Romeo Is Bleeding

The neo-noir cycle of the '90s produced a surprisingly robust collection of films ranging from dead-serious throwbacks (After Dark, My Sweet, The Grifters) to gonzo cross-genre experiments (Mulholland Drive, Dark City). 1993's Romeo Is Bleeding falls somewhere in the middle, which perhaps explains why this traditional - yet intermittently outré - story of a bad cop sinking even further into the shadowy criminal landscape was buried in a hastily dug cinematic grave. In fact, director Peter Medak's film plays like a Film Noir's Greatest Hits compilation, making sure all the staples are represented (world-weary narration, rain-soaked city streets) and adding some new tracks that amplify things to Tarantino levels of excess.

Sgt. Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman) has been providing information for underworld types for years, banking 64K each time and "depositing" it in a hole in his backyard, a windfall his wife (Annabella Sciorra) knows nothing about. But when the latest tip winds up killing several cops as well, Jack has a crisis of conscience. To get out from under the thumb of the local kingpin (Roy Scheider), Jack makes a deal with their latest target - Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin) - to put her at the top of the organization and get himself out for good.

The screenplay by Hilary Henkin (Road House) is full of quotable bit of noir-isicms like "Whoever you shoot, you may as well marry 'em...cuz you're tied to 'em for life." and "You know what the scary thing about love is? You don't own it...it owns you." It's to Medak and lead actor Gary Oldman's credit that all the hard-boiled BS sounds authentic in context, wrapped inside of a lush package of moody cinematography by Dariusz Wolski (now Ridley Scott's DP of choice).

If Romeo Is Bleeding was just another story of a good guy gone bad it might not merit much more attention. But it's blessed with a femme fatale for the ages in Mona Demarkov, a Russian assassin with smarts, aspirations and a Schwarzenegger indestructibility that defies that laws of plausibility. From the moment Lena Olin's character steps into the picture everyone else struggles to remain opaque, and her epic battle with Oldman struggling to stay behind the wheel of a blue Cadillac is the sort of scene that deserves a spot on any true cinephile's playlist.

After the indie film industry was absorbed by the studios and the Tarantino aesthetic reached a financial peak, the second noir boom took a bullet to the chest. But every now and then echoes pop up in major motion pictures (like Gone Girl, which has a truly legendary femme fatale of its own) and its nihilistic world-view seems ripe for a comeback...just like Mona.

Twilight Time's 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray is one of those under-the-radar titles that will give any collection some street cred. Although the extras are limited to a theatrical trailer and an isolated track of composer Mark Isham's jazzy score, the heavenly hi-def transfer is a bonus feature all by itself.