First off, let me say that I really enjoyed "Romeo Must Die." The plot is good, if it at times does seem overdeveloped to the point of slowing the film down, and the action is excellent. Jet Li is quite the performer, and does a great job both portraying the character and performing the stunts in the film. That said, "Romeo Must Die" makes several serious errors. The most glaring one is what I am now officially calling "The Matrix Problem." When "The Matrix" was released, it showed off some excellent special effects and enhanced stunts that added to the computer-world feel of the film. As is only right, these effects astonished filmmakers and moviegoers alike. The Matrix Problem, however, is that many, many films have felt the need to use these same effects- with no explanation as to WHY the characters can do these insanely unrealistic things. In "Romeo Must Die," Jet Li performs several amazing stunts by his own power. However, there are also some obviously enhanced ones. The one that most easily comes to memory is a video-game like super-high jump kick (play Marvel vs. Capcom or a similar game, and you'll know what I mean). Sure, it looks cool. But it also looks incredibly fake, ruining the dramatic fight scene that was going on before it. Special effects should enhance the fights, not screw them up like they do in this film. Also, as mentioned above, the plot is occasionally overdone, for an action film. I'm not saying that I don't like intricate plots...far from it, I prefer plots with twists and turns that you have to think about the whole time. But in "Romeo Must Die," the producers seemed to be trying to make a fast action movie and an intricate, involving mystery at the same time. The combination just ends up not working right, slowing down what could have been a great action film- or skimming what could have been a great mystery. "Romeo Must Die" is a good film, and one that was fun to watch for the most part. It just could have been, should have been, a lot better.
Review of Romeo Must Die
