Romeo Must Die touts itself as a stylish action-packed movie with such stars as Jet Li and Russell Wong. No doubt about it, Jet Li is one of the most energetic and captivating martial artists to hit the screen in a long time, but even his on-screen presence couldn't save the clichéd and laughingly stupid Romeo Must Die.

Trying to blend an old Shakespearean subplot with martial arts and hip hop, sounds like it could work, but just doesn't. Although the movie has its fair share of awesome fighting scenes (many obviously influenced by The Matrix - which recently picked up four Oscars - congrats), the acting and dialogue are just so, what's the word... horrible, it's unbearable at times. Jet Li's broken English coupled with a partnership between the two families that really doesn't add up to much or make any sense (including a third party that is played by the stereotypical white businessman/yuppie), are enough to make any true film fan cringe.

The main problems I had with the film are twofold. For every cool action scene, there was an equally bad action scene featuring the all-too-common slo-motion shots, incredibly impossible manuevers, and the too often used damsel-in-distress. Secondly, while it was nice to see first time actress Aaliyah trying to get her feet wet, jumping over from singing/songwriting, the chemistry between her and Jet Li - featuring his broken English and short sentences - was all but non-existent. While the filmmakers had the best of intentions and a script that seemed original, not even Jet Li's awesome martial arts or Aaliyah's one-liners could save this movie.

Genres: Action, Romance
Rated: R
Runtime: 115 minutes
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