Romeo Must Die (BD) [Blu-ray]

Jet Li had been kickin' arse and takin' names long before he played the scary Big Bad in LETHAL WEAPON 4, but it's exactly that gig that got him his first lead in a Hollywood action picture. ROMEO MUST DIE is self-described as a "hip hop kung fu movie," as apt a description as any. This flick has got one overriding flaw, but mostly it's entertaining as heck.Shakespeare's classic tragedy is given that urban flavor and that martial arts twist. The story's backdrop concerns the blood feud between two ill-fated houses in Verona... er, Oakland, California. When word of his brother's murder in Oakland reaches an incarcerated ex-policeman named Han Sing (Jet Li), he promptly breaks out of his Hong Kong prison and makes his way to the U.S. There, he has a chance meeting with the beautiful Trish O'Day (Aaliyah), daughter of the local mob boss. Circumstances play out and we learn that Han is the son of an Asian crime family engaged in a turf war against the O'Day syndicate. It doesn't stop Han and Trish from becoming good friends.Aaliyah and Jet Li demonstrate this sweet, oddball chemistry, although I don't know that they made that convincing a romantic couple. It seems more like what they share is a platonic relationship. Aaliyah lights up the screen in her film debut, and I still get sad whenever I think of that plane crash. But you watch her in this movie and you can tell she's got what it takes. The supporting cast has her back. Delroy Lindo lends weight and credibility as the head of the O'Day mob. Russell Wong - whom I really liked in those VANISHING SON television films - plays the right hand man to the Asian Mafia's boss. Bow down to Russell Wong's good looks. He always seems to get these roles that call for someone sleek and sophisticated, and Russell always looks as cool as the other side of the pillow. His character is Han's longtime friend, but time apart can inflict changes in a friendship. With friends and loved ones from both crime families being targeted, who can be trusted? If you gaze at the unctuous Isaiah Washington - who plays O'Day's right hand man - and your eyes don't naturally narrow with suspicion, then you're not reading the signals too well. Look to your own houses, gangstas.It ticks me off a bit that it took until LETHAL WEAPON 4 before people here got wise to Jet Li and what he brings. Because his Hong Kong martial arts films are epic stuff. Here he shows off his kung fu, and jacks up a horde of western thugs. He even indulges in a rough game of football at the park. Anthony Anderson - who as Trish's undesired bodyguard provides the film's comedy relief - gets repeatedly beat up by Jet. The action set pieces are pretty good, except that they're undermined by the overzealous wire-fu. Some of the crazy moves that Jet and Russell Wong pull just look unconvincing, and this affected how much I enjoyed the film. Anyway, this soup of hip hop and martial arts worked well enough that the formula was recycled three years later for CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE, a film which also reunited Jet Li, Anthony Anderson, and DMX (who has a cameo in ROMEO MUST DIE as a club owner).The DVD's bonus stuff is thick with short documentaries:- HBO First Look Special: the Making Of ROMEO MUST DIE featurette (00:14:49 minutes long)- "Inside the Visual Effects Process" - about the "ultra pain mode" f/x which occasionally pops up in the movie; the "ultra pain mode" is a digitally-rendered x-ray vision sequence which depicts the internal damage Jet inflicts on his antagonist (00:03:50)- "Diary of a (Legal) Mad Bomber" - about the film's practical effects (00:04:50)- "Anatomy of a Stunt" - with professional stunt woman Melissa Stubbs as she performs a descender drop from a highrise, a high fall, and a fall right into the drink; this is a pretty cool featurette accompanied by pop up trivia (00:06:50)- "The Sound Stage" - about the film's sound mix, that which provides balanced levels of dialogue, special sound effects, and score (00:01:32)- "Stairway Dance" - behind the scenes at filming Jet's stairway tussle (00:01:34)- "Kung Fu Football" - shooting the football at the park sequence (00:02:36)- "A Benz, a Bike, a Babe and Some Badasss Kung Fu" - behind-the-scenes of the 4-minute car chase and Jet & Aaliyah's dance-fu (00:03:44)- "The Hose" - shooting the scene where Jet uses a fire hose as a weapon (00:02:48)- "Master on Fire" - shooting the climactic fight scene between Han and Kai (00:02:22)- "Jet Li is 'Han'" - an interview with Jet as he talks about the film (00:03:33)- "Aaliyah is 'Trish'" - an interview with Aaliyah (00:05:01)- "Anthony Anderson is 'Maurice' aka 'Moron'" - an interview with Anthony (00:02:58)- 2 music videos - Aaliyah's "Come Back in One Piece" featuring DMX and "Try Again" featuring Jet Li- the Making Of Aaliyah's "Try Again" music video (00:04:14)- Cast & Crew credits & filmographies- ROMEO MUST DIE theatrical & international trailers

This is a film that isn't for everyone. I just happened to like the lead actors, especially Jet Li. It has a pretty good plot about a drug-dealing, wealthy African American family at odds with a drug-dealing, wealthy Chinese organization and the clashes between the two are very well staged and filmed. It has a very strong and able supporting cast as well as a surprising conclusion. But my taste runs to movies like Denzel Washington's "Man on Fire," and "The Equalizer" so I'm certain it's a matter of taste.

There are 39 scenes total in this movie. The movie stopped playing at scene 31 (Anthony Anderson walking into Trish's room eating pizza after there was no response from him knocking asking if she wanted some food).Highly disappointed. 2 stars .It was not my DVD player. I got a refund, and hope to buy the movie again.I bought this DVD the end of July 2021.

Romeo Must Die looks pretty sharp in HD. Good blacks, colors, lighting, and good sharpness and texture. It's always been a pretty good looking DVD so I expected no less from the Blu Ray. It's a nice effort for an under-rated catalogue title that doesn't even have an image on here (what's up with that?) The audio is top notch for a hip-op oriented track with good surrounds for the action and fight scenes. I love the end fight with the fire all around them. Great stuff! Extras are the same as the DVD so nothing new, except the "Try Again" music video looks a little sharper upscaled.Not bad for a DVD upgrade. Like I said, the DVD looked really good, but I needed me some HD Jet Li to get me jazzed up for Expendables 2 this weekend so this Blu-Ray did not dissapoint!

I brought this DVD because i'm an Aaliyah fan. And it's actually a very good movie. As noted by other reviewers Aaliyah & Jet Li chemistry was great. They both played there roles perfectly. It's action packed and funny. You won't get bored watching this movie, especially if you're a fan of Aaliyah or Jet Li. This DVD also has special features. I'll name a few: Two Aaliyah music videos (Which is awesome for Aaliyah fans), Behind the scene footage of Aaliyah filming "Try Again" music videos, & Behind the scene documentaries of the cast. If your an Aaliyah or Jet Li fan you should buy this DVD. If Aaliyah were still alive today i would of loved for her and Jet Li to have worked on more movies like this together, there own screen chemistry is amazing.

This video was pretty good, but Jet Li and Aaliyah wasn't quite the Romeo and Juliet type. The emotional feelings between them, were not as convincing as I would have expected. But the fact that Jet Li was labeled romeo, fit the character he portrays. He was a perfect gentleman with Aaliyah. Both Aaliyah and Jet Li had only one thing in common, and that was finding out who killed each of their brothers. Jet Li became a one man army against the thugs who killed his brother and Aaliyah's brother. The Action of Jet Li's martial art is a must see.

Movie sound was not audible, raise volume, restarted app, then as a final switched tvs, neither had volume. This is a great movie I wanted toshare with a guest in my home instead after 15 minutes of struggle and 2 tvs later we changed to Netflix. There's no way I can see to contact amazon about this. After guest left cued up random shows through app and they sounded fine, went back to movie, no volume. Waste of 3.00

Alright, so the effects and action are some times a bit over the top, but in my opinion it works for this movie. Visually pleasing, this movie takes you through a R&J-esque storyline, without boring the viewer with the same old Shakespearian cliche's. Jet Li's performance is wonderful as always, but I though that Aaliyah was a vibrant addition to the cast. While not quite a dramtical masterpeice, this movie puts out what I beleive it's meant to accomplish - it's entertaining from beginning to end!

I'm not sure why I bought this film but here goes with my review. Jet Li is kinda hot and I have bought his films before in the past (Kiss of the Dragon was particularly good). As the lead female making her debut here Aaliyah is actually shockingly good. Russell Wong is also extremely easy on the eye. The action is sweet. There's at least one nice explosion here. Anthony Anderson irritates as always but he's not enough to ruin a perfectly adequate actioner. Dependable Delroy Lindo is always fun to watch. And Isaiah Washington is not bad. Even DMX isn't bad. But this film was always gonna live and die on its central couple and in that respect the film does deliver even if the chemistry isn't as hot as it could have been. There's some loud gun play to enjoy here too. I do like the song Try Again which features at the end. However, and it's a small thing, the cover is not the same as advertised. And there's no music videos.

I absolutely love this film and soundtrack. Jet Li is very funny. The world lost an amazingly talented actress and singer.

Very good movie and non stop action

Myself watch good

Great thanks