Movie Review: War

Starring:
Jet Li, Jason Statham, John Lone, Ryo Ishibashi, Devon Aoki, Luis Guzmán, Sung Kang

Director:
Philip G. Atwell

MPAA Rating:
R for sequences of strong bloody violence, sexuality/nudity and language.

Release Date:
August 2007

Synopsis:
FBI agent Jack Crawford is out for revenge when his partner is killed and all clues point to the mysterious assassin Rogue. But when Rogue turns up years later to take care of some unfinished business, he triggers a violent clash of rival gangs.

My Two Cents:
Jason Statham, the star of The Transporter and Crank faces off against Jet Li, star of Unleashed and Hero. Doesn’t that sound awesome? They already faced each other in The One, but that was six years ago when I didn’t even know who Statham was. There’s no way this movie could suck, right?

Jack Crawford (Statham) has lived in misery since his FBI partner and best friend Tom was brutally murdered along with his wife and daughter. Hi has been obsessed in finding Tom’s killer, a man only known as Rogue (Jet Li). This Rogue fellow is probably the best hitman in the world, admired by crime bosses and feared by everyone else. On the other hand, Jack is one of the baddest FBI agents in town, beating the shit out of suspects and killing goons left and right without any remorse. That’s just great, because you just know his fight with Rogue is going to be awesome.

For the first our or so the movie moves along pretty smoothly, setting up the characters and Crawford’s immense hate for Rogue. You get quite a few shootouts, some naked whores in a strip joint and a mandatory car chase. Rogue manages to play a double agent role working for both the Triads and the Yakuza, making their hatred grow and getting a lot of people killed in the process. This is all fine, but when do we get to see Li and Statham fight? They’re just talking, shooting and running. What the fuck? Jet Li doesn’t even throw a single kick until the final minutes, and even then the fight choreography sucks. Why have a martial arts expert like Li in a movie and not use his abilities? Anyone can shoot a fake gun, but not everyone can fight as cool as him.



OK, so it sucks that Jet Li is not using martial arts to kill off his opponents, but the movie is still pretty decent. That is until a sad and shitty plot twist near the end is revealed. This revelation sucks so bad, it literally kills the whole movie. And even worst, the actual ending is perhaps the worst ending I’ve ever seen. I honestly can’t remember a worst movie ending right now. The last 10 to 15 minutes destroy an otherwise enjoyable action flick. What a shame.

As a video game fan I feel the responsibility of reviewing a little fighting game included in the Blu-ray version of War. Maybe it’s also on the standard definition DVD, but I watched the Blu-ray version. Anyway, you fight one on one against an Asian dude in a suit. You play as a very muscular guy that doesn’t resemble either Statham or Li in the slightest. Maybe it’s supposed to be a gang battle against the Yakuzas and the Triads. Who knows? You are given a few choices that must be selected before the battle takes place. Yeah, you have to predict if you’ll need to punch high or low, kick high or low, or block high or low. It’s completely random so there is absolutely no strategy involved, only luck. Once your commands are selected the little guys fight. Whoever ends up with a bigger life bar wins. This is hands down the shittiest bonus feature I’ve ever seen in a movie. What a total waste of disc space. Note: the maximum suckage of this mini game does not bring the movie’s score down at all, and it certainly doesn’t add to it either.

Score: