Romeo Is Bleeding

For Tom Waits' 1978 song, see Romeo Is Bleeding (song).

Romeo Is Bleeding
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Medak
Produced by	Hilary Henkin Paul Webster
Written by	Hilary Henkin
Starring	Gary Oldman Lena Olin Annabella Sciorra Juliette Lewis Roy Scheider
Music by	Mark Isham Gary Alper
Cinematography	Dariusz Wolski
Editing by	Walter Murch
Studio	PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Working Title Films
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release date(s)	1993 (U.K.) February 4, 1994 (U.S.)
Running time	100 min.
Country	U.K. / U.S.A.
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$3,275,865

Romeo Is Bleeding is a darkly comic 1993 crime film starring Gary Oldman and Lena Olin, directed by Peter Medak. The film's title was taken from a song by Tom Waits.

Despite featuring established stars (Oldman had appeared in the starring role of Francis Ford Coppola-directed blockbuster Dracula the year before), the film failed to make a significant impact at the box office, and it received a generally unenthusiastic reaction from critics.

Plot

Jack Grimaldi, a corrupt cop who does favors for the Mafia in exchange for large fees, has a loving wife, Natalie, and an adoring mistress, Sheri. He thinks he has it all, until both the cops and mob are outwitted by a sociopathic Russian mob assassin named Mona Demarkov.

The head of the Italian mob, Don Falcone, orders Jack to deal with Demarkov or face dire consequences. Jack is unable to kill her; she even seduces and makes a fool of him. Falcone, disappointed in Jack's ineptitude, orders one of Jack's toes cut off.

Seriously injured due to the amputation and realizing that he has endangered his wife and mistress, Jack instructs his wife to leave the city immediately, giving her money and instructions where to meet him out West when the time is right. Jack also ends his affair with his mistress and puts her on a train out of the city.

Jack tries to hunt Demarkov but soon realizes that he is putty in her hands. He is attracted to her sexually and no match for her professionally. Mona offers to pay Jack to help her eliminate Falcone and fake her own death. Although he obtains phony papers for her, she refuses to pay and attempts to strangle him. He shoots and seriously wounds her, then tries to drive away with her handcuffed in the back seat. Mona escapes by hooking her legs around his neck, causing him to crash the car. She slithers out through the shattered windshield without ever freeing her hands.

Mona lures Jack to an abandoned warehouse. He again attempts to kill her but is tricked into shooting Sheri instead. Mona fixes the corpse so as to suggest that it was she, and not Sheri, who died. (Her scheme involves severing her own arm and substituting it for Sheri's.) Mona then handcuffs Jack to the bed and has her way with him. Asking Jack, "with or without", he replies "without" and she mounts him after unbuckling her new prosthetic arm, her last concession to conventional appearances.

Demarkov then forces Jack to kill Don Falcone, burying him alive, even after having her arm replaced with a prosthetic. She proceeds to turn in Jack to the police, his former associates, copping a plea deal that will indict Jack for the multiple murders that she tricked him into committing.

The police arrange a confrontation between Jack and Demarkov at the courthouse, as he is heading in and she is heading out. She threatens to kill his wife. Thinking he has nothing to lose, and desperate to save the only thing good in his life, Jack grabs a gun from the ankle holster of a fellow officer and shoots her down. Jack turns the gun on himself, only to discover that the revolver is empty.

Instead of being sent to prison for the murder, he is given a commendation. This frees him to begin a new life out West in a small, remote town. He waits at the appointed time and place, imagining Natalie's return to him, but her forgiveness is only in his mind.

Reception

Despite the central performances by Oldman and Olin being generally well received, the film met with unenthusiastic reviews from most critics, garnering only a 24% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Of Rotten Tomatoes' top critics, none offered a positive review. Roger Ebert called the film "an exercise in overwrought style and overwritten melodrama, and proof that a great cast cannot save a film from self-destruction," while Todd McCarthy opined: "This heavy dose of ultra-violent neo-noir gives Gary Oldman a face-first trip through the gutter that would make Mickey Rourke drool, but the far-fetched plotting eventually goes so far over the top that pic flirts with inventing a new genre of film noir camp." Janet Maslin said of the film: "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." Bon Jovi recorded the song Always for the film, but withheld the song after the band was given a preview screening and was not satisfied with it.

The film failed to make a significant impact at the box office, grossing only $3.6 million worldwide on a $10 million budget.

In 2011, Total Film named Oldman's portrayal of Jack Grimaldi as one of the ten best of his career, writing, "Oldman's proficiency with accents comes to the fore as he perfectly narrates this film noir... this is up there as one of his best ever roles."

Cast

• Gary Oldman as Jack Grimaldi
• Lena Olin as Mona Demarkov
• Annabella Sciorra as Natalie Grimaldi
• Juliette Lewis as Sheri
• Roy Scheider as Don Falcone
• Michael Wincott as Sal
• David Proval as Scully
• Will Patton as Martie
• Dennis Farina as Nick Gazzara (uncredited)
• James Cromwell - Cage
• Tony Sirico - Malacci
• Ron Perlman - Jack's Attorney
• Stephen Tobolowsky - District Attorney (uncredited)

External links

• Romeo Is Bleeding at the Internet Movie Database
• Romeo Is Bleeding at Box Office Mojo
• Romeo Is Bleeding at AllRovi
• Romeo is Bleeding at Rotten Tomatoes