Romeo Is Bleeding

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Farah R Gary Oldman is a fantastic actor, but his character in Romeo is Bleeding is very unlikable, and the film, as a whole, is an overwhelming mess that's deeply unpleasant to watch. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/01/24 Full Review Steve D Oldman is as good as ever but the story is so unpleasant, so gross it is hard to watch. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Shioka O This is a comic noir as the poster suggests, laughable. I actually don't hate it. I have no idea about the voice-over. Don't be serious. I'm exploring old Oldman's catalog and this came along. Another corrupt cop a year before The Professional. He is diligent here too. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/27/22 Full Review selles m This movie is a timeless cautionary tale. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman) is a homicide detective with the NYPD who seems to have everything; a beautiful wife named Natalie (Annabella Sciorra), and an adoring teenage mistress named Sheri (Juliette Lewis). However, his lavish lifestyle is funded through extensive corruption, doing favors for Mafia boss Don Falcone (Roy Scheider) in exchange for large cash bribes. His latest task is to reveal the location of Nick Gazarra, a mobster-turned-state's witness protected by federal agents. Gazarra and his protection detail are subsequently killed by a mob hitwoman, Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin). Grimaldi is disaffected by this outcome, being uncomfortable with his complicity in the deaths of other law enforcement personnel. Mona is arrested and Falcone gives Jack a new assignment, to kill Mona, whom he fears could not only testify against him, but be planning to take over his entire operation. Still reluctant about his double life, Jack is assigned as Mona's minder as she is transported to a safe house to await pick-up by federal agents. Upon arrival, Mona quickly seduces and tries to kill him, but their impromptu tryst is interrupted by the arrival of the agents and Jack leaves her to be detained. Falcone, disappointed in Jack's ineptitude, orders one of his toes amputated. Realizing he has endangered both his wife and mistress, Jack instructs Natalie to leave the city immediately, giving her all the payoff money he has saved as well as instructions of where to meet him out West when the time is right. Jack ends his affair with Sheri and puts her on a train out of the city. Jack tries to hunt Mona Demarkov but is attracted to her sexually and no match for her professionally. Mona offers to pay Jack to help her fake her own death... Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert said that while Oldman is "unsurpassable" in portraying depraved characters, the film is "an exercise in overwrought style and overwritten melodrama, and proof that a great cast cannot save a film from self-destruction." Todd McCarthy of Variety also had praise for the central cast, but called the film a "heavy dose of ultra-violent neo-noir" whose "far-fetched plotting eventually goes so far over the top that [the] pic flirts with inventing a new genre of film noir camp." New York Times journalist Janet Maslin lauded Oldman as a "master craftsman" who gives an "uncanny performance as a slang-spouting American", but concluded, "For all its promise, and for all the brittle beauty of Dariusz Wolski's cinematography, Romeo Is Bleeding eventually collapses under the weight of its violent affectations." A favorable Peter Travers in Rolling Stone called the film a "scorcher of a thriller" with a "knockout performance" by Olin. He added, "It will be a shame if audiences don't get the joke". In a retrospective review, Dennis Schwartz referred to the film as a "senseless, tasteless and demented postmodern noir", but commended Olin's "menacing" turn as well as the initial interaction between Oldman and Scheider. Randy Miller of DVD Talk wrote, "It's a wild and entertaining ride, to be sure... but not one without its fair share of bumps along the way, and one you probably won't revisit on a regular basis. Still, there's enough here to warrant another look." MSN Movies noted, "While not a great movie – or even a good movie, according to most critics – Gary Oldman's performance as corrupt cop Jack Grimaldi is still highly regarded". (via Wikipedia) This neo-noir crime thriller film carriers a truly messy narrative, a strange dark violent approach and weird characters that ends up laughable rather than intriguing. Lena Olin´s Mona Demarkov being the biggest candidate for that with a silly panache for taking off her clothes in any situation and then becoming an amputee as a method of fleeing. I have no idea what scriptwriter Hilary Henkin was thinking... Pretty ok ensemble cast, but that´s the only positive in this truly strange movie. But at the same time all included do their typecast character more or less. "Romeo Is Bleeding" truly stands for "film noir camp" as Todd McCarthy of Variety points out. Trivia: The film was critically unsuccessful and a box office bomb. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member It doesn't have to be a great movie to be hugely enjoyable. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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