Romeo Is Bleeding tries valiantly to be a kick-ass, hard-as-nails, balls-to-the-board noir thriller, and for the most part it succeeds by virtue of sheer excess. It's a film that's always on the verge of suffocating under the weight of overwriting and melodrama, but its acting and unlikely twists and turns manage to keep you glued to the screen. More a noir satire than pure noir, this is a film that will plaster a goofy smile to your face as you kick back for the bumpy ride. It helps that Romeo Is Bleeding boasts some spectacular sequences and a killer femme fatale.

Gary Oldman stars as Jack Grimaldi, a cop who's crooked in all kinds of ways. He's selling witness-protection information to a slimy and dangerous mob boss (Roy Scheider), and he's cheating on his lovely young wife (Annabella Sciorra) with a pouty little whore (Juliette Lewis). An accomplice in uncountable murders because of his scheming, he stashes envelopes of cash under a sewer plate in his back yard. He's already a strung-out, guilt-ridden creep by the time the wicked gangstress Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin) enters the picture, and here's where Romeo Is Bleeding starts pumping some serious adrenaline. Mona becomes Jack's obsession, and their corrupted lives start intertwining in a love-hate game of sadistic intrigue.

Olin is particularly fine as Mona, matching the film's overwrought tone with a performance that fires on all cylinders. Mona comes across as explosive, desperate, and wicked. Olin's acting truly elevates this film. Oldman is suitable seedy as Grimaldi, but his accent seems on the verge of falling to pieces in a few places. Lewis and Sciorra are also effective in minor roles.

Director Peter Medak puts the pedal to the metal in Romeo Is Bleeding, squeezing out every last drip of sleaze and greed and blood. In an interesting move that could easily have backfired, he plays it all straight—as do his actors—and the result is a brutal, way-over-the-top comic book of a film. You can practically watch Grimaldi's cynical, hard-boiled narration scroll by like exposition in a graphic novel. By the end of the movie, you'll probably feel like you've been had, but damn, it was a fun trip.

MGM presents Romeo Is Bleeding in an anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The image offers adequate detail but in general suffers from ever-present softness, particularly in darker scenes. I noticed the familiar halo effect of edge enhancement in the film's few brightly lit scenes. On the plus side, the blue and brown urban/industrial color palette comes across faithfully—if a bit smeared—immersing you in a movie that's colorful on the surface but black-and-white at heart.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track is fairly immersive, offering some pleasing directional effects such as gun shots and screeching tires. Stereo imaging is fine. Dialog is clear and natural.

An anamorphic widescreen trailer.

Romeo Is Bleeding certainly won't be to everyone's tastes. But it's worth at least a rental to enjoy Lena Olin's aggressive and eye-popping portrayal of Mona Demarkov.