by a bouncer. Jet hears of his brothers death and travels to L.A. from China and seeks his brother's killer............Jet meets Aaliyah for the first time in Los Angeles. When the Chinese meet the African Americans for a meeting regarding Jet's brother's death. After they (Jet & Aaliyah) notice each other, they begin to see each other secretly behind the backs of their organizations. Then the action begins.
The rest you have to go and see at in the theatres. And trust me, after seeing some of the dailies from the movie, LETHAL WEAPON 4 did not do any justice to Jet Li's incredible martial arts aapability.
So far Aaliyah is outdoing her singer/actress counter part Brandy by a mile. Aaliyah has great potenial and the chemistry of the cast is unbelievable. Jet Li performs some of his most amazing stunts. For example, he takes on a whole crew of gangsters using nothing but a fire hose. The choreography is unbelievable. Jet's brother in the movie also uses his cane/sword in a Darth Maul/Bruce Lee kind of way. Absolutely astounding fight scenes." [Scoop sent in by 'Asian_Deelite'.]
It's The Matrix meets Shakespeare with a Hip Hop soundtrack. That's all I've got to say about that...
Scoops from Coming attractions