Wonderful character development!

Amateur movie with Big budget

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The main character in the film 'Romeo is bleeding' is not at all an ideal person to deal with as he has too many bad qualities. He is a corrupt cop who is turning out to be a bad influence on his wife. No woman has been able to get emotional satisfaction from him as he has deceived all of them including his mistress as well as wife. As a film noir with plenty of comic touches, Romeo is bleeding begins with the protagonist explaining his downfall. It might sound to be a very ordinary description of a film noir but director Peter Medak has made his film interesting especially in the manner the story has been told. He brings the protagonist closer to his contacts in order to understand his motives. Although actresses Juliette Lewis and Annabella Sciorra have got limited lines for their secondary roles, they have managed to do their best to change their man. Finally, it is actress Lena Olin who get maximum amount of praise in her role as a femme fatale who is responsible for ruining everybody who oppose her. For his philandering ways, Gary Oldman was a perfect choice as a policeman cum romeo whose irresponsible actions bring about his downfall.

I had to comment because I simply can not believe all of the lower rating numbers this film has received; it's one of my very favorite films of the 1990s.This film is not perfect, as stated by other people, Roy Schieder is terribly miscast (although I was more distracted by his obvious face-lift).Otherwise, this film rocks. The rest of the cast is simply superb and I don't know how in the world Gary Oldman, Juliette Lewis, Annabella Sciorra and Lena Olin were not nominated for the Academy Award in their respective categories. Hilary Henkin has written a tight and compelling script and it's directed with sheer brilliance.Gary Oldmaan is one of the best actors of his generation and nowhere is that comment more obvious than in his performance in this film. As Jack Grimaldi, his New York accent is spot-on. He creates a character which most people will recognize somewhere in his/her life and delivers it with such ease that you live Jack's life through this outstanding actor's performance. Juliette Lewis has never been better. Her performance is funny, touching and ultimately tragic. Annabella Sciorra is glorious as Jack's earth-mother wife. Everything about her performance rings true. But, it's impossible to even find words to describe Lena Olin's Mona Demarkoff. Wow! Beautiful, sexy, tough, cold-hearted, vicious and unrelenting. I'm impossible to ever forget her performance once you've seen it. I haven't seen this film in years, and I'm still upset that she didn't win the Academy Award and wasn't even nominated! When this film failed to get any nominations at all was the time I stopped watching the Oscars.Rent it. You'll never forget it.

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.

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).