Directed by: Philip G. Atwell
Premise: A super assassin (Jet Li) manipulates
feuding Chinese and Japanese crime families, pushing them into a
self-destructive gang war, while an FBI agent (Jason Statham) purses the
assassin to avenge the death of his partner.
What Works: Jet Li and Jason Statham have
established film careers in the action and martial arts genres and each one has
crafted a screen persona that they often replicate in each of their films, much
like Arnold Schwarzenegger did in his action films and what Clint Eastwood and
John Wayne did in their Western films. Li often plays Zen-warrior types who have
a tortured soul and Statham has crafted an image as a badass loner with
integrity. What War does well is to combine these two and let them play
out their roles together, using the strengths of their each actor’s niche. The
film uses the complex and lightening fast fight scenes of Li’s work with the
smart talking shoot ‘em up sequences that populate Statham’s filmography.
The combination works and both actors deliver what has been expected of them.
The story works pretty well, borrowing from Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name
trilogy (A
Fistful of Dollars, For
a Few Dollars More, The
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) in his character’s manipulation of the
two families and Statham’s pursuit has a satisfying intensity about it that
pushes it just above the usual obsessive cop stereotype.
What Doesn’t: Although the film plays well, a lot
of it is made of things we have seen before in these actor’s other films and
it certainly does not do them better. Unlike Freddy
Vs. Jason, which in a very similar way combined two franchises, played
to the strengths of both, and then gave them a adrenaline shot that made
familiar territory fresh again, War wallows in a lot of recycled bits and
stunts. The film does go for some unique twists at the very end, but it hurts as
much as it helps because the twists come dangerously close to the annoying and
alienating resolution of films like High
Tension.
Bottom Line: It does not have the grace of Jet
Li’s Hero or the energy of Jason Statham’s Crank,
but War is a satisfying combination of the two actor’s talents. Not
much in it is new, but it's certainly not boring either.