Romeo Must Die

Jet Li rocks! That’s my one line review of this movie. He was just about the only good thing about Lethal Weapon 4. He made Black Mask worth watching. Fist Of Legend is one of the better kung fu flicks I’ve seen without Jackie Chan. Much more brutal than Mr. Chan, he puts forth a fierceness not really seen since Bruce Lee. (By me anyway.) I almost expected him to lick his blood and scream.

This, his first American starring role, is all about two warring families in New York. One, The Sing Family is the most powerful Chinese mob on the docks. The other, The O’Day Family, is the most powerful black family. They’re both trying to gain control of the entire shoreline and have been at war for the past couple of years. When Po Sing (Jon Kit Lee from The Corrupter) is killed the murder is, of course, blamed on the O’Days. It also brings his brother, Han (Li) over from Hong Kong. He breaks out of prison in one of the best fight scenes I’ve seen in quite a while. (And you never thought that a guy could fight while hanging by his foot.)

So Han makes his way over, confronts his father, Ch’u Sing (Henry O from Red Corner and Brokedown Palace…can this guy get away from Asian prison movies?) and we find out just where they stand. You see, Han was in prison for something that his father and other brother, Kai (Russell Wong from the Vanishing Son series) did. Now Kai is Ch’u's right hand man and is in line to run things. Han still loves his brothers, but he’s never wanted anything to do with the family business.

On the other side of things, Isaak O’Day (Delroy Lindo) is leading his family into a legit business. He just wants to make enough money so that he never has to steal, lie or kill again. His right hand man, Mac (Isaiah Washington from Love Jones, and Out Of Sight) may have different ideas, though. He wants to take over the business. The only other thing standing in his way is Isaak’s not so bright son, Colin (D.B. Woodside from the TV series The Temptations and Murder One). He’s wants so badly to take over, but he’s just not really smart enough. His sister Trish (acting debut for singer Aaliyah), on the other hand, is smart enough to want to stay away from the whole thing. She owns a little store that seems to sell everything that kids want. I couldn’t really figure that out.

Anyway, Trish and Han meet, sparks, bullets and kicks fly. Especially when the NFL gets involved. (Huh?) This weasely little guy named Roth (Edoardo Ballerini from The Last Days Of Disco) seems to want to become an owner of a team that doesn’t exist yet. He’s found the perfect spot for a dome just off the shore of the docks. Unfortunately he needs some deeds before he can build. That, of course, is where the two families come in.

Yes, the story is convoluted as hell. Why do these guys want to help this little weasel? Especially Ch’u who doesn’t seem to want to give up the life. How does a girl who is younger than me fall for a guy in his late 30s? These are questions that we all ask ourselves once in a while.

But none of that is important. What’s important are the fight scenes. And those make up for any weak story development. There’s the fight in the prison, there’s the fight with the Chinese girl where he uses Trish to fight her (you see, he can’t his a girl) and there’s the football fight and…well…a few others. All of them include lots of butt kicking on the part of Mr. Li. And this, of course, is a very good thing. Although, strangely enough, he never kills anyone until the very end. What’s up with that? But he breaks lots of bones, as the x-ray cam shows. (That’s a really cool little innovation that mixes Total Recall with Three Kings. But we kung-fu die-hards know that it was first (I think) used in The Story Of Riki-O, one of the most brutal and grotesque kung-fu films ever made. Very funny, too. Check it out.)

The only complaint I heard (and I didn’t really notice it) about the fight scenes was the fact that they seemed to be fudging Russell Wong’s punches. He was almost always shot from the back so you couldn’t tell where he was going for. He obviously wasn’t nearly as good as Jet. But who is? I kind of wonder if even Jackie could kick his butt. (We love you Jackie!)

This was cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak’s directorial debut. (He worked on Q&A, Species, The Devil’s Advocate, Dante’s Peak, U.S. Marshals, Lethal Weapon 4 and many others.) His earlier work with Jet Li paid off here. He ably handles the action sequences without muddling them up, which is a big problem with some movies like this.

So this one won’t make any new fans of the martial arts film, but it will make the current fans happy. No great shakes as far as story (they didn’t have me fooled for a second as far as who was involved in the deaths of the two sons), but the action is great and worth every penny of my matinee ticket price.

Two things of note, though. First off, interesting homage to Isaac Hayes in Delroy Lindo’s character. I guess every bald black man with a goatee has the right to have a name that rhymes with the legendary ladies’ man. And, second, why is it that all kung fu movies made or re-released in America have rap and r&b soundtracks? This one worked because it kind of fit with the story, but I personally think that techno and club music fits better. Instead of trying to get the latest Tupac single in there (this guy works dead more than he ever did alive), try finding some music that actually fits the action. Just a thought. I could be wrong. I’ve been known to be wrong at least once.