War
The action rarely reaches the level of quality now demanded from audiences.
Review by Sirus

War is advertised as a hardcore action movie but ends up more like an extended episode of one of the many FBI centered dramas that are on every channel today. The story is told through the eyes of FBI agent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) as he searches for a man known simply as Rogue (Jet Li) who kills his partner in the beginning segment of the movie. Crawford’s revenge becomes an obsession and tears apart his marriage in the process. The plot becomes quite a bit more complex when Crawford gets involved in a rivalry between the Japanese Yakuza and Chinese Triad gangs. The film keeps you guessing who is on which side as things go crazy in every way possible. The many clashes between these three sides lend themselves well to a large number of fight scenes and chases but none of them stand out particularly well. It should be noted that a decent portion of the dialogue is spoken in both Chinese and Japanese with subtitles in case you are one of those who absolutely hates subtitles.

I came into this movie expecting another awesome Jason Statham movie after enjoying watching him in the two “Transporter” movies and “Crank” but was a little disappointed by his lack of screen time and lack of quality fight scenes. Both Jet Li and Jason Statham are good enough in their roles but neither is given the ability to shine as much as they could have if they were the main focus of the movie. For a movie advertised clearly as a hardcore action movie, it is surprising and a little disappointing how the action rarely reaches the level of quality now demanded from audiences. While the movie has a cohesive plot that is fairly well-written, the plot points are rarely given the level of focus needed to motivate viewers to finish the movie. In the recent Bourne movies there are questions in the back of your mind that you want answered and ultimately do get answered but I found myself not really caring if I found out the real truth in “War”. In the end, the movie is a good example of how to make a decent action movie but not one that will ultimately be remembered years down the road.

Final Score: 3/5

Second Opinion
By Dack

Let's face it: We were all thinking this movie would be a delicious duel of strength and wits between Martial Artist Jet Li, and Ass-Kicker Jason Statham. Sadly, what we got was an above average generic Asian Martial Arts film. While the film is an entertaining film with some fast paced action, it's not very unique or innovating to the genre. Putting aside the lack of Statham-Li fights, the movie has some cool scenes and action, making the film slightly rise above a bad score.

Final Score: 3/5


Third Opinion
By Kiwi

If you're planning to see this, don't be fooled: It's not an action film. There are scenes with action, and there are gun battles and kung fu fights, but once you leave, you're not going to feel like this is an action film. Another misconception: Statham and Li don't fight in this movie. They do, but by the time you get excited and await for it to step up, it instead goes into a chokehold flashback that's longer than the actual fight. This is depressing, and it is a let down. If you walk into the movie expecting there to be more than the clip that's been passed around all over the media, you will be sorely disappointed. If you're warned ahead of time, you'll see that this is simply a thriller/crime drama with a lot of blood, a decent car chase, and the Chinese, Japanese, and the FBI all fighting over some meaningless horses once it's over. It's not bad by any standards, it's just not anywhere near the high-adrenaline style of Crank, either (pun intended). Maybe best to see once it's not $10.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Overall Score: 3/5 (rounded down)