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'Romeo' provides a weak story in between martial arts fight scenes

"Romeo Must Die," starring Hong Kong superstar Jet Li, provides a lot of great kung fu and very little else - which is not enough to keep this picture out of danger.

Joining Li is hip-hop singer Aaliyah, making her feature film debut. The pair play Han and Trish, the son and daughter of two warring families - in what can easily be described as a combination of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and an MTV hip-hop music video.

Unlike Shakespeare's masterpiece, however, this film lacks the tragic romance element.

Li and Aaliyah, as the film's love interests, have absolutely no chemistry together.

First time director Andrzej Bartkowiak seems to have thrown the two together for certain market appeal - Li to the action crowd, Aaliyah to the young, black female audience - resulting in a very contrived romance.

The martial arts scenes, which are sure to account for a few "oohs" and "aahs" from the audience, are one of the few things keeping this movie alive.

To help spice up his fight scenes, Bartkowiak has chosen to insert X-ray shots of bones breaking whenever characters are kicked or punched.

These incisions are interesting, but ultimately not all that original for those who have seen the Gulf War drama, "Three Kings."

Unfortunately, in between the martial arts is an erratic story that is excruciatingly slow and highly predictable. The audience is forced to wait for a resolution, already having figured out the "big" mystery of who the villains will be.

The dialogue does little to help the kung fu scenes, as the characters all utter one clichˇ after another - falling faster than some of Li's most impressive kicks.

For example, best selling rap artist DMX - who shows up early in a sloppy cameo - stops a gun fight by holding up a gun of his own and yelling out, "guns don't kill people, people kill people."

Worse yet is that DMX takes so long to utter the over-used phrase, it seems he is trying to cement it in the audience's brains as some sort of cool new catch phrase, without realizing it has already reached the point of over-use in TV and film.

Unlike DMX, Delroy Lindo ("Get Shorty"), who plays Trish's father, maintains a good sense of presence. Lindo is just plain likable in spite of his criminal background in the film. His desire to redeem himself and go "legit" is the one saving point that keeps viewers awake in between the kung fu.

Aside from Li's masterful martial arts, Lindo is the only redeeming essence of this otherwise predictable and avoidable action flick.