History Film / RomeoMustDie

* BulletHolesAndRevelations: {{spoiler:In the final scene, the viewer is left to ponder for several seconds whether Chu shot at or killed himself.}}

* BulletHolesAndRevelations

* AssKickingPose: One of the black guys uses the Crane Stance to mock Han, complete with screeching "waaaa" sound. Cue immediate [[GroinAttack kick in the fork]].

''Romeo Must Die'' is a 2000 martial arts action film directed by Creator/AndrzejBartkowiak, and starring JetLi and Music/{{Aaliyah}}.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Han. He ''is'' from HongKong.

* FatalFlaw: Chu's is greed. [[spoiler:He killed his youngest son and several others over it, leading to his eldest son escaping prison and unraveling his plans anyway. By the end, he has his money, but has lost his top lieutenant and most of his allies, with the police hot on his heels and the other Chinese families calling for his blood once they figure out what he's done]].

* BigBadDuumvirate: [[spoiler: Chu and Mac.]]

* MobWar: The whole plot.

** Averted with Chu, who is quite happy to let one son rot in prison and [[spoiler: have his younger child killed]] in order to further his own goals.

** [[spoiler:Kind of hard to pinpoint. While Po is the one who ended up going to America with his father, said father had him ''killed'' by his top lieutenant because he could possibly compromise a major business deal. Han on the other hand is the one who went to prison in order to help them escape China, though it's made clear it's not for his father's sake but for his brother, and that he rejected his father, by becoming a police officer. However, Ch'u seemed to favor him more than he did Po, and it's heavily implied that he always has despite Han's rebelliousness]].
** Isaak's son, Colin, wrongly thinks he is this or the WellDoneSonGuy as his father won't let him help run his criminal empire but it's really due to Issak wanting a clean life for him. Sadly, Colin never gets the chance to fully understand or accept this before he is [[spoiler: violently murdered]].

* TokenRomance: In a movie full of mostly black and Asian characters, Roth is the only prominent white person (save for a couple of extras).

Though the title, and the fact that it involves a guy and girl from rival crime gangs hooking up might give you the impression that this is a send-up of ''RomeoAndJuliet''; in reality [[TokenRomance Han and Trish's romance is not really a major plot point]].

* TokenRomance: Seriously, this film has scarcely anything to do with ''Romeo and Juliet''. You could remove Han and Trish's romance (or even Trish's ''character'' if you get right down to it) and it would be exactly the same film. Even calling it a "romance" is a gross overstatement. The two share no intimate moments, not even a kiss, just a few hugs here and there.

* ActionGirl: Trish takes out an assassin that Han was unable to defeat. [[ParodiedTrope Because Han manipulated her limbs because the assassin was a girl and he didn't want to hit a girl.]]

* BloodlessCarnage

* DitchTheBodyguards

* PapaWolf: Upon finding out who [[spoiler: murdered his son]] Isaak went to strangle said person in a mindless rage. He also shot and killed the mook who had dared to manhandle Trish, despite being grievously wounded himself.

* ParentalFavoritism: [[spoiler:While it isn't explicit, there are implications throughout the movie that despite rejecting his father to become a police officer, Han has always been Ch'u's favored son and chosen heir apparent. His lack of regret in ordering Po's death further supports this.]]

* StuffBlowingUp

* TheUnfavorite: [[spoiler:Kind of hard to pinpoint. While Po is the one who ended up going to America with his father, said father had him ''killed'' by his top lieutenant because he could possibly compromise a major business deal. Han on the other hand is the one who went to prison in order to help them escape China, though it's made clear it's not for his father's sake but for his brother, and that he rejected his father, by becoming a police officer. However, Ch'u seemed to favor him more than he did Po, and it's heavily implied that he always has despite Han's rebelliousness]].

* {{Badass}}: Han.

An African American gang, headed by Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo), and a [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Chinese gang]], headed by Chu Sing (Henry O) are [[MobWar at war]] on the streets of UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco over waterfront property rights. This rivalry culminates in the death of Po Sing, Chu's son, by an unknown assailant. In Hong Kong, Po's brother/Chu's other son Han Sing (Li), learns of Po's death, and promptly busts out of prison and heads to San Francisco to avenge him. Trish O'Day (Aaliyah) is the daughter of Isaak who does not want anything to do with her family's mob activities. Han meets with her and she ends up assisting him in trying to find his brother's killer. A romance also burgeons between them. Isaak has since decided to go legitimate for the sake of his children and become the part-owner of a stadium that will be built on the waterfront. The owners of waterfront properties who refuse to sell are being murdered, but by who? And are they the same persons that murdered Po?

The film is regarded as Jet Li's breakout role in Hollywood (though he had formerly played the villain in ''LethalWeapon4''.) It was also Aaliyah's first film and, due to her untimely death the following year, considered the best of her limited filmography.

** It was played up as a romance initially, with the leads sharing a kiss or two, but it supposedly didn't go over well with prescreen audiences.
*** Apparently many of Jet Li's Asian fans were not too fond of seeing him being intimate with a black/non-Asian woman. Although another rumored reason for the lack of romance between Han and Trish was the age difference between the two actors (Aaliyah was about 19 or 20 at the time of filming and Jet Li was already in his mid-30's.)

The film is regarded as Jet Li's breakout role in Hollywood (though he had formerly played the villain in ''LethalWeapon4''.) It was Aaliyah's first film and, due to her grossly untimely death the following year, her only good one.

* BattleAmongstTheFlames / DuelToTheDeath: A final battle occurs between Han and Po's murderer [[spoiler:Kai]] in a RingOfFire. This scene would be repeated in ''[[Cradle2TheGrave Cradle 2 the Grave]]'', by the same director and also starring Jet Li.

* SoftWater: Subverted. [[spoiler: Colin and his girlfriend are presumably killed from the impact, or from drowning shortly after.]]

* SoftWater: Averted. [[spoiler: Colin and his girlfriend are presumably killed from the impact, or from drowning shortly after.]]

* CaneFu: Po.

''Romeo Must Die'' is a 2000 martial arts action film directed by Creator/AndrzejBartkowiak, and starring JetLi and {{Aaliyah}}.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Han is generally a {{niceguy}} but he will kick your ass if you ask for a fight.