Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good Action Flick
Review: I have seen Jet Li do better but Romeo Must Die still rocks. Even though the story drags at points some of the fight scenes makes up for that. Almost 4 star quality in my opinion. I don't quit recommend buying it but definently consider renting it. If you want to look into buying other good action movies from 1999-2000 check out The Matrix, Hollow Man, Mission Impossible 2, Reindeer Games or The Way Of The Gun. (Which is in theaters right now)
Rating: 
Summary: Weak and Overrated
Review: This Movie does Jet Li no justice. Romeo Must Die tries so hard to dazzle the viewer with special effects that it forgets who its core audience is...Martial Arts Fans! The plot and screenplay are so predictable that you know who the traitor is from the very beginning. But the worst crime is the lack of serious Martial artistry from Jet Li. This movie needed less elements from the Matrix and more from Fist of Legend. Jet Li is all about Kung Fu mastery, Romeo Must Die is all about Matrix mockery.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of potential unfulfilled....
Review: Regarding the technical quality of this title on DVD, I found it to be quite good. However, I'll leave it to other reviewers to go into more detail on this topic, as I'd like to briefly discuss the movie itself. Romeo Must Die has its upside to be sure, but it also has a lot of flaws. The plot centers around two gang / crime families, one asian and one african american, as they try to gain control of a key area of waterfront land in San Fransisco. The problem is, while these are supposed to be ruthless thugs, many of the actors don't come across that way at all, especially the heads of the two families - more than anything else this ruined the movie since never once did I think that any of these guys were really that evil even though that was clearly the intent. Meanwhile, I found that the soundtrack selection/editing in this movie was generally very annoying. Most of the music did not fit well with the accompanying scene, and was mixed in so loudly that it distracts from the movie itself. I found this to be particularly true during one or two of the early fight scenes - maybe its just that rap music and martial arts don't mix well together. I could have forgiven the above - after all this was basically billed as an action movie and I'd be willing to overlook other problems if the fight scenes were truly spectacular as promised. Unfortunately, they come close but they're not. The fight scenes are generally ruined by annoying use of slow motion shots at key moments which completely disrupt their fluidity. This technique was used effectively in the Matrix, but maybe it was done more seemlessly because while the fights themselves are indeed spectacular in Romeo Must Die, the editing kills their effectiveness. On the character front, I thought that the strongest non-action scenes actually belonged to the character Maurice, who is hired muscle for the african american family. Unfortunately, his character seems to be in the movie almost as much for comic relief as for serious purposes. Meanwhile, Alliyah and Jet Li have some decent, but not great scenes together.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good, Bad Editing
Review: Jet Li did really well at acting in this movie, and it's not his fault that the editing needs work. Alliyah and DMX also did a good job for a music artist celebrity, I mean, look at how bad Shaq (Shaq had a very bad rap albumn out) was at acting and look at them. The storyline is exciting, and it is good that this movie doesn't promote racism, but rather promotes unity. The fights could be a little better, but this movie has Hella funny scenes! The editing... Well, the movie sometimes looks like a 1960 Peter Pan Broadway show, as it looks like the characters are held by strings. Considering that the studio spent most of their money gettind DMX and Alliyah and didn't have a lot left for the graphics, they did an adequate job of what they had with them. Good luck next time Jet Li.
Rating:
Summary: Cross Cultural, or Crossed Wires?
Review: Romeo must Die takes little to no advantage of theShakespearean template it claims to be inspired by (Romeo and Juliet). Aside from its pitting Asian American mafia and African American gangster cultures against each other, we find no real motivation for star-crossed lovers Han Sing (Jet Li) and Trish O'Day (Aaliyah) to fall in love or lust, and no true exploration of the interracial aspects of the piece, which might up revved up the plot somewhat. In its opening "multiculti" dance floor sequence, idealized harmony dissipates as Asians and blacks mix it up in the club, and the crowd scatters, diverse gender, race, flamboyant wardrobes and all. A black DJ bellows, "If ya' ass ain't black, you better get outta here...!" and it's hard not to cringe in the face of this and a proliferation of other classic B-movie one-liners (In this case, the "B" in B-movie is for "Blaxploitation"). Han escapes false imprisonment in Hong Kong upon the news that his brother, who fell victim to turf wars between Asian and black gangs, is murdered. Their power play, a struggle for control of multi-million dollar properties on the Oakland waterfront, comes to Han's attention much sooner than it does to ours, the hapless audience. As the convoluted plot reveals itself, still, it's hard to feel for these characters. Nevertheless, Han flees to Oakland to avenge his brother's death and discover love by-the-numbers with Trish, the begrudging heiress to the O'Day gangster throne. Our heroine Trish wants nothing to do with her father and brother's thug commerce. Trading blood money for clean living, owns a clothing boutique called Serpentine Fire, which doubles as a Shangri-La for neighborhood kids, and an excuse for Aaliyah's minimalist, form-fitting wardrobe. The R&B recording star makes her feature film debut alongside Li, whose sophomore Stateside effort pales in comparison to Lethal Weapon 4, and acting gig in which he spoke even less. Though it is an action flick, the film speaks to no issues of romance or race, which might have, at the very least, created tension in the narrative and fodder for its actors to emote. The film's non karate-strapped players' opportunities for shining through proved lukewarm at best. The only theme addressing the plight of the blacks in the film is the desire for upward mobility, and unless you count Han's derogatory nickname "Dim Sum" or the elaborate dragon gracing Aaliyah's silken pants in many of the scenes, no Asian American characters in the film were allowed the chance express any cultural dimensions (beyond two) either. The most incisive question of the film--hardly profound--is, "why fight with blacks?" In like manner, in each fight scene, victims wait in line for their beating, an almost requisite device for any and all action pictures, martial arts or otherwise. Sure, we understand all the motivation for the ass-whooping, but where is the love? The odd pairing of leading actors is unfortunate, as Aaliyah makes magic with the camera in her big-screen debut, just as Li does. The newbie actors fail to ignite any chemistry between one another. However heartfelt it appears, one senses Han and Trish enjoy more of a sweet, warm friendship by default, not unlike the plight of the stars portraying them. Their gazes, alive with loving, oceanic bliss, resonate with the kind of false enthusiasm that can only serve as preludes to dance numbers (which in this case are elaborate, CGI-enhanced martial arts sequences, a la The Matrix). One supposes Aaliyah's looking for something better than the tired brothers that run with her Pops. "You savin' yourself for Cobe Bryant or some TV dream dude?" Isaiah Washington (Love Jones) asks Trish in a subtly engaging interpretation of Shakespeare's Mercutio. While Maurice (Anthony Anderson), a bodyguard-slash-dog with a wandering eye, insists "a dog needs a b*tch" with comedic intentions that are anything but funny. Romeo Must Die serves as little more than a "resume piece." Aaliyah's good girl persona can play rough. Li's mute heavy can play leading man-of-few-words roles. That was the theory, anyway. Renowned cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak (Lethal Weapon 4) created his first directing experiment at the expense of Aaliyah, whose lip synching on the dance floor and bare midriff are given ample screen time, and Li, whose martial arts finesse is not lost to us. He performs all his own stunts as usual, but didn't we know that already? Capulets and Montagues, they ain't. To its credit, the casting for the film was well thought-out. Actors Henry O and Delroy Lindo (Ransom) work well together as the patriarchal underworld bosses of their Asian and Af-Am clans. Likewise, Stanley Clarke busts some mildly Asiatic Hip Hop moves on the film's soundtrack, while Aaliyah and DMX, who also makes his big-screen debut in this work, lend their Rap/R&B stylings to the mix. For a finer melange of Asiatic and African American cultures, vibe on a critically-acclaimed film production like Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (starring Forest Whitaker). Or heck: as a lark, you might even fare better than "Romeo" if you whip out Carl Douglas' 1974 hit single "Kung Fu Fighting," another vanity production. -Jianda Johnson is a freelance entertainment writer, singer, and musician in Southern California...
Rating: 
Summary: A visual collectors item.
Review: This will be one of the reasons I choose to begin collecting DVD's. The movie was interesting from beginning to end, with a fine mixture of action and plot development. Aaliyah was as convincing as she was beautiful, and the DVD extras were worth the cost of the disk. Jet Li displayed his many skills masterfully, not the least of which were his ability to act; choose a marketable and entertaining story and assemble the talent necessary to pull it all together.
Rating: 
Summary: Hip
Review: It's a hip movie, with great F/X, but I think Jet Li should have been in more fights. And it's actually got a decent story.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring Movie Good Music
Review: The movie draggs and has too many characters budding to be the center of attention. The story is weak can't we get past the racial**** and just be people? If you like KungFu action rent a different movie Jet Li seems more like a Gymnast and Ballet Dancer in this movie. Aaliyah, well looks hot but other than that...Oh yeah the Music is really good.
Rating:
Summary: To slow, To Stupid, and way to over the top!
Review: After buying this DVD from Amazon and hearing some good reviews about the movie, I have to say I was slightly disapointed with the overall movie. First off the story gets far to confusing, the badies are not bad enought (playing n64 games at one point in the movie) and lastly the action sequences and few and far between and when they do come the are a let down, well over the top, A sort of kung fu matrix style action, I would have to tell anyone thinking of buying this to please save there money and If they are after an action movie get the matrix or the more recent release of chill factor
Rating:
Summary: Freaky Flying Foolish Fun
Review: This tale of Bay-area gang warfare serves as an odd vehicle for Jet Li to bring his magic to these shores. An African-American organized crime godfather hopes to go legit by delivering waterfront property to an investment group planning to propose a new Oakland football team to the NFL. A competing Chinese crime organization is gathering up their own property, and tensions are tight. When the son of the Chinese don is murdered, blame predictably falls on the African gang. But wait, the Chinese godfather has his another son, the ineffable Han (Li), who, upon hearing news of his brother's demise, breaks out of Hong Kong prison and hightails it to the states. My wife comments that he's cute. Once there, he meets and starts flirting with the black don's legitimately successful daughter. Thus the Romeo references. More siblings die. Betrayals ensue. There are a smattering of fighting scenes, some fun, some ludicrous ("I can't hit a girl"), and some with ridiculous special effects. The soundtrack is "urban" and of varying levels of excitement. Most of the characters are cartoons, but most are played with some level of relish. Delroy Lindo gives the role of the senior Capulet much more effort than the part is worth. Russell Wong is pretty slick. Everybody else is pretty satisfactory, if not exciting. Nobody's promising a classic, it's just fun.
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