Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) User Reviews

sometimes, she stays a little longer

[LunarPoise · 8/10 · 1 March 2009]

Revisiting Romeo is Bleeding after a number of years, I was struck by what still works, what doesn't, and how wonderful endings allow us to overlook any number of faults that lead up to them.

Gary Oldman is Jack, a corrupt DS well-loved by his men looking to build an ill-gotten nest egg towards early retirement. And on one level it is all going so well, except enough is never enough, and he just can't leave the ladies alone.

Enter Mona (Lena Olin), a femme fatale who manages to inhabit both the femme and the fatale completely. The cop in Jack knows to cuff her, lock her up, and throw away the key, but the Jack in Jack has another agenda.

Romeo is Bleeding is every frame a modern noir thriller, made great by Hilary Henkin's script exhibiting detailed reverence for the genre, and some unparalleled performances by the actors. Oldman is breath-taking, cynical and world-weary delivering his Marlowe-style quips, raw and vulnerable reaching crescendo when he puts a gun barrel in his mouth. It would be too much to ask his co-stars to outshine him, but they certainly keep up. Olin produces a nightmarish laugh at the most inappropriate times, and Juliette Lewis's cocktail waitress (what else?) Sheri's innocence is perfectly ignorant, far too ignorant to survive in this brutal arena. Annabella Sciorra as Natalie completes the trio of Jack's women, his not-so-unaware wife. She is not as cold-hearted towards Jack as Mona, not as infatuated as Sheri, but her flawed love contains a bit of both. She points a gun at him, and we know she knows. Sitting on the porch they have one of those oblique conversations only old married couples know, where every utterance is sub-text, and restraint and feigned ignorance are the name of the game. Jack never quite gets to grips with her, and that is to be his ultimate tragedy.

There are hints of Chandler here (the letter to Jack from The Boys), and Chinatown, too, most noticeably in the bloodied, deformed demeanor of the protagonist in the final third, but Romeo is Bleeding is a stylish noir piece that acknowledges its antecedents without racking up debts.

And then there is the ending, of such heartbreaking, poignant beauty, Oldman and Sciorra pitch-perfect, deftly shot and edited, a wave you ride and crash on shore with. Startling, stunning, and yet how could this tale have ended otherwise? "Sometimes, she stays a little longer. And then she's gone." Not a perfect film, but a perfect ending, and I'll take that every time.

Underrated movie

[ereinion · 8/10 · 5 January 2012]

Every time its May 1 or December 1, I think of this movie. It means something, it must be good to leave that kind of impression on me. When a movie sticks in your mind, even if its just one quote, for so long after you have seen it (and the last time I saw it was 3 or 4 years ago) it means it can't be bad. So thats one thing. Another thing is that it has absolutely top notch cast. Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Michael Wincott, Juliette Lewis, Annabella Sciorra, Will Patton and James Cromwell-all serious and talented actors. And the story is very interesting too. I mean you have this so-flawed main character who is at the same time very human and even sympathetic in a way that he's lost, he can't really help all the mess he's got himself in. It is a very human character, no? And in the end he does the right thing, but is it too late? Seems so. This movie is just about that-how we sometimes don't wake up and see the light until we have lost everything that was dear to us.

What is the flaw with the movie? Maybe its that it didn't perhaps get everything it could from such an interesting storyline. I mean, corrupt cop who's in the mafia's pocket and cheats on his wife yet loves her, then gets caught in the dangerous game with a deadly Russian criminal who is a man eater at the same time...well, maybe not after all. Its a movie that succeeds in pulling it all together rather well and at the same time making us stay on the edge of our seat to see whats gonna happen next. Not many American modern movies have done that. I can mention one that came out the same year as this one, Carlito's Way. But that is a different story and genre really. That was a gangster film noir with a love story thrown in, this is both a film noir and a love story. Thats why the title is ROMEO is Bleeding.

Gary Oldman makes one of his strongest performances and the same can perhaps be said for Olin, who is very convincing and menacing in her part as the deadly seductress whose only aim is to devour everything in her path. The ending leaves us in doubt to what really happened, there is no typical Hollywood ending and thats good. It again mirrors how things really go in life as Jack is left on his own waiting anxiously for his wife but nobody, not even he, knows if he will ever see her again. And thats art imitating life.

He was between a rock and a hard place.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 30 March 2013]

Romeo Is Bleeding is directed by Peter Medak and written by Hilary Henkin. It stars Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis and Roy Scheider. Music is by Mark Isham and Gary Alper and cinematography by Dariusz Wolski.

Oldman plays corrupt cop Jack Grimaldi who does favours for The Mob in exchange for considerable payments. He has a loving wife and a mistress, but even that can't satiate his lust leanings. So when he is assigned to babysit Russian hit-woman Mona Demarkov (Olin), he is soon up to his neck in sexual yearnings. Something which spells trouble for everyone...

A box office flop and savaged by some pro critics, Romeo Is Bleeding is clearly not a film for everyone! Yet for those who like their neo-noir sprinkled with satire and Grindhouse flavours, it's definitely the film for you. It's possible that some folk just didn't get it, that it has its tongue firmly in its bloody cheek? While some of the charges of misogyny and it being a macho fantasy are kind of moot given it's written by a woman! Undeniably it is guilty of going too far over the top, where as it cheekily laughs at itself it forgets to rein itself in, a problem since the finale is surprisingly touching but difficult to accept given the carnage previously.

The trajectory of story is classic noir. Hapless corrupt copper Jack Grimaldi loves his wife but finds it easy to cheat with other women. Once the incredibly sexy Mona Demarkov slinks into his view, he's in big trouble. Add in The Mob after him due to not carrying out a "hit" and you get a noir protagonist spinning towards misery. Grimaldi narrates in snatches to keep the mood simmering on desperation, while visual smarts like a triplicate mirror image - or a scene at a amusement park - further enhance the noir atmosphere. While Olin's Demarko has to rank as one of the most potent femme fatales to steam up the screen.

Superbly performed by the principal actors and backed up with solid support, film doesn't lack for quality in that department. And with Wolski's photography and Isham's music also leaving indelible marks on the sleaze and greed mood, tech credits are impressive. If only Medak had not tried to take too bigger a slice of cake then this would be talked about as a neo-noir classic. As it is, as appendages are lost and the pulses raised, this still plays out as a disgustingly sexy, weirdly off-kilter and bloody fun piece of film. 7.5/10

Terrific Movie!

[jmorrison-2 · 19 July 2002]

I happened to stumble on this one night. What a mesmerizing movie! Gary Oldman is terrific as a corrupt Detective. You get the feeling from this guy that he was probably once a young, idealistic, honest cop, who has just been slowly manipulated, and seduced by the seaminess, the money, the sex, the despair.

How this guy could stray from Annabella Sciorra is beyond me, but that's another story.

What you see is this guy's whole life crumble down around him, due to his poor choices, his dishonesty, and his inability to control his cravings. Just about everything that could go wrong does, and his entire life, everything he thought he was working for, virtually blows up in his face.

To finally see, and realize all he's lost is played out very well by Oldman. A very well-done, well-acted film.

Lena Olin is the reason to watch this!

[dfloro · 7/10 · 8 March 2020]

I may be alone in this opinion, but I consider Lena Olin's portrayal of the Russian villainess Demarkov one of the greatest villains in the last 50-60 years of film. Her manipulation of the weak-willed and weak-kneed dirty cop played by Gary Oldman (another great actor who she manages to almost blow off the screen here) is so masterfully Sado-Masochistic, it's nearly impossible to describe, but the following *MASSIVE SPOILER* will attempt to do so: To fake her own death in a fire, she saws off her own arm to leave with the remains of an armless corpse. For the rest of the movie, she uses a wood and leather "strap-on" prosthetic, which only serves to make her more seductive to Oldman and more inhumanly sinister to the rest of us. How's that for bat-s#*! insane?! This isn't a great movie (hence my 7/10) but if you've ever liked Lena Olin's work (Chocolat, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Jennifer Garner's mom in Alias), you deserve to see her in "Romeo is Bleeding." You can thank me later...🙂

Gary Oldman is out-crazied by Lena Olin!

[oneguyrambling · 7/10 · 30 October 2010]

There are a lot of actors who made their initial claim to fame through their "dangerous" persona, Tim Roth, Nicolas Cage, Mickey Rourke, Jack Nicholson and in more recent years Colin Farrell, to which I say puh-leeze.

Ladies and gents I give you Gary Oldman -True Romance, Leon, Immortal Beloved, even Air Force One, he plays a crazy better than almost anyone.

In Romeo Is Bleeding Oldman is out-crazied by Lena Olin.

Big time.

Oldman plays Jack, a corrupt cop who takes money from organized crime by selling out informants, witnesses and such. He tells them where the guy is, they whack him. Jack also juggles a wife, a girlfriend and a roving eye, which leads him to get caught by the FBI trying to get it on with a Russian hitwoman he is supposed to be handing over, (enter Lena) as Mona.

Mona gets away, the underworld (headed by Roy Scheider) is p****d, and tells Jack to finish the job personally, or else.

Jack was already a little stressed but this tweaks it up a notch, what with his girlfriend and wife both threatening to leave, and when he finds Mona she counter offers with a payment to tell the bad guys that she has been killed, assuming by the time they work out they were duped she will have left the country.

The basic lesson here is don't trust anyone, by the time Jack sorts himself out he has Mona and the mob trying to kill him, he loses a couple of toes to the latter at one stage, and over a few meetings works out than Mona is absolutely nuts, and will do anything necessary to get what she wants, and I mean anything.

Everything about this film is just a bit off kilter, meaning that at times it can feel quite surreal. The tone is always kept dark and if anything it is perhaps a bit of an update on the traditional noir films of the early years of Hollywood, only with a twist.

I did like this film, even though it took a while getting where it was going, I guess sometimes you can over-twist things. I have heard some people worship this film and place it right at the top of their all time lists, and they have every right to, though having seen it a couple times I just don't get it personally.

What I put that down to is I think everyone has a phase where they decide what it is that they actually like, as opposed to what they think they should like, believe it or not some never work this out.

This in large part explains Gwen Stefani's mainstream success.

During the immediate period after you make your decision you upgrade anything a couple points, for me this caused me to elevate movies like "Tremors" and "Deep Cover", and I suppose for some "Romeo is Bleeding" is their example.

Final Rating – 7 / 10. Watch if only Lena Olin going so far Over The Top that she creates a new level of overacting. (I call it "Lithgow-ing". )

If you liked this (or even if you didn't) try oneguyrambling.com

Hard to Watch yet Gripping

[iquine · 7/10 · 29 June 2019]

(Flash Review)

Wow! This was something else. The most demented, crazy and alluring performance goes actress Lena Olin who stole every scene from the amazing Gary Oldman and easily out-intensified him with is a huge achievement. She was wild!!! Insane, ruthless and manic also work. Gary Oldman plays a slimeball cop who is cheating on his wife and also working for the Mafia; quite the double whammy. He's able to hold things together until he ordered to kill this insane female Russian gangster. Will he find the path for survival and to keep his marriage as his worlds mush together? This film has many intense, dramatic and memorable scenes under the guise of a Neo-Noir. Oldman's character's weaknesses shine through as he gets trapped in his own duplicity.

One of the Wildest Rides You'll Ever Take

[metrojoe82 · 7/10 · 5 April 2000]

Lena Olin is vicious, frightening and extremely sexy in this offbeat film noir about a corrupt cop (Gary Oldman), his bored wife (the beautiful Annabella Sciorra) and his dimwitted mistress (Juliette Lewis). Sometimes it's bloody, sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's very sensual. But, it's consistently alive and truly a unique film experience.

There is an insane sequence towards the end when a handcuffed, blood soaked Lena Olin wraps her legs around Gary Oldman's head while he's driving a speeding car. It sounds odd, and it looks even odder, but it's probably a classic action sequence. "Romeo Is Bleeding" didn't get much attention when it was released and didn't do much at the box office, but I believe it will rise above obscurity in the future and be hailed as a truly original piece of cinema. 7/10

Solid And Curiously Touching Modern Noir

[secragt · 9/10 · 1 November 2003]

ROMEO IS BLEEDING is a fascinating and unusual hybrid of highly personalized old fashioned 40s noir and ultra-violent stylized 90s crime drama. It's the kind of movie they never make anymore, with an unappealing protagonist, an entirely corrupt universe where justice and virtue won't triumph and a heartbreaking ending which basically guaranteed it would never be a commercial hit. Obviously some were put off by these things, accounting for the low rating this minor masterpiece sleeper has. Bur that's part of why I love it!

While there is significant "man's man" violence and the obvious titillation from Lena Olin, this movie is at its heart a pure noir cautionary tale carefully structured to get us to the amazingly powerful payoff, which tops all. The writer (Hilary Henkin) is obviously knowledgeable about her 40s and 50s hard boiled repertoire and fills ROMEO with references and touches which students of the genre will enjoy.

But the center of this movie is Gary Oldman. His blisteringly desperate performance as a corrupt cop at the end of the long slide to oblivion defines the movie and is both hypnotic and disturbing. His voiceovers are a worthy throwback to the old Raymond Chandler raps voiced by Bogart or Dick Powell or Robert Montgomery. This isn't a nice or likable character but Oldman is believably relatable as he inexorably tries to "feed the hole" with his greed and inevitably circles the existential drain.

Lena Olin is at her menacing best; this is surely the role which landed her the gig as Sidney's subtly venomous mother in ALIAS, and she takes full advantage of the over-the-top femme fatale characterization with deadly verve. Oldman and Olin share a bizarre chemistry which is fortunate for the script, because Olin's repeated seductions of Oldman (where he basically knows she is luring him to his doom) would never have worked if the actors didn't bring it to life on the screen. There aren't a lot of actresses who can out-menace Gary Oldman but Lena Olin absolutely pulls it off.

ROMEO IS BLEEDING is not perfect. Roy Scheider's mafioso character is strangely caricatured and sticks out in a world otherwise occupied by three dimensional players. Scheider tries hard, too, which is a shame because it's just not there in the role. Lena Olin's brazen escape from police custody defies plausibility in the extreme. Gary Oldman is seemingly not quite properly motivated at all times. Nevertheless, the searing denouement to this movie burns all of these concerns away because it is one of the most unexpectedly poignant and heartrending in the last quarter century of noir. If you have a pulse, you will well up at the end, and probably think about a longing that you left behind at some point in your life against your wishes. 9 / 10

Ages badly

[preppy-3 · 6/10 · 7 March 2004]

Policeman Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman) gets involved with seriously disturbed assassin Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin).

That's about all I'll say--the plot is VERY convoluted. I saw this in a theatre in 1993. I was pretty impressed. Seeing it 11 years later I'm not. What looked inventive in 1993 has been done since...and better. This now comes off as an amoral, sleazy, very bloody, very violent and (surprisingly) tedious movie. There's not one likable character in this--I hated everybody. The jazz score got on my nerves quickly and the pointless nudity and extreme violence just annoyed me.

The acting is pretty good. Oldman is excellent (as always) faking a credible American accent. Juliette Lewis is pretty lousy as his mistress--but then, she's never good. Poor Annabella Sciorra isn't given enough to do as his wife--but she IS great. And Roy Scheider is VERY good as the big crime boss. But it's Olin who steals the movie. Her performance is WAY over the top--she's totally ruthless, incredibly sexy and goes full force all through the movie. I'm really surprised her performance didn't get more attention back in '93. The movie just came and went pretty quickly.

I'm giving it a 6...mostly for the acting. It plays like a Quentin Tarantino/film noir cross--a BAD one!

Neo-Noir Fizzles Out at the End

[PROFMCB · 5/10 · 1 June 2019]

Peter Medak's disheveled take on the great film noir genre tries hard - with requisite voiceover(s) of the detective-protagonist, played by the usually competent Gary Oldman, and an atmosphere of pervasive corruption - but unravels in final 20 minutes with inexplicable plot elements and completely unrealistic actions by both main and minor characters. However, if you like your femme fatales fatally sensual then Lena Olin's performance almost makes this sketchy movie worthy of your time, as her scenes with Oldman sizzle in expectation and "you-know-you-shouldn't-but-you-probably-will" desire. Roy Scheider pops in for a couple of moments as the mob boss behind all the carnage, delivering a line about evil that is quite relevant today: "You know the difference between right and wrong but you just don't care." As for the end, at least it did fulfill the original film noir's alienating conclusions, avoiding a clichéd "happy" one. Final complaint, the pseudo-jazzy score was annoying enough to interrupt the flow several times during the film. All in all, just go on AMC and search "FILM NOIR" - YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED.

Deliciously good neo noir

[NateWatchesCoolMovies · 9/10 · 8 June 2015]

Peter Medak's Romeo Is Bleeding is one of the most overlooked crime films of the 90's. It's a downbeat, pitch black, simmering sociopathic neo noir filled to the brim with excellent character actors and actresses inhabiting various delicious cop, gangster and femme fatale roles. It has a lyrical, moody poetry to it it, evoking the noir flicks of the 40's albeit with a decidedly modern, violent and demoralizing bite to it. Gary Oldman, in a monumentally underrated performance, plays Jack Grimaldi, a sleaze bag cop attempting to play the Police force, the Feds and the mob against each other in order to make obscene amounts of dirty money for himself. He's a two timing, amoral asshole of a protagonist, but Oldman plays him in a stray dog, sheepish way that you just can't help root for him, and feel like an outlaw doing so. Of course his scheme falls apart (as all schemes like this do, in movie land) spectacularly so, at the hands of Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin) a tyrannical, deranged Russian contract killer with a penchant for gleeful brutality and unhinged violence. Olin is a wonder in the role, a grinning black velvet spider and a source of constant nightmares for Jack, as well as the audience. The film has a darkly comic, almost fairy tale like quality to it, a sense of inevitable karmic catastrophe at the hands of the mob and the law. Oldman mournfully narrates the proceedings from a hazy desert enclave that may or may not just be a dream, and yearns for a second chance. Medal directs with steely, melodramatic precision. Juliette Lewis does her early 90's ditzy thing to perfection, Annabella Sciorra is sweet as Jack's poor wife, the only sympathetic character in the whole deal, Roy Scheider feels a bit miscast as the vengeful mob boss, but Ron Perlman, Michael Wincott, Will Patton, James Chromwell, David Proval and Dennis Farina are top notch in welcome cameos. I feel like this script alone should have gotten a lot more attention, let alone the simply stunning, beautiful film that it has turned into. Anyone who's a fan of crime films, noir, good story lines, and this troupe of actors (and really, how can you not be, just look at this cast!!) will love this.

Watchable for all the wrong reasons

[Oggz · 7/10 · 24 December 2007]

I really don't think this is a neo film noir masterpiece some would have you believe it is - it's messy, a little unbalanced and plods occasionally, but it does round up a remarkable cast, employs an inspired Mark Isham soundtrack to great effect and has its stellar moments, namely every time Lena Olin, the true engine of this film, is anywhere to be seen on screen, and for that reason only the movie is worth spending time on. She infuses all her scenes with energy which even Oldman has problems keeping pace with and effortlessly steals the entire film, directed to slightly overdo the grind-glass voiced Russian hitwoman Demarkov as a genuinely dangerous yet irresistible psycho bitch from hell. She pulls it off with great panache though and her performance is what you'll remember long after watching the film. Elsewhere, Oldman freaks out convincingly and by the book, Juliette Lewis pouts around in her underwear pulling her usual few faces before she is bumped off to oblivion, while Sciorra and Scheider leave their mark but end up underused in their episodes. An affectionate yet uneven tribute to film noir that occasionally loses its step and spreads itself a little too thin for comfort, but still definitely watchable.

I was expecting much more than I got. (SPOILERS)

[Howlin Wolf · 1/10 · 24 May 2001]

This is by far the worst film I've seen Gary Oldman in. Sure, he is good, but the film itself stinks. There is a difference between a nicely convoluted noir plot and an illogical mess. "Romeo is Bleeding" strives for the former and ends up as the latter. Sure, it's unusual (legs around head driving scene), but scarcely is there any motivation for the characters to do what they do, and so we (or I) lose interest. It could have been so much more, given the cast and plot. As it is, it's horrid.

May 1st - December 1st

[cheewawa-1 · 22 April 2002]

The ultimate Gary Oldman Film Noir! If you want to see a great thriller that makes you sit on the edge of your seat with out being overly gory, check this movie out!

Big city cop in "It", up to here! Great story and cinematography! Excellent soundtrack, and the weirdest cop story I've ever seen. I have seen it, I don't know how many times, but I never tire of it.

Everyone does a fine job of acting and Lena Olin is one of the most lethal women in a movie I've ever seen. She should been cast as a killer in a "Bond" film by now.

Oldman is great with his New York accent, and makes you feel the pain he feels when he loses a toe, or should I say, when it's taken from him. I won't say how, but he's got some bad friends in low places.

It's a love story that gets all f***ed up. But what an incredible ride through the film. He's up and when he comes down, it's crash and burn all over the place.

Rent it, buy it, just see it. The DVD is here finally, wish there was a commentary on it, but that's how it goes. Ciao 4 now xoxox

How do I rate thee average? Let me count the ways

[jfictitional · 6/10 · 13 April 2022]

Nothing and no one in this demented attempt at neo-noir makes enough sense to be worth caring about, but that doesn't mean it's entirely devoid of pleasures. Let me list a few:

1) Lena Olin laughing maniacally while garroting Gary Oldman.

2) Lena Olin laughing maniacally while choking Gary Oldman with her legs as he's driving.

3) Lena Olin kicking a high heel over her shoulder with exquisite precision. *chef's kiss*

4) 90% of Lena Olin's outfits basically ending at her waist.

5) Gary Oldman screaming in terror at the sight of Lena Olin.

Could be better

[ivanmessimilos · 6/10 · 2 March 2022]

A modern noir film, if I may say so, starring Oldman as a police officer who tries to make money but destroys his life and everything around him. There are several supporting roles that have been wasted other than the fatal woman in the life of a police officer. A lot is happening, a lot of blood and violence, much more than I expected. I think the film got too complicated and so actually lost on quality.

Some great scenes, but sometimes it's just too much

[stills-6 · 6/10 · 16 October 1999]

A dark thriller with a hopelessness at its core that eats away at you the same way it does with Oldman. At one point his character says "All I could think about was feed the hole, feed the hole..." That hole represents his own private Hell, one that he created and he is perpetuating - but as long as things are going smoothly, if badly, things are OK.

One great, great scene is where Oldman casually sets his gun down on the kitchen table and Sciorra - sadly, in too small a role - picks it up and points it at him. The look on his face is priceless.

This movie has the same ethos as "Bad Lieutenant", but doesn't have that movie's crushing, personally wretched banality. It's also not quite as shocking or intense. Instead, it uses its main character's arrogance and sadistic tendencies as "fatal flaws" which ultimately help to bring down an otherwise quasi-noble guy.

I liked this movie up to a point, but sometimes it feels like I'm being manipulated - shown something shocking just for the sake of it being shocking. Like the scene with Olin and Oldman in the car that is excerpted at the beginning. A lot of that is just unnecessary. It's supposed to help set the tone, but by this time the tone has already been set - these are both desperate characters with a lot to lose and little to gain.

Calendar mistake !

[y_marchaim · 6/10 · 14 May 2005]

Well, May 1st and December 1st ARE NOT "every six months", as been said many times along the movie ! Apart from that, there are lot of irrational developments and non-understandable small details, so many turns of the story just don't make sense. Lot of blood, temptation sounds and "Penny-worth philosophy" don't make a film. Most of the figures' voices are unbearable, probably done so on purpose "for the right atmosphere" but the result is unpleasant for the spectator. What's more - Roy Sheider's performance is really not to standard. Other characters are doing just fine (It is not her fault, but Swedish actress is NOT a Russian one - why not cast the original ?).

You Can Dig One Grave, Or You Can Dig Two...

[domino1003 · 9/10 · 10 April 2003]

One of my favorite lines from "Romeo Is Bleeding," an overlooked tribute to film noir. Jack Grimaldi(Oldman)is a crooked cop that rats info to the mob about the whereabouts of mob witnesses. He is also a louse of a husband, cheating on his wife(Sciorra)with a waitress (Lewis). Life, in his view, is good, especially when he gets the money from the mob, which he uses "To feed the hole" in his backyard. Then, one day, his life slowly goes on a descent to hell when he is assigned to watch over the deliciously wicked Mona(Lena Olin, who should have gotten an Oscar nod for this performance). Mona makes a proposition to Jack: Help her fake her death and he will be paid VERY well. The problem is that the mob, led by Roy Scheider, wants Jack to wipe her out, or they will wipe him out. What happens to the characters in this film is what makes this a very intense film. The scenes between Olin and Oldman are hot enough to burn a hole in your television screen. This is a must see film that you have to have in your collection.

dirty cop tells his story

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 18 June 2023]

Gary oldman is jack, telling the story of how he got here. So we flash back to his days as a flawed, womanizing, dirty cop, inside the mob. But when they ask him to knock off a female russian agent, she makes a counter offer. Co-stars juliette lewis, lena olin. You'll recognize will patton; he was pritchard, in "no way out". He always seems to play the dirty, clean-up, fixer guy. It's long, but that gives us time to learn everyone's backstory, their beliefs. Each character owns who they are. It's quite good! Some blood and guts, as expected. Story by hilary henkin. Directed by peter medak. He had also done "ruling class", with peter o'toole, back in 1972. Oldman did a great job as sid vicious. And of course, in fifth element.

Not Thrilling

[Imhotep77 · 5/10 · 9 June 2005]

A 90's-style noir that lacks the moodiness and clean story-telling of the great 40's and 50's noir but with loads of gore and violence yet not enough action to be consistently entertaining.

Lena Olin's deliciously over the top performance as a psycho mafia hitwoman is a highlight of the film.

The plot is rather convoluted and doesn't make much sense when you think about it; all the crosses and double-crosses seem entirely unnecessary to achieve the characters' endgame. The cinematography is too bright and sunny to be a true noir, I believe.

The site wouldn't let me post this without at least 10 lines of text. This is ridiculous. I've seen reviews with fewer lines than that. Sorry to pad this review to achieve the mandatory 10 lines.

Best female movie villain ever!

[mvanlamz · 10/10 · 7 August 2000]

Gary Oldman is a bad cop who doesn't know when to quit. His luck finally runs out when he runs into the best female movie villain ever! (If you've seen The Usual Suspects, think of her as Mrs. Kobayashi.) I won't say anything more, since knowing anything about this movie before seeing it will spoil it.

The film is an exercise in noir, playing out more like a 'what's what' of the genre than anything else.

[johnnyboyz · 6/10 · 19 September 2007]

When it comes to the genre of film noir, you know what to expect if you look closely enough. It's the same with the Western genre or the Science Fiction genre – you go into one of these sorts of films knowing what to expect and the same can be said for film noir. Director Peter Medak basically uses Romeo is Bleeding as an example he knows what to put into a film noir and thus, it's no real surprise that masses of people don't like the film since the majority will not know what to look out for and why such content is included.

There are plenty of references to noir as a whole. The way the story is told through flashback, the blatant femme fatale, the protagonist/focus working as some sort of law enforcer and the way certain characters such as the mob boss, the 'rat' and of course the femme fatale are included. Romeo is Bleeding is no doubt an entertaining film with a smart idea and a basic if not effective plot but its look and feel is a little disappointing and as someone who has seen multiple film noirs and neo noirs, I found it to be a disappointment overall. The film feels like a cross between Angel Heart (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992) as its voiceovers and disturbing content is mixed in with a very dangerous female character.

Why I think Romeo is Bleeding leans more towards the film noir genre rather than the neo noir genre is because of its content. Jack (Oldman) is a law enforcer but not a lone private eye since he has his authoritarian buddies around him most of the time. He narrates his story in the same way Walter Neff does in Double Indemnity, telling us what happened from a safe place yet Walter was shot and injured physically, Jack is injured psychologically. Mona Demarkov (Olin) wears all the bright red lipstick and jewellery and is seductive enough to represent a femme fatale but it's at a very basic level – she just wants to antagonise Jack rather than out and out get rid of him. Again, this is director Medak showing us he knows his stuff about noir without really convincing us these people are characters, more-so wax work model examples in a noir museum.

What I did find clever is that the main difference between film and neo noir is its content and how that is played with in Romeo is Bleeding. Neos are more violent and have more sex and profanity but Romeo is Bleeding doesn't have much of this until its climax. We see Sheri (Lewis), Jack's barmaid squeeze on the side, in lingerie at various points and we see Mona in bondage attire towards the end on top of Jack but we never actually see the sex. Jack also rather unfortunately loses one of his body parts at one point in the film but we don't see it get 'removed', just him turning up at home with a whole lot of blood in a certain place. I feel this is Medak's 'nod' to film noir in terms of censorship. Sure, there is blood but the aftermath of the taboo events are emphasised not the acts themselves. This is similar to Double Indemnity and other classic noir but more distant to neo noir such as Angel Heart and Basic Instinct where the violence and sex is full on, graphic and we see it all.

Romeo is Bleeding also utilises its location very well: The constant passing of L-trains, the graffiti covered walls, the way lights are missing their lamp shades when they need to but have them when required all act as great visuals to combine with the voiceovers and the sax music at various points to make and noir fan get excited. The film, however, just plods most of the time and although I found it interesting I feel the majority of people will dislike the film but that's probably because they see Gary Oldman is in it and realise it's a crime film and probably tell themselves it'll be good before even realise what they've got here. This is an exercise in noir – both film and neo and should only be tackled by those interested and familiar with the genre(s).

Horrible!!

[barberoux · 1/10 · 27 March 2007]

I can't say that "Romeo Is Bleeding" is the worse movie I've ever seen but it ranks up there as a memorable stinker. The over-acting was horrible. I thought I was in a ham factory. Gary Oldman, who is a talented actor, is prone to over emote and in this movie no one tried to rein in the ego and self importance. He was ridiculous. The story was ridiculous. Lena Olin was ridiculous. Annabella Sciorra was depressing. The other characters in the movie were a cross section of Hollywood stereotypes. There wasn't an original idea in this mess. The pacing was abysmally slow and that was interrupted by cartoonish violence often in slow motion. The narration was laughable and only showed how poor the screenplay was. If you have to be told what the story is then the movie is not doing its job. It was a bad, bad movie. Please miss it.