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Genre Benders

Bruce Fretts explains how Jet Li and Jim Jarmusch are shaping a new genre

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By Bruce Fretts

Now that Oscar season is finally over, it's time to turn our attention to movies that will never win Academy approval -- ''Romeo Must Die'' and ''Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai,'' a pair of flicks that combine hip-hop with chop-socky to create their own hybrid. Call it hip-chop.

There have been attempts to meld African-American music and Asian action before -- most notably 1985's ''The Last Dragon,'' produced by Motown mogul Berry Gordy and costarring ex-Prince protegée Vanity. Yet after the death of Bruce Lee, who first popularized martial-arts movies in America, the genre was largely co-opted by Caucasians like Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Steven Seagal.

It was only a matter of time before gangsta rap and martial arts would collide, however. Both channel physical aggression into a highly specific code of behavior. This culture clash helped fuel the surprise 1998 smash ''Rush Hour,'' in which Chris Tucker informs Jackie Chan never to mess with a black man's radio. (CBS quickly copied the film's formula by partnering Arsenio Hall with Sammo Hung on ''Martial Law.'')

''Romeo Must Die,'' which nearly made back its reported $25 million budget in its first five days of release, pits African-American and Asian gangs against each other in a bloody turf war. The cast includes Jet Li (''Lethal Weapon 4''), R&B singer Aaliyah, rapper DMX, and the great Delroy Lindo (who, by the way, deserved an Oscar for ''The Cider House Rules'' more than Michael Caine did).

The martial-arts sequences are enhanced with visual effects straight out of ''The Matrix,'' a film that -- despite the presence of ''Boyz N the Hood'' vet Laurence Fishburne -- was more heavy metal than hip-hop. If only there were more fights and fewer scenes of the star-crossed Jet Li and Aaliyah mooning over each other, ''Romeo'' would really rock.

Although it'll never make as much money as ''Romeo,'' ''Ghost Dog'' is a far more entertaining movie. Indie auteur Jim Jarmusch (''Stranger Than Paradise'') puts the ''dead'' in ''deadpan'' with this jet-black comedy about a self-styled samurai (Forrest Whitaker) marked for murder by the Mob.

Music is provided by the RZA, a member of Wu-Tang Clan (an outfit with its own Asian influences), and his stark beats prove the perfect aural complement to Jarmusch's minimalist visual and storytelling style. ''Ghost Dog'' concludes with a witty homage to ''High Noon,'' which leads us to the next pop-cultural hybrid: the Eastern Western. The title of Jackie Chan's next movie? ''Shanghai Noon.''

Posted Mar 30, 2000 | Order Article Reprints