Romeo Must Die (2000)

An avenging cop seeks out his brother's killer and falls for the daughter of a businessman who is involved in a money-deal with his father.

Director:

Andrzej Bartkowiak

Writers:

Mitchell Kapner (story), Eric Bernt (screenplay)

Stars:

Jet Li, Aaliyah, Isaiah Washington

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jet Li	...	Han Sing
Aaliyah	...	Trish O'Day
Isaiah Washington	...	Mac
Russell Wong	...	Kai
Delroy Lindo	...	Isaak O'Day
D.B. Woodside	...	Colin (as DB Woodside)
Henry O	...	Ch'u Sing
Jon Kit Lee	...	Po Sing
Edoardo Ballerini	...	Vincent Roth
Anthony Anderson	...	Maurice
DMX	...	Silk
Matthew Harrison	...	Dave
Terry Chen	...	Kung
Derek Lowe	...	Chinese Messenger
Ronin Wong	...	New Prisoner

Storyline

In this modern day Romeo and Juliet, kung fu action star Jet Li plays Romeo to hip-hop singer, Aaliyah Haughton's Juliet. Li is an ex-cop investigating the murder of his brother, who had ties with the Chinese mafia in America. Aaliyah plays the daughter of the American mob boss. Neither side approves of their romance, so, obviously, kung fu action ensues, with a soundtrack by Aaliyah.

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Plot Keywords:

death | prison | hong kong | kung fu | waterfront | 

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Taglines:

In the city ruled by criminals, two families have forgotten their fear. He will make them remember.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, some language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros.

Country:

USA

Language:

English Chinese

Release Date:

22 March 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Romeo debe morir

Filming Locations:

Embarcadero Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,014,503, 26 March 2000

Gross USA:

$55,973,336

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$91,036,760

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A similar scene where Han is using a fire hose as a weapon of choice is used again by Jason Statham's character Frank Martin in Transporter 2 (2005).

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Goofs

When Han leaves Trish's place and beats up Maurice and his gang, we see Maurice with a cut that is bleeding on the right side of his lip. Later, when Han is persuaded to play football with Mac and the rest, we see Maurice with a scar on the left side of his lip.

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Quotes

Isaak: Mr Sing you have my deepest, deepest condolences.
Ch'u Sing: Thank you.
Isaak: What happened to your son was tragic Mr Sing, very unnecessary. I want you to know i'll be looking into this myself personally.
Ch'u Sing: You will forgive me if I'm not easily moved.
Isaak: Mr Sing... with all due respect, there is no way in the world that anybody in my camp would be foolish enough to touch your family, any more than anybody in your camp would be stupid enough to touch mine. It just wouldn't happen.
Ch'u Sing: Our business venture will continue.
Isaak:
Isaak: [...]

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Crazy Credits

The credits during the opening of the movie are first given in Chinese characters and then are translated into English.

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Alternate Versions

The UK version was cut by Warner Bros. to get a "15" rating. 30 seconds of violence were removed including blood spurts from gunshots, a throat punch, shots of a scorching bowl being pressed onto Jet Li's hands and Li's burned hands being scraped whilst Li is dragged around, heavy punches, a head-butt and a throat chop.

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Connections

Featured in Aaliyah feat DMX: Come Back in One Piece (2000)

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Soundtracks

Rose in a Concrete World
Written by Joe Thomas and Joshua P. Thompson
Produced by Joe Thomas and Joshua P. Thompson
Performed by Joe
Courtesy of Jive Records

User Reviews

Thoroughly average, with a few elements above and below that

Have you ever felt cheated because you never got to see a movie before that includes X-ray POV footage of a person's spine being severed, a football game that turns into a Three Stooges episode, a part where a Chinese crime lord has his colleagues chained up in a refrigerated boxcar before they're murdered and dismembered with meat-cutting instruments (thankfully off-camera), and mentions that the Oakland Raiders moved again? Fear not, once you see ROMEO MUST DIE.

There isn't much else to say about how this movie's tone jumps all over the place. It's a predictable but decently engaging movie. What makes it worth renting is the presence of Aaliyah, Jet Li, and especially Delroy Lindo. There's little doubt this movie did well off the marquee value of those first two--and they're both good here, separately and together--but Lindo is a great actor and invests Isaak O'Day with a dramatic presence that insists we take him seriously.

It's a huge tragedy that Aaliyah died so young, and a great loss for the movies she would have been superb in; she saves her thin, poorly developed character from being useless and makes Trish interesting. Jet Li shows he can be tough or funny, whatever's needed at the moment, and it's nice to see an action star who seems to LIKE doing action film roles. Note: I have to agree with Roger Ebert that seeing Li doing FX-aided fight scenes was pathetic; Li's a fighting FX just by being himself, and we saw that in LETHAL WEAPON 4 and hopefully will again in the future.

For all that, this and GONE IN 60 SECONDS were the quintissential average films of 2000. As far from great as awful, both got 5 out of 10 from me.