Review of Romeo Must Die (2000) by Rolf H — 19 Sep 2016

Utter failure to Kung Fu properly.

There are certain codes of honor people must obey to properly live as a movie Kung Fu master. This flagrantly ignores all these principals in many ways but most significantly in one particular moment: Jet Li gets taken captive by a whole group of gunmen and then tells the leader he's going to kill him. The leader laughs at the apparently futile threat only to have Jet Li correct him that it's not a threat, it's a promise. A perfectly serviceable setup for a righteous murder, preferably within 30 seconds of any proper martial arts master saying it, but it doesn't happen not ever. He even gets a golden opportunity (not that a real expert needs anything more than the gunmen being distracted for 1/8th of a second) and doesn't even take it. What the hell?!? Did the screenwriters ever even watch any East Asian films at all? What is the point of the hero spending years of his life being tormented by a sadistic hermit if he can't even live by the code of always proving what a bad-ass he really is. I'm not even too scared of him to write that his teacher must be ashamed. I know these crossover movies have to let certain normally irredeemable slights slide, like being a foreigner, but some parts of the code must not be ignored.

In contrast just look at the Street Fighter (a movie this film liberally rips off in the worst ways) two dudes square off without needing anything more than exchanging a purposeful look.

I'm sure Jet Li had to buy a house in Singapore or something (their real estate does not come cheap), but I feel bad for him debasing himself like this.