Romeo Must Die

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Movie
German title Romeo Must Die
Original title Romeo Must Die
Romeo Must Die Logo.png
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2000
length 110 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Andrzej Bartkowiak
script Mitchell Kapner
Eric Bernt
John Jarrell
production Joel Silver
Jim Van Wyck
music Stanley Clarke
camera Glen MacPherson
cut Derek Brechin
occupation
synchronization

Romeo Must Die is an American action film from 2000. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak , who started his career as a director, and produced by Joel Silver . The basic idea is based on the drama Romeo and Juliet , embodied by Jet Li and Aaliyah . For Aaliyah, who died young, it was the only film that was released during her lifetime.

action

In Oakland , at the eastern end of the San Francisco Bay , a Chinese and an Afro-American syndicate are fighting by all means for supremacy in the port area there.

When Po Sing, the son of the Chinese gang leader Ch'u Sing, is found with a bullet in his head and tied to a street lamp, his father suspects Isaak O'Day's rival gang. He instructs his right-hand man Mac, who has been serving the family for many years, to give his two children Trish and Colin personal protection as a precaution. Meanwhile, Han Sing, brother of the murdered man, escapes the prison in Hong Kong , where he was incarcerated to enable his father and brother to escape to the United States when their criminal activities were exposed. Han travels to Oakland and runs into Trish, who disapproves of her father's business and eludes her protector Maurice. Over time, they both build a friendship.

Meanwhile, the National Football League is planning to build a new football stadium in the neighborhood, for which numerous plots in prime locations will have to be bought. Your agent Vincent Roth has commissioned both syndicates to offer the previous owners purchase contracts by a certain date and, if necessary, to "persuade" them to sign by all means - including the use of force. For both gangs this is a lucrative business, and O'Day wants, in this way financially secure, to enable himself and his children to finally get out of the gangster milieu. However, Trish's brother Colin is also murdered, and Han and Trish try to uncover the background of the murders. They get behind the dirty real estate business, just like Po before them, who wanted to inform Colin about it, so that both of them had to die.

Finally, the sale of the signed purchase agreements with Roth takes place. He pays the Chinese first, then O'Day. However , he wants to return the check to Roth for 38 million US dollars as an investment deposit - he wants to go down in football history as the first African-American partner in an NFL stadium. Mac, on the other hand, plans for the short term. He has taken Trish hostage and is now asking O'Day to hand over the check. Sure of victory, he brags about having killed Colin, whereupon O'Day attacks him. A shot goes off in the scuffle and O'Day collapses wounded. When Mac walks onto the roof of the building, he is placed by Han. Han suspects Mac of killing his brother too. However, Mac reveals that Po was murdered from within his own ranks. When Mac then wants to shoot Han with the words: "Sorry Romeo, but unfortunately you have to die!", Trish beats him and shoots him.

Han goes to his father's estate and meets his former best friend Kai, Ch'u Sing's long-time right-hand man. He admits that he worked with Mac and killed Po. In the ensuing fight, Kai is killed by Han. Then Han goes to his father, whom he accuses of not taking care of his son Po, but of having sacrificed him for his business. When Han leaves his father, he shoots himself.

background

Romeo Must Die was shot in Oakland , San Francisco , Vancouver and Coquitlam . Filming began on 3 May 1999 and ended on 23 July 1999. The budget of the film was 25 million US dollars estimated. The film premiered on March 20, 2000 in the USA . The film was first seen in Germany on June 8, 2000, and was released in Switzerland on June 22, 2000. In the USA, over 18 million US dollars were grossed on the opening weekend, and total revenues in the USA amounted to almost $ 56 million.

Originally it was planned that Jet Li and Aaliyah would have a kissing scene at the end, but this was cut out in the final version. Fans accused the production company of not daring to aggressively advertise interracial relationships. However, Jet Li commented on the cutting out by saying that it would not fit in the film if he ended up kissing a girl while a close family member had died shortly before.

The golf course scene uses the same golf course that was shown in the film Happy Gilmore when the protagonist was beaten up by Bob Barker . The scenes, which show injuries in an X-ray- like representation, were created using CGI and are reminiscent of the 1974 film "The Wildest of All" with Sonny Chiba . When the scene in which football was played was shot, the sky was overcast, but appropriate backlighting and cleverly chosen camera settings created the illusion that it was a sunny day. The scene in which Jet Li chooses a fire hose as a weapon was taken up by Jason Statham in the film Transporter - The Mission . In the scene in which Trish, played by Aaliyah, leaves her bodyguard Maurice in the record store to secretly break away from him, the latter storms out of the store through a door with a poster of Aaliyah on it and yells: “Trish ! I'm gonna find your Aaliyah-lookin 'ass! “In the German-language dubbing, this allusion to the actress has been lost.

Romeo Must Die is the first film in which Jet Li had his lead role in the English language .

For Aaliyah, Romeo Must Die was her debut as an actress and at the same time the only feature film with her participation that was released during her lifetime. Andrzej Bartkowiak made his directorial debut with this film.

German dubbed version

The synchronous direction of the German dubbing was carried out by Frank Schaff .

actor German speaker role
Jet Li Simon hunter Han Singh
Aaliyah Tanja Geke Trish O'Day
Anthony Anderson Jan Odle Maurice
Isaiah Washington Udo Wachtveitl Mac
Delroy Lindo Volker Lechtenbrink Isaak O'Day
Russell Wong David Nathan Quay
DB Woodside Oliver Field Colin O'Day
William S. Taylor Engelbert von Nordhausen Harold
Benz Antoine Stefan Fredrich Crab man
Morgan Reynolds Heidrun Bartholomäus Morgan
Perry Solkowski Peter Flechtner Perry the anchorman
Jon Kit Lee Gerrit Schmidt-Foss Po Singh
DMX Fabian Koerner Silk
Edoardo Ballerini Frank Schaff Vincent Roth

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released by Edel on March 1, 2004 and comprises 18 songs, including four songs by Aaliyah , who can be seen in the film , one by rapper DMX, who also plays a supporting role, and various songs by other well-known artists.

No. title Interpreter
1. Try again Aaliyah / Timbaland
2. Come Back In One Piece Aaliyah / DMX
3. Rose in a Concrete World (J Dub Remix) Joe
4th Rollin 'Raw The BG
5. We At It Again Timbaland & Magoo
6th Are You Feelin 'Me? Aaliyah / Timbaland
7th Perfect Man Destiny's Child
8th. Simply irresistible Ginuwine
9. It Really Don't Matter Confidential
10. Thugz Mack 10 & The Comrades
11. I don't wanna Aaliyah
12. Somebody gonna die tonight Dave Bing feat. Lil 'Mo
13. Woozy Playa
14th Pump the brakes Dave Hollister
15th This is a test Chanté Moore
16. revival Non-A-Miss
17th Come on Blade
18th Swung On Stanley Clarke & Politix

criticism

The lexicon of the international film judges that the film is a "fast-paced action film that compensates for its less stringent conception with spectacular, sometimes humorous fights and entertains it with its charmingly suggested Romeo and Juliet story".

Bruno Amstutz from cineman.ch is happy about “brawling instead of poetry” and the very free adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , because “with the theme of warring families, whose offspring come together, the similarity to the classic Romeo and Juliet story can already be heard very soon. ”He also praises the director, because“ Bartkowiak is to be credited with the fact that he does not draw a simple black and white picture, but rather carefully develops the characters and takes a closer look at the cultural differences and various rituals of the black and Asian communities. ” Amstutz takes a critical view of the fact that "in the longer passages without action scenes there is often a lack of traction in the plot". Therefore, he sums up, the protagonist will "hardly be remembered by the audience because of the dialogues, but because of his perfect body control".

Awards

At the 2000 Teen Choice Awards , the film was nominated in the Choice Drama category. In 2001, Tim Mosley won the ASCAP Award in the Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures category for the song Try Again, sung by Aaliyah and Timbaland . At the 2001 MTV Movie Awards , Aaliyah received two nominations for Best Female Performance and Breakthrough Female Performance , while Jet Li was nominated for Best Fight . Gaston Howard , Lloyd Adams , Clay Donahue Fontenot , Ernie Jackson and Aubrey Culp received a stunt nomination at the Taurus Awards 2001 in the Best Fight category . Finally, it was also at the 2001 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards , the film music in the category Favorite Soundtrack (Internet Only) nominated.

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ a b c d e budget and box office results
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Background information according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ a b film review, cineman.ch, Bruno Amstutz
  5. ↑ a b Romeo Must Die. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on September 14, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Romeo Must Die. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ a b c d e nominations and awards