Printable version

 To print: Click here or Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

	--------------------------------------------------------------
	This story was printed from dtheatre.com,
	located at http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=828.
	--------------------------------------------------------------

Review: Romeo Must Die
By SKillBot, (DT)
March 23, 2000 11:00 PM PT

In a world of vicious rivalries and violent betrayals only one thing is sure. Jet Li stars as Han Sing in the first major film directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.?He has a long line of cinematography experience, including work in US Marshalls, The Devil's Advocate, Falling Down, and Prizzi's Honor.?It's definitely worth seeing.?Read the full review.

This movie used a technique that I hope to see a lot more in the future. It is to chop-sakie what Bullet Time is to The Matrix. For lack of a better term, I call this X-Ray Fu. If you like watching someone get chopped and having their ulna pop out through their elbow (refer to Fong Sai Yuk), you'll love this. The action zooms in, and the skin becomes transparent. The outlines of the body parts that are about to break are clearly visible, and then they change color as you hear the squishy sounds of violence. It's simply amazing.

The plot was nothing special. It's homies vs. the chinese to monopoloize waterfront property and build a football stadium. Then the star's brother gets killed, so he has to break out of prison and leave no ass unwhooped.

The action was great. There was all that plot getting in the way, and the jar jar of the film never died. But plenty of people get kicked in the head, and that's what this movie is all about. Well, I suppose the plot had something to do with it as well. The camera work was excellent. I especially noticed that whenever an item needed to be examined, it was shown very clearly, but not made so obvious that you were insulted at having to keep looking at it.

All in all, it was a pretty good movie. I'd see it again, but I'll probably wait for the dvd to come out so I can skip over all the crappy parts and watch the visual effects. The prison break scene was especially cool, as were the opening titles.