Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Romeo Is Bleeding Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 24, 2016

The films of Peter Medak are an interesting aggregation, to say the least. There’s the “Jesus Christ meets Jack the Ripper” exercise The Ruling Class, the fascinating character study of parents dealing with a severely disabled child A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, and Zorro, the Gay Blade, a comedic riff on a sword wielding vigilante, to name but three. Medak is often an intentional provocateur, and that proclivity is probably nowhere more obvious than in his neo-noir Romeo is Bleeding, a film which pushes all sorts of envelopes and which contains some viscerally discomfiting sequences but which probably fails to really deliver its aimed for death blow, despite the fact that lots of demises accrue over the course of its typically twisting and winding tale. One of the unabashed pleasures of the film (if a film like Romeo is Bleeding can even be described as offering “pleasures”) is its cast, a rather amazing group of performers which includes Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis and Roy Scheider. That said, however, one of the stumbling blocks that Romeo is Bleeding encounters is that Oldman’s character, New York cop Jack Grimaldi, is not a basically decent guy led to his doom by the seductive wiles of a femme fatale. Jack is a heel, plain and simple, a morally bankrupt guy who cheats on his wife Natalie (Annabella Sciorra) with a dimwitted waitress named Sheri (Juliette Lewis), while moonlighting for local mob boss Don Falcone (Roy Scheider). That means that the trajectory for Jack begins at the bottom and then only goes lower, something that tends to make a lot of Romeo is Bleeding play like a swampy morass of decrepitude.

While a number of traditional noir building blocks are in place throughout Romeo is Bleeding, the film tips into hyperbole from virtually the first moment, and then stays there, as if Medak and scenarist Hilary Henkin are almost daring the audience to endure the histrionics. Jack’s police work takes him to a pretty gruesome crime scene, but his personal life is also a bit of a disaster. While he seems to have a decent enough home life with Natalie, it’s quickly apparent that Jack is playing around, and also “cheating” on his official duties as a policeman as well, taking considerable dough from Falcone, which Jack keeps buried in his backyard.

The arrival of a Russian hitwoman named Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin) throws both the cops and the mob into disarray, and Jack is tasked with eliminating the threat. That finally sets up the central conflict of the film, with Jack having to navigate his surging libido as he attempts to take out Mona, a femme fatale in both the figurative and literal sense. There’s a certain dissolution of energy in the middle part of the film simply due to the fact that Jack is juggling so many elements (including women), but Henkin’s often arch screenplay ultimately manages to reel in the disparate plot points to create a cogent narrative.

The problem that some viewers may have with Romeo is Bleeding is probably analogous to the issues many had with Medak’s The Ruling Class, namely an over the top sensibility that turns things “up to 11” (so to speak) from virtually the get go, and then refusing to relent thereafter. The film is undeniably stylish and often darkly humorous, but there is so much horrifying violence and titillatingly salacious content that some may simply feel overloaded after a while. The convoluted quality of the screenplay tends to also overstuff the proceedings (another reason why some may feel the middle portion of the film tends to drag a bit).

As questionable as some of the content and stylistic flourishes may be, performances are fascinating, if often “gonzo” at times. Oldman has a field day going slightly (okay, maybe more than slightly) bonkers as his world starts falling apart, and Olin is properly seductive but lethal as Mona. The film’s supporting cast is large and rather colorful, and it’s fun to see Scheider as a no nonsense mobster who’s seen it all and wants business taken care of quickly and with as little fuss and bother as possible.

Henkin’s writing is often overwrought, to the point that one tends to think she may have been aiming for a kind of high literary quality, when the foundations of noir really tend to be more pulpy when you get right down to it. That makes some of the high falutin’ soliloquys that dot Romeo is Bleeding tonally at odds with an already weird feeling enterprise. Some have accused Romeo is Bleeding of being “camp”, but there’s little ironic winking going on, and indeed the film’s intermittently arch style is played surprisingly straight. Like many Medak films, that tendency may therefore make Romeo is Bleeding an acquired taste.

Romeo Is Bleeding Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Romeo is Bleeding is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is by and large a nice looking transfer from the MGM catalog, at least in terms of densities, grain structure and the overall healthiness of the palette. I'd in fact be inclined to score this closer to 4.0 if it were not for some prevalent, and at times pretty major, vertical wobble. You'll notice it right off the bat in the credits sequence, where the text bobs up and down pretty dramatically, a tendency which continues through that initial sequence (which I'm assuming is part of the optically printed titles despite the lack of actual credits after a second or two), but if you keep your eyes peeled throughout the rest of the presentation, you will clearly see the wobble, especially when the camera is stationary. Medak and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski favor a peripatetic camera, something which tends to help since when the camera tracks or dollies it becomes a bit more difficult to see the wobble. That particular issue aside, a lot of the rest of this presentation is very commendable, with some great fine detail (notice the ribbing on the photograph album pages in screenshot 6 or the mottled wall behind Oldman in screenshot 16).

Romeo Is Bleeding Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Romeo is Bleeding features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which fully supports some gorgeous trumpet playing by the always evocative Mark Isham, as well as dialogue and the occasionally goofy sound effects (courtesy of some lurid sex and/or action sequences). Fidelity is fine, with no problematic distortion, dropouts or other damage to report.

Romeo Is Bleeding Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (480p; 2:06)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)


• Isolated Score Track (with some effects) is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Romeo Is Bleeding Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is another recent Twilight Time release like Inserts where I can't out and out recommend the film due to some inherent deficiencies in delivery, even while I have to confess I've always found the film weirdly entrancing in its own completely peculiar way. Olin is an eyeful in the film, and those who get their kicks watching titillating sex scenes may find this a bit of an "event", so to speak. I'd jokingly encourage fans to take a little Dramamine before watching due to the wobble issues discussed in the video section of the review, but otherwise technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.