The killing of his brother leads Han Sing (Jet Li) to bust out of a Hong Kong prison and high-tail it to America. Through unlikely coincidence, this Hong Kong bad-ass hooks up with the fresh-faced Trish (R&B star Aaliyah) before it becomes apparent that her father Isaak (Delroy Lindo) may have had something to do Han's brother's murder. Once she realizes the connection, this still seems to bother Trish not at all — instead, she and Han spend the film making pleasant goo-goo eyes at one another. (Rival gangs, star-cross'd lovers, get it?)

On the way to the obligatory series of shocking revelations, we're treated to several delightful fistfights, one wu shu-enhanced football game, lots of lame expository dialogue, too many TV-level cliches, and an odd bit of reflexivity in which Aaliyah sings along with her own song in a record store (elsewhere, someone refers to her character as "Aaliyah-lookin'," which is an inarguably accurate if largely inexplicable descriptor). In short, Romeo Must Die is a playful film, but not a very savvy one.

If Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat are the yin and the yang of Hong Kong action — one full of graceful self-effacement, the other pensive and lethal — then you can put Jet Li right in the middle. More accurately, you could build a triangle. Li may be a cross between Chan and Chow in temperament, but his defining fighting style is more fanciful than either. Chow lets bullets do the talking and Chan Does His Own Stunts(tm), but Li has always embraced special effects. In his native Hong Kong, that meant elaborate trickery with wires supporting wu shu masters who flew through the air and executed spectacular sideways cartwheel maneuvers that defied the laws of physics. Hollywood seems to have kept the wires, adding a computer-graphics assist to make the maneuvers even more seamless. Anyone who complains about this either has not seen or has disliked Li's classic Hong Kong ouevre, including the Once Upon a Time in China series and the two Fong Sai-Yuk films.

With grace and style to burn, the action scenes here live up to a fairly high standard. First-time director (but seasoned cinematographer) Andrzej Bartkowiak moves the camera in a little too close, meaning that the furious choreography may actually be easier to follow on the TV screen. Even so, the fight sequences are impressive, if not up to the finely honed standards of a Jackie Chan set piece, and are punctuated in three places by an innovative visual effect that I expect to see show up in video games about 12 months from now.

Hong Kong-style fight choreography is often compared to dance movement, and films like this occasionally suggest a new format for the Hollywood musical-I'd love to see some young visionary with a good sense of rhythm mount a musical action flick combining a top-notch hip-hop soundtrack and thrilling hand-to-hand combat. Along those lines, Romeo Must Die includes a pas de deux that teams Li and Aaliyah Astaire-and-Rogers style to kick a little motor booty. The sequence looks like it was a bear to execute, but helps distinguish this flick from its less ambitious competition.

While the action sequences are purely formal triumphs, the rest of the film relies on a seriously bland screenplay that angles for intrigue, regret, and a strong sense of family, but mainly inspires a wake-me-when-it's-over fatalism. Against such a dreary backdrop, the stylish snap and crackle feels all the more incongruous. For all that I respect and admire Li's athleticism and Bartkowiak's craftsmanship, what I really felt during Romeo Must Die was an overwhelming desire to go home and watch Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2 for the umpteenth time.