Romeo Must Die Review Essay, Research Paper

Fans of Jet Li know him for his excellent martial arts ability. He is making his third debut this year with his new movie Romeo Must Die. He made his first appearance as the bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4, and then starred in Black Mask. He is a seventh degree black belt and his fans hold him to it when they watch him on the big screen. His audiences are looking for some excellent fights, however they get just the opposite to the ordinary kung fu flick with Romeo Must Die.

Basically every kung fu movie out there has a half-baked story and is based purely on fancy martial arts. Romeo Must Die is just the opposite. It has a relatively good story but some horrible and choppy fight scenes. The story takes place on a waterfront filled with small businesses that has two groups fighting to control the area. When Jet Li s character, Han, hears that his brother has been killed in the process he escapes from a Tokyo prison to kick butt, with a vengeance. The story is filled with intricate plot twists on the way adding wonder of its audience.

The fight scenes suffer miserably from poor camera work. In all great martial arts fighting scenes people like to see all the fancy moves but their view will be hampered in Romeo Must Die. The camera never stands still so you can never get a grasp on the action. Thoughts like Who s getting beat up? and Is that the guy he just kicked? race through your mind when viewing these pitiful scenes. That s not to say that Jet Li himself isn t delivering a great performance. He is truly a master of field. He puts a lot of effort into doing his own stunts but it is the directors in this case who are at fault. Something new has also been added. Whenever Li delivers a critical hit the camera zooms in to the specific body part that was injured to show the damage done. Although this rarely happens, it is quite annoying and doesn t add to already lame fighting scenes.

To gain attention and support for the film artists such as DMX have been added to the line up of characters. He is noted for his acting ability in Belly and has been given the role of a club owner on the waterfront. If your looking for a great kung fu flick you won t find one with Romeo Must Die. Fists of Legend, starring Jet Li, was recently redone with enhanced sound quality and dubbed English voices. Rent this one instead. Fans of Jet Li will love it.