Jet Li and Aaliyah in "Romeo Must Die"

"Romeo Must Die" is the "crossover" movie Jet Li chose to make instead of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Despite the well-deserved financial and critical success of Ang Lee's film, I think that Jet Li made the right choice. Born in 1963, he was (and still is!) too young for the part of the weary wuxia warrior (and too old to play the Mongol raider chief). Li showed the charm and the facility with English to carry a Hollywood movie.

The movie, like "West Side Story," is an adaptation to contemporary American gangs of "Romeo and Juliet" -- a story that was not original with William Shakespeare. Yes, yes, I know that the play's the thing and not the story, and that the glory of Shakespeare is his language and range of characters, not his plots. I don't think that Jet Li is ready to speak English in iambic pentameters. For that matter, neither was Leonardo di Caprio, who is a native speaker of English (and audiences were spared attempts by Richard Beymer back in 1961 in "West Side Story").

There is a forbidden relationship between children from families at war with each other and fresh corpses and scaling a balcony and lots of taunting... but let's not count the ways that it's not Shakespeare's R&J, OK? (And I'll hold back making the case for traces of "Hamlet," too.)

I'm more confused about which side of the San Francisco Bay the proposed stadium for an NFL team is on in the movie's plot than by waiting for recognizable elements of "Romeo and Juliet". The warring families are a black crime family headed by Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo) and a Cantonese syndicate headed by Chu Sing (Henry O). Each is ruthlessly collecting deeds to waterfront property. (My credulity is strained by the premise that half the waterfront of either Oakland or San Francisco is black-owned.)

The arrogant sons Po and Colin ((Jon-Kit Lee and D.B. Woodside as vague stand-ins for Mercutio and Tybalt) of both patriarchs are slain in fairly murky circumstances in tandem with the violence with which waterfront properties are accumulated by the ruthless though stylish lieutenants, Kai and Mac (Russell Wong and Isaiah Washington).

Oh yes, the young lovers, how could I forget them? I haven't really. Each of them has recently slain brothers to mourn and to try to understand. Each of them has ambitious gang-lord fathers. Each of them has the lieutenant who considers himself a fitting successor.

Jet Li plays Han Sing, the son who took a fall for the family and has been left behind in prison in Hong Kong. His escape from prison begins with him strung upside down and handcuffed. It is a great set piece, though too much of it is filmed in close-up.

Han steals a cab (after the driver refuses to take him) and Trish O'Day (Aaliyah) hops in as she is escaping her bodyguard. There is not love at first sight, or any grand passion ever, but they like each other, amuse each other, play well together.

Among the other entertaining fight scenes are Han and the bodyguards after he visits Trish, an introduction to American-style football for Han, and an introduction to martial arts for Trish (when Han refuses to hit a woman, even when she is attacking).

The plot thickens, the blood flows, there are lots of bullets, and a novel use of x-rays... Alas,the climactic fight is mostly trickery. Jet Li does not mug like Jackie Chan. His charm is subtler, cooler, more Cary Grant -- a Cary Grant who can fly. The rest of the cast, particularly the lieutenants and the two black children, is excellent.

As with any take on Romeo and Juliet, a lot depends on whether one likes the principals. Both charmed me, even though they had very little chemistry together. And I find D. B. Woodside's skull very interesting (as earlier in "Murder One" on tv). I'd like more standing back and watching the martial arts and fewer special effects, but still enjoyed the movie (as many wuxia fans did not, I am well aware).