War

Year: 2007
Director: Philip G. Atwell
Cast: Jet Li, Jason Statham, John Lone, Devon Aoki, Ryo Ishibashi, Terry Chen

Nice poster, isn't it? Unfortunately, that's the only good thing I can say about this sorry action flick that pits two of the biggest action stars today against each other.

War begins with two cops, Jack Crawford (Statham) and Tom Lone (Chen), on the hunt for the elusive assassin known as Rogue (Li). Lone manages to shoot Rogue, who falls into the sea and is presumed dead. However, Rogue reappears later and attacks Lone and his family, killing them all and burning them in their own home. Crawford is devastated at the death of his partner and vows revenge.

Cut to three years later, where a war is brewing between the Yakuza and the Chinese triads. Crawford and his team learn that Rogue is back, and he's somehow involved with both sides. Crawford is determined to catch Rogue and make him pay for his crimes. The truth is, Rogue is pretending to be an assassin for both sides so that he can dispose of them one by one, though Crawford has no idea why he would do so. Rogue continues to maim soldiers from each side while maintaining a facade of loyalty to their leaders, until he gets to Shiro (Ishibashi), head of the Yakuza, where he finally reveals his motives......

This is the second time Jet Li and Jason Statham are starring in the same movie, after The One. I was rather disappointed with The One, because it's no fun watching Li fight himself. But War is no better, and for so many reasons. Firstly, the plot. After I was done, I can only tell you that this film is just full of violent killing sprees and very little else. That does not justify whatever plotline they had, which involves multiple doublecrossing and vengeance. There is no style or grace to the action, all of it seems so pedestrian and repetitive, which is rather surprising coming from Cory Yuen, who directed the action sequences. Where is the brilliance he showed in So Close?

What else? The acting. You'd think that having Li and Statham in an action film would be great, but no. Li looks extremely bored all the time. Now, his one dimensional acting may have worked in his previous Hollywood efforts, despite it being very generic and stereotyped. The only time he departed from that was in Unleashed. But this time, it's just tiresome, and totally wrong. He has so few lines in the film, you could probably write it all down in one page. Statham fares no better, looking way too calm for someone who is looking for retribution. He can at least act properly when his character is angry, but that doesn't happen often here. And the fight scenes the two of them are in, whether against other bad guys, or in the final showdown, are downright disappointing.

There is a twist to the story within the final twenty minutes, which is supposed to make the film better, but it was poorly executed. And after thinking about it for a while, it makes no sense either. I was kinda scratching my head when I thought about it, and so will you. The abrupt ending after that only made it worse. It's just too bad, especially when War had potential, but failed to live up to it.

If you want a good Jet Li film made in English, go watch Kiss Of The Dragon. If you want a good Jason Statham film, go watch The Transporter.

All together now: War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing......(2/5)