Romeo Must Die

by Leslie Robarge

If you judge The Matrix producer Joel Silver's new kung fu flick, Romeo Must Die, by the standards of porn -- with plot and dialogue existing only as filler between lots of action sequences -- it's a great movie. In this latest nod to the Bard's classic tragedy, Han (Jet Li) and Trish (Aaliyah) are two children from rival gangster families involved in a real-estate war. When Han's brother is murdered, an act that compromises the tense truce between the families, Han escapes from prison in China to avenge his death. With the help of some slick graphics, Han kicks some serious ass getting out, lands in America, and keeps on kicking ass. When Trish's brother is killed, she helps kick some ass too.

So many people get beaten up, in fact, that by the end of this two-hour movie, the only casualty you're apt to care about is the silver Mercedes that gets shot up. The hip-hop beats pumped throughout the film maintain its pulse even when the actors are doing boring things, like talking. There are racist undertones -- a gong punctuates almost every grave remark uttered by a Chinese actor -- and the film looks every bit as polished as DMX's soundtrack rap makes it sound. Romeo Must Die is about as subtle as the title, but what were you expecting, Shakespeare?