Triplo gioco

Big city police officers with basement-filth addictions will identify with much of this masterpiece. I did.

"Jack" has a problem; Money and Sex. When he's not getting enough of one, he seeks way too much of the other. Jack had big dreams. And, he was doing something about those dreams. Everything was going great, until one day...everything started going wrong. You see, there's not much future in playing four sides against the middle. Especially when the four sides include a mobster, an opposing mobster (a female sex-goddess), a beautiful supporting loving wife, and a super-hot luscious girlfriend. Jack is not just bleeding...he's hemorraging!

If you're a police officer, this In-Service Training Film is a requirement! WARNING: HAVE DRINK IN HAND WHEN VIEWING

Like Jack says, "Hell...is when you should have walked away, and didn't". Good Luck!

Probably everyone has one favorite movie that they consider "their own" because few, if any, of their friends share their admiration for it. Mine is this one. I just love this film.

It is only one out of over 5,000 movies have either rented or purchased that I watched back-to-back nights after seeing it for the first time. A dozen viewings later, It's still just as good, if not better. It is, start-to-finish, the most entertaining crime movie I have ever watched.

Being of fan of film noir, those wonderfully-narrated crime films of the '40s and '50s, Romeo Is Bleeding is right up my alley. I may be wrong but believe this whole film is simply a parody of the film noirs: an outrageous take on those movies with an over-the-top villain (Lena Olin, the most fascinating female I have ever come across on film), along with over-the-top characters, action scenes, dialog and narration. It's a wild, fun - albeit sick - ride, not to be taken seriously (which a lot of people did and then thought it was too goofy). Evidence of this film-noir spoof is in the dialog, with a number of fantastic dark-humor lines, many delivered by Olin. One has to see this a number of times to catch all the humor in here. Kudos to screenplay writer Hilary Henkin for her work.

Oldman is superb and its the glue that holds this unique story in tact. His narration, including the exaggerated inflection in his voice, is fantastic. I appreciate the American accent this British actor used, too. Olin, as Russian hit- woman Mona Demarkoff, she is one character I guarantee you will not ever forget. Roy Scheider, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis, Michael Wincott and others - cameos by Dennis Farina and Ron Perlman - all deliver great performances with lines that, well,....as I said, are outrageous.

If you love the old film noirs, please check this movie out and remember it's tongue-and-cheek.

The ultimate Gary Oldman Film Noir! If you want to see a great thriller that makes you sit on the edge of your seat with out being overly gory, check this movie out!

Big city cop in "It", up to here! Great story and cinematography! Excellent soundtrack, and the weirdest cop story I've ever seen. I have seen it, I don't know how many times, but I never tire of it.

Everyone does a fine job of acting and Lena Olin is one of the most lethal women in a movie I've ever seen. She should been cast as a killer in a "Bond" film by now.

Oldman is great with his New York accent, and makes you feel the pain he feels when he loses a toe, or should I say, when it's taken from him. I won't say how, but he's got some bad friends in low places.

It's a love story that gets all f***ed up. But what an incredible ride through the film. He's up and when he comes down, it's crash and burn all over the place.

Rent it, buy it, just see it. The DVD is here finally, wish there was a commentary on it, but that's how it goes. Ciao 4 now xoxox

Romeo Is Bleeding is directed by Peter Medak and written by Hilary Henkin. It stars Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis and Roy Scheider. Music is by Mark Isham and Gary Alper and cinematography by Dariusz Wolski.

Oldman plays corrupt cop Jack Grimaldi who does favours for The Mob in exchange for considerable payments. He has a loving wife and a mistress, but even that can't satiate his lust leanings. So when he is assigned to babysit Russian hit-woman Mona Demarkov (Olin), he is soon up to his neck in sexual yearnings. Something which spells trouble for everyone...

A box office flop and savaged by some pro critics, Romeo Is Bleeding is clearly not a film for everyone! Yet for those who like their neo-noir sprinkled with satire and Grindhouse flavours, it's definitely the film for you. It's possible that some folk just didn't get it, that it has its tongue firmly in its bloody cheek? While some of the charges of misogyny and it being a macho fantasy are kind of moot given it's written by a woman! Undeniably it is guilty of going too far over the top, where as it cheekily laughs at itself it forgets to rein itself in, a problem since the finale is surprisingly touching but difficult to accept given the carnage previously.

The trajectory of story is classic noir. Hapless corrupt copper Jack Grimaldi loves his wife but finds it easy to cheat with other women. Once the incredibly sexy Mona Demarkov slinks into his view, he's in big trouble. Add in The Mob after him due to not carrying out a "hit" and you get a noir protagonist spinning towards misery. Grimaldi narrates in snatches to keep the mood simmering on desperation, while visual smarts like a triplicate mirror image - or a scene at a amusement park - further enhance the noir atmosphere. While Olin's Demarko has to rank as one of the most potent femme fatales to steam up the screen.

Superbly performed by the principal actors and backed up with solid support, film doesn't lack for quality in that department. And with Wolski's photography and Isham's music also leaving indelible marks on the sleaze and greed mood, tech credits are impressive. If only Medak had not tried to take too bigger a slice of cake then this would be talked about as a neo-noir classic. As it is, as appendages are lost and the pulses raised, this still plays out as a disgustingly sexy, weirdly off-kilter and bloody fun piece of film. 7.5/10

Peter Medak's Romeo Is Bleeding is one of the most overlooked crime films of the 90's. It's a downbeat, pitch black, simmering sociopathic neo noir filled to the brim with excellent character actors and actresses inhabiting various delicious cop, gangster and femme fatale roles. It has a lyrical, moody poetry to it it, evoking the noir flicks of the 40's albeit with a decidedly modern, violent and demoralizing bite to it. Gary Oldman, in a monumentally underrated performance, plays Jack Grimaldi, a sleaze bag cop attempting to play the Police force, the Feds and the mob against each other in order to make obscene amounts of dirty money for himself. He's a two timing, amoral asshole of a protagonist, but Oldman plays him in a stray dog, sheepish way that you just can't help root for him, and feel like an outlaw doing so. Of course his scheme falls apart (as all schemes like this do, in movie land) spectacularly so, at the hands of Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin) a tyrannical, deranged Russian contract killer with a penchant for gleeful brutality and unhinged violence. Olin is a wonder in the role, a grinning black velvet spider and a source of constant nightmares for Jack, as well as the audience. The film has a darkly comic, almost fairy tale like quality to it, a sense of inevitable karmic catastrophe at the hands of the mob and the law. Oldman mournfully narrates the proceedings from a hazy desert enclave that may or may not just be a dream, and yearns for a second chance. Medal directs with steely, melodramatic precision. Juliette Lewis does her early 90's ditzy thing to perfection, Annabella Sciorra is sweet as Jack's poor wife, the only sympathetic character in the whole deal, Roy Scheider feels a bit miscast as the vengeful mob boss, but Ron Perlman, Michael Wincott, Will Patton, James Chromwell, David Proval and Dennis Farina are top notch in welcome cameos. I feel like this script alone should have gotten a lot more attention, let alone the simply stunning, beautiful film that it has turned into. Anyone who's a fan of crime films, noir, good story lines, and this troupe of actors (and really, how can you not be, just look at this cast!!) will love this.