War

Plot synopsis:
In San Francisco, FBI Agents John Crawford (Jason Statham) and Tom Lone (Terry Chen) are at a Dock Warehouse. Tom lives with his wife & daughter. Toms daughters younger than 10. John lives with his wife & son. Johns sons younger than 10. The Chinese Triads are also at the same Warehouse. Crawfords carrying a shotgun. Toms carrying a pistol. Tom and John manage to kill more than 2 Chinese Triads. Rogues(Jet Li) also evil. Rogues also a notorious assassin. Rogue wears a mask. John fails to shoot Rogue. While Johns looking for Rogue, Rogue shoots Johns arm. Rogues about to kill John, but Tom manages to shoot Rogue in the face more than 1 time. Since Tom shot Rogue, it caused Rogue to fall into the water. John tells Tom that the mans name was Rogue. John also tells Tom that Rogue stopped working for CIA. Since Rogue stopped working for CIA, its probably because Rogue betrayed CIA. John also tells Tom that Rogue worked for Japanese Yakuza. But Tom doesnt believe that Rogue exists. Few minutes ago, John found trademark titanium shells with depleted uranium slugs & John realized that those titanium shells belong to Rogue. Titanium shells refer to Gun Shells. John tells Tom that Rogues gun shells have Rogues signatures. Now, Tom believes that Rogue exists. San Francisco Police also shows up. 1 day later, John & his family are planning to go to Toms house. When John calls Toms house phone, Tom tells John that Rogue's body was never found. Tom also tells John that Rogues body mustve got eaten. Rogues presumed dead. After John talks to Tom, John turns off the phone. Unfortunately, its revealed that Rogues still alive. Rogue was able to locate Toms house. Rogue wants to get revenge because Tom shot Rogue. Rogue wants to kill Tom. When Rogue breaks into Toms house, Rogue forces Toms family to go into the bedroom. Toms inside the bathroom, but Tom doesnt know that theres an intruder. When Tom comes out of the bathroom, Rogue shoots Tom in the face. Tom realizes that Rogues still alive. Rogue probably beats up Tom. Rogue throws Tom into the bedroom. When Rogue steps on Toms back, it means that Toms unable to move. Rogue uses a pistol to kill Toms family. Few minutes later, John & his family go to Toms house. They find out that Toms house got set on fire. Since the police found 3 dead bodies inside Toms house, it means that the dead bodies got burned. One of the dead bodies is a guy. The 2nd dead bodys a lady. The 3rd dead bodys a girl. Since there were 3 dead bodies inside Toms house, it means that Tom & his family are dead. When John goes inside Toms house, John sees Rogues Gun Shells. John realizes that Rogues still alive. John believes that Rogue killed Tom & his family. John wants to get revenge by killing Rogue.Crawford wants justice for his partner and vows to kill Rogue to get even. In the mean time, Rogue skillfully incites a war between the Triads and Yakuzas in San Francisco for no apparent reason. Rogue seems to be working for the local mafia Chang (John Lone) while he kills his son-like man in Triads and skillfully manages to let him believe it's done by the Yakuzas and tips the man's brother about a man working under Shiro (Ryo Ishibashi), leading him to his location of a tea house where the rival gangs fight while Rogue sits in a winow picking off anyone coming out with a sniper rifle from both gangs.Rogue is a very good fighter, an excellent liar and is skilled at vanishing abruptly. He works for the Japanese Yakuza while still workin with Chang's Triad and kills Chang upon the Japanese mob's orders. But he didn't followed the mob's full order by not killing Chang's wife and daughter as he previously promised Shiro.Crawford finds out Rogue had actually changed his face by plastic surgery and found the surgeon who done the same and confirms his current identity of Victor Shaw (Jet Li). By his watchmen, Crawford manages to get snaps of Rogue killing Shiro's assassins and assisting the wife and daughter of Chang into a car. Crawford gives these snaps to the Shiro who finally turns up in San Francisco cleverly lured by Rogue using a pair of priceless gold horse statues (one of them is a fake of the other) from Japan. Shiro orders his men to torture Rogue to find out where Chang's wife and daughter were hidden but Rogue escapes and kills the Shiro's men and sets off the bomb he had in the other suitcase killing almost everyone except Shiro. It's revealed that Rogue wants to kill Shiro too. Rogue decides to use a sword to fight Shiro. Shiro also grabs a sword.Shiro asks him why he's doing this and Rogue replies that it's because of a killing the Shiro had ordered. Shiro wondered which one of the many orders and it turns out to be the killing of Tom Lone and his family. Telling he shouldn't have ordered to kill the women and child. Shiro realizes that Rogue's none other Tom Lone. Rogue killed Tom's family, but Tom managed to kill Rogue. Since Tom killed Rogue, Tom used plastic surgery to disguise himself as Rogue. 3 years after Rogue & Tom's family got killed, Tom decided to come back to San Francisco to destroy Shiro's enemies, Shiro's henchmen, and Shiro. Tom wanted to kill Shiro last because Tom wanted to avenge his family's death. Tom/Rogue sets on a skilled fight which at last the mob was not able to hold and reveals another stunning truth that it's all because Crawford let it happen. This makes another interesting twist and after learning the fact, Tom/Rogue kills Shiro by beheading him.The Wife of Chang receives a package with a letter saying "Make A New Life" from Tom/Rogue with the original gold horse statue in it. Shiro's daughter, who had returned to Japan, receives the same letter (in Japanese) with a suitcase, which revealed to contain Shiro's head.Rogue calls Crawford to set a meeting at the first known place for both of them and Crawford sets a sniper and visits that place to kill Rogue. Rogue and Crawford fight furiously and at one end when they're close to face to face, Rogue reveals he's actually Tom Lone. Crawford recognizes Tom's eyes and apologizes for what happened, and asks if he could ever forgive him. Tom changes his name to Rogue. The FBI agent assigned to shoot Rogue/Lone attempted to target him, but Crawford jumps in the way, and Tom/Rogue shoots him in the back, killing him. Even though Crawford apologized to Tom/Rogue, Tom/Rogue didn't accept Crawford's apology. Tom/Rogue's stupid because he should've accepted Crawford's apology.Tom/Rogue drives away in his car with the suitcase full of money that the Triad had given him earlier in the movie, and the movie ends.

Tags: dramatic, violence, revenge, neo noir, murder

Review:
If you walk into a movie theater showing "War" and expect to be dazzled by some thought-provoking paragon of acting destined to change the way the world thinks about film and culture, you're either an idiot or an idealist.
Jason Statham delivers a pretty good performance, considering that this is really designed for pure blood-and-guts glory, and Jet Li is as impressive now as he was in "Romeo Must Die" and "Kiss of the Dragon" (thank GOD he hasn't retired).
In other words: know what you're going to get here.We get many, many gunshots to head., long range to up-close-and personal, swords into mouths and through back of head and through just about any other body part, a car chase, motorcycle chases, a few bare breasts and a bunch of attention-grabbing scenes of brutality, which definitely outnumber the quieter scenes.Jason Statham seems to be the new macho man of the day, playing this kind of role in numerous films the past few years.
It's just about the right length.The best part of this ultra-violent movie dealing with rival Asian gangs and FBI agent (s) in the middle in the BIG twist near the end of the film.
"War" is surprising.Jason Statham plays FBI Agent Jack Crawford, who leads a task force against both the Chinese Triad led by Chang (cool John Lone) and the Yakuza led by Shiro (bold Ryo Ishibashi).
Ryo Ishibashi is great as the larger than life Shiro, providing is a captivating and powerful rival for both Li and Statham."War" is a solid action movie with great performances from Jason Statham and Jet Li. Statham and Li are at the top of their games.
The stunts were all tame and the editing cut every half-second in the action scenes so that it could make any actor seem like they could empty a room full of thugs.Jet Li started out great in America with movies such as Kiss of the Dragon and Romeo Must Die. Statham and Li have both worked together in The One which i thought to be a brilliant movie where the plot and the action worked perfectly together..
You don't seem to care about any of the characters, some lines you can predict yourself and most of all the action was mediocre at best.I wont even go into detail about how horrible the ending is, but it left me and my friends in the cinema looking at each other thinking "is that it?"Jet Li can do better.
It seems the only reason (very stupid really) is they do not speak "American English" (Stathan is British and Jet Li Chinese); something never bothered Arnold .In any case, this time are both back and together in a thriller full cruel and bloody violent scene and several unexpected twists that completely change the movie.Those expecting over the top martial arts fights will be disappointed.
Most of the action is gun based however extremely realistic (and violent) and the good guys do not hesitate on killing in cold blood.War is about people trying to avenge killings, fights for power and honor between Japanese Yakuza, Chinese Triads and ambition.
Even in the talking scenes every sentence is a new shot, with a different center of focus, It is most likely to keep your eyes moving and the action high, even when most movies slow down at these parts.
I think there could have actually been a little more of the martial arts and special effects, it is like Corey Yuen is taking a sabbatical leave in the middle of the film and leave the scene to the director, but the plot was still good enough to hold your attention throughout.
And ever since I saw the Transporter, I've been a big fan of Jason Statham and know he's been studying martial arts more and more especially since he starred in the movie The One alongside none other then Jet Li, where they first got the idea to do a movie like this together.So as you can see, my expectations for this movie were through the roof!
Jet Li should not be wasting his time trying to act first of all, since you could barely understand half the lines he utters in the first place...The first hour is all story, no fighting whatsoever, then you'll get a quick little dose of what might be something, only to end in gunfire and bullets.
This movie keeps you hanging on the great story and keeps you hoping that there will be a huge pay-off fight scene in the end between Jet and Jason that will make up for all this waiting finally pay-off.2 words, It Doesn't!
With his movies like Crank and The Transporter doubles becoming guilty pleasures (read: just Statham kicking up a storm without a reasonable story to boot), I'd actually come to enjoy his work choreographed by Corey Yuen (who also does the action choreography here), together with other ensemble movies he starred in, like The Italian Job and Snatch, amongst others.
You have HK actor Mark Cheng (from his latest movie Invisible Target) lending his charisma but becoming a laughing stock, John Lone demonstrating he's still very much being typecast in Hollywood roles, Devon Aoki continuing to be that flower vase who doesn't look good up close (somehow the cinematic camera dislikes her), and hey, once TV actress from this part of the world, Steph Song, gets a cameo too, spending most of the screen time screaming.Everything's pure flash with zero substance.
Jet Li and Statham meet on the big screen to prove they are still action heroes.War suffers from weak plot line and confusing characters.
Many people expected, or it feels like they were expecting, a movie whit twisting plot, color full characters and many more..I don't understand that..THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT KILLING AND ACTION!!!!THIS IS WAR.
Jet Li stars as Rogue a Yojimbo inspired assassin who pits the triads (Led by Year Of The Dragon's John Lone) and the Yakuza (Led by Ryo Ishibashi) against each other in a mostly pointless actioner which rarely makes sense (Seriously this is not intelligent, it's just nonsensical) and worst of all delivers only minimal action despite the would be promise of Jet Li/Jason Statham fight.
The movie goes for a plot and in those regards the movie fails since the story has no real characters that are all that likable and watching Jet Li and Jason Statham violently dispatch bad guys without once feeling vulnerable is among the film's biggest tedious points.
War attempts to blend it's action with a surprisingly compelling story line, the film's build up unfortunately falls apart in it's lack luster third act.Jason Statham plays Jack Crawford, a special ops agent in L.A.
This movie has great gunfights and some good fighting sequences but, overall the fighting didn't overcome the bad acting, the illegitimate characters, no martial arts, the twisty storyline, and the confusing transitions.
so i bet everybody just can't wait to see a spectacular martial arts showdown between jason statham and jet li.well guess what.it doesn't happen.just got back from seeing this lame movie and i would like my money refunded.there is very little martial arts action in this movie.maybe a big five minutes worth of fighting.all there is in this movie is boring gunfight that we have seen in every action movie.i was waiting for the big fight scene between jet li and jason statham and when the met at the very end of the movie they fought for maybe a minute.yes you read that right.if you are a martial arts fan do not go see this movie..
Fight choreographer from the Transporter, Jason Statham, Jet Li. You'd expect a great Martial Arts action flick what you get is a B Movie with little to know fighting by the two stars.
This could have worked had the story been interesting enough but having Jet Li kill someone and then having Jason Statham investigate the scene while having flashbacks to murders we've already seen just came out plain boring.
The new martial arts-action film "War" comes to us from the former music video director Philip G.
But too bad it's just too confusing to make any real sense with."War" could have really been something amazing in that regard because we have two reasonably capable stars (Jet Li and Jason Statham) going head-to-head, toe-to-toe, big time, for the first time in a long time, on the big screen.
The tough and gruff Statham, on the other hand, gets a chance at some "acting" but this appears to be a minimum too, since I'm not all that entirely convinced by his performance, and he seems like one of Steven Seagal's later characters.The film's action scenes are what "War" is best at.
However, actually martial arts hand-to-hand combat is at a minimum and the film mostly focuses on your usual car chases and shoot-outs and gun-play (although there is a rather brief sword fight between Li and a yakuza crime boss toward the end).
You would expect two heavy-hitters like Li and Statham to actually go to war in at least one scene.In the end, "War" is yet another Hollywood action flick to serve up some sort of originality in East meets West culture-clashing.
You want them to be good guys, but you are never surprised when they cross the line - almost Han Solo like (but this movie has no wookies).I won't re-summarize the plot here, but I will say that the action is amazing and the story won't let you down.
The bravado surrounding this movie was the usual blend of short, action-crammed trailers and moody looking lead poses.Unfortunately, the movie fails to deliver on so many levels except the entirely predictable ones.The clichéd cop interactions, the naff fight scenes and classic Jap gang pleasantries of hits against rivals, all wrapped up in an unengaging plot line.Jet Li really doesn't impress as he has done in other movies, and Jason Statham's attempts at acting are becoming tiresome, he should certainly stick to keeping his mouth shut and kicking people's behinds.
They even introduce yet another Transporter-esquire axe-dodging scene - really nothing new.No character really convinces you to care about their plight nor did I end up giving a monkeys about who rang victorious in the end - inevitable as it all was anyway.There are far batter action movies out there - this is really an average way to pass the time..
Jet Li and Jason Statham should hang there head in shame a this piece of crap................i repeat CRAP CRAP CRAP............yes thats right CRAP........no fights......no action just 2 hours of dribble...the only action i saw was from my mate swearing his head off at the movie for being so crap..............very very disappointing......i only give it 3/10 because of the hot chick that hands jet li a brief case full of money then gets naked i give her a 10/10........i can't believe that i wasted my time and money on this piece of CRAP....there i said it again CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
So all in all i think everyone who wants a solid action movie with good performances and great fight/gun fight scenes then this movie is for you.
I expected an endless stream of action and violence and that the whole movie would be about Jet Li and Jason Statham fighting each other.
It was predictable (I knew what the twist will be from the beginning), unnecessarily complicated, had too many characters and lacked good action.An assassin named Rogue murders the partner of John Crawford (Statham), an FBI agent.
Jason Statham plays Crawford a Special Agent for the F.B.I. who's partner is murdered by an extremely lethal assassin called Rogue (Jet Li), spends three years seeking revenge and finally discovers two powerful war-lords are locked into a deadly and extremely violent confrontation.
It's here that I ask 'would it have been better if it were Crawford's family that had died during the point of attack?' This way, we would've had more of a connection with Crawford and his actions might actually have been more meaningful.So Jack goes on this revenge mission in the fashion only Jason Statham can, that sort of grunting complete with an array of nasty facial expressions as he beats people up and sticks guns in their faces.
I suppose this is why I enjoyed Paul Haggis' Crash from a few years ago; a film that takes the crime genre to a degree and sets it in America but with the multicultural element used to good effect rather than like this.In-between all the running and shooting and whatever else there was, Jet Li's Rouge will spout some meaningless clap trap about '...at every moment in the world, things change' and other such quips that so desperately want to bring humanity to the character and film but come across as forced and quite silly.
Perhaps the film might've worked had Crawford's family been killed at the beginning but then the film wouldn't be able to unleash a twist on us; perhaps a slower pace as well as some sort of clarity added to most of the scenes would've worked and maybe if you're going to include people of multiple ethnicities and races, it might be a good idea to give everyone a fair crack rather than purely your Chinese co-lead actor who does all the kung-fu we expect him to do anyway, shame on most people involved..
When it all got too over-the-top, I actually started laughing.The fight scene to watch for is a sword battle that Jet Li has in the climax of the film (NOT with Jason Statham!).
Jet Li and Jason Statham's War is one of the worst action movie of the year.
And Eddie was right on the money, 'cos War isn't even good for a 100+ minutes of mindlessly violent entertainment, the film wasting the talents of both of its stars with a tedious story-line and poorly handled action sequences, all accompanied by a horribly generic soundtrack.Statham plays tough cop Crawford, who is determined to catch Rogue (Li), the yakuza assassin responsible for the murder of his partner.
When War came out, it was pretty much a flop!I don't know how though, with superstars Jet Li and Jason Statham, along with a host of other well known faces, plenty of action and a dark plot of revenge and dirty cops.I didn't really like it upon its release, all but a few fights that come about eventually, and still after re-watching it a number of years later, I still can't seem to find a spot for it!Its not that anything in particular is wrong with it, its just that there is something so unappealing that just does't seem to carry the wow factor like most of said stars other films do.The actors are great, the action is great, the plot okay.
WAR sets up the viewer with promises (Jason Statham, Jet Li in his first movie as a straight actor i.e. post-martial arts), but for the most part those promises are not delivered.
Jet Li, one of the best in martial art movies and Jason Statham, who has been doing good in action movies.I recommend it to the guys(and girls)who like movies with good cars,violence and who like a bit of a twist in it.
This was an really good movie with an interesting well paced plot, great action sequences, not overly gory (though a lot of the reviews make it seem like it's a total blood bath - most of the violence is really well done) and pretty decent dialog.
Granted, I do like a lot of action movies but this one is much better than many because it's well acted and actually interesting as opposed to a bunch of guys with guns and swords running around killing everyone.
The film's various shoot-ups and car chases supply the moving and generally bloody background to this game of cat-and-mouse between Statham and Li.Nobody pays to watch movies like 'War' for striking performances, and this is just as well.
Personally, I think this movie was utterly disappointing.The action scenes were what is expected from a pure action movie, but its been a while since I've seen/heard a thinner storyline (EVEN for an action movie)...A film starring BOTH Jet Li and Jason Statham, 2 of my favorite modern-day actors within the action-genre, could have been so much better, I mean to go from movies like "Hero"/"Kiss of the dragon" or "Crank"/"Revolver" to this is a downright shame.Then again, its not much they can personally do about a horrible script and mediocre supporting cast members.The one who did OK in the supporting role were Devon Aoki, to me it felt like most of the movies budget went to pay these 3 main characters...I haven't lost any faith in the acting skill of the stated actors, but hope to see them in more entertaining roles in the future..
Mann film.If you're not sure of which movie to watch this coming weekend, I would highly recommend "War." The solid action, fast paced storyline and surprise ending make the movie ticket worth every dollar.8 / 10 stars.
Many thought that Fearless was to be his last action movie, however, they were wrong as he has indeed returned in dramatic fashion in Lions Gate Films' latest movie, War. Jason Statham (The Transporter, Crank) also stars making this the first battle between Li and Statham in six years since The One.FBI Agent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) seeks revenge after the apparent murder of his partner, Tom Wynne (Terry Chen), and family by the notorious assassin Rogue (Jet Li).
You might think that a movie that has both Jet Li and Jason Statham would have a lot of promise, especially since the movie managed to get the great Corey Yuen to choreograph the fight scenes.
When you hear there is another movie where Jason Statham and Jet Li play together, you think it must be good.