After his partner is brutally murdered by the infamous assassin Rogue, FBI agent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) vows to find the elusive killer and personally avenge his partner's death. But Rogue (Jet Li) proves untraceable until three years later when he resurfaces to ignite a bloody turf war between Chinese mob leader Chang and Japanese Yakuza boss Shiro. Eager to capture Rogue once and for all, Crawford leads his team of crime specialists headlong into the conflict. But Crawford's thirst for vengeance jeopardizes his professional judgment, and as the violence escalates, Crawford finally comes face to face with his enemy to discover that nothing about Rogue or his plan is quite what it seems.
Robert's Review
I'm not sure that Brett saw the same movie, but "War" didn't have much action at all for a supposed action movie. Most of the so-called action stunts were really lame and almost laughable. It was actually kind of pathetic. The main car chase scene involved nothing more than driving fast and then finally crashing after hitting a concrete barrier. There was nothing cool or interesting about it at all. I've seen more impressive chases on COPS and even YouTube. As far as the action between Jet Li and Jason Statham… there really isn't much to talk about. Nothing really happens between them until the final part of the movie and even then their big showdown involves fighting with shovels… um, what
the hell?!?! Were the movie's writers shopping at Home Depot one day and thinking to themselves… hmmm, we could use this stuff! Seriously?! Oh, and don't even get me started on what I consider one of the dumbest and most confusing plots I've seen in a while. Right after all the triad bosses started talking about little horses (and it became a central plot point), the movie totally lost me. Suddenly what was supposed to be an action movie, morphed into Antiques Roadshow with little golden horse statues, then it morphed into the "you killed my partner and now I'm going to kill you" type cop movie, then into a "protect the child and the woman" movie, then it just kept getting more confusing. I think the writers must have been really baked out of their minds or drunk when they wrote this. Overall, this movie was a complete waste of time.
All in all, I'd give this movie 1 Golden Horse Statue (Out of 5). Re-watch value: NONE (I seriously want a refund).
Brett's Review
So Jason Statham and Jet Li finally came together for a kick butt, bust em' up movie. Unfortunately, the movie didn't really hold up to much. "War" was pretty intense and the action was non-stop, however the story line and plot became confusing, then the sub-plots started and it brought it down even more. Li and Stratham did a good job on the acting, but they just couldn't keep the movie going in the same direction. I did like the sword fights however… I thought they were well choreographed and rehearsed.
Overall Rating: 2.5 Triads Re-Watch Value: Low (Maybe cable one night, and I haven't decided on DVD purchase yet.)
