Available at Amazon.com
Director:
Philip G. Atwell
Starring:
Jet Li….Rogue
Jason Statham….John Crawford
John Lone….Li Chang
Devon Aoki….Kiri Yanagawa
Ryo Ishibashi….Shiro Yanagawa
Luis Guzman….Benny
Sung Kang….Special Agent Goi
Nadine Velaquez….Maria
Lionsgate and Fierce Entertainment present War. Screenplay by Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley. Running time: 103 minutes. Rated R. Release date: January 1, 2008.
The Movie
Action movies can be many things; they can be funny, they can be exciting, they can even be disturbing at times, but the one thing action movies cannot be is boring. Unfortunately nobody told this to the writers and director of War.
On the surface this seems like a great recipe for an action movie. It has Jet Li, one of the greatest martial arts superstars of all time, along with Jason Statham, who has made a name for himself in the action genre with movies like The Transporter. This should have been an all-out, wall-to-wall kung fu extravaganza, but instead we get a limping, generic cop story about an FBI agent obsessed with bringing to justice the Yakuza hitman who killed his partner. Worse than the story is the fact that there is practically no action in this film, which is the reason moviegoers wanted to watch it in the first place.
Most of the movie shifts back and forth between Jet Li in San Francisco playing the Chinese Triad against the Japanese Yakuza for mysterious reasons, and Jason Statham completely ignoring due process and rules against police brutality to find Li. Statham does everything short of water boarding in his quest for revenge, and while this is probably done to show the depth of his rage over the death of his partner, it just makes him look like a bad FBI agent, especially when Li—the hitman—acts more honorably than him.
In fact, most of the people in positions of authority come off as crooked, racist, or completely devoid of personality. The only decent FBI member in the movie is Special Agent Goi, played by Sung Kang, who is fresh from the academy and brings a sense of eagerness—almost innocence—to the role. It’s probably not a coincidence that Special Agent Goi was also my favorite character in the movie.
Sung Kang aside, it’s surprising how many seasoned actors turn in dull, uninspired performances in this movie. Jason Statham has never been an actor with great range. He only really has one character, but he plays that character well. In War, though, Statham seems almost lost; there’s no energy or direction to his performance.
Jet Li seems to find himself in much of the same situation. He’s never been a great actor, but he usually gives a better performance that what I saw in War. What’s worse is that this lack of focus extends to his fight scenes as well. Li only fights a handful of times in this movie, but none of the scenes have any energy—they’re boring. Even Luis Guzman acts like he’s reading from a cue card.
Another serious problem with the movie was the way it was edited. There was a jarring lack of consistency to the way the scenes were cut together. Most of the scenes are simply slammed together and there are several sections of the movie where the editor uses sharp, disorienting cuts, especially in stressful moments, going so far as to make the actors move out of synch with regular time in a method I’ve never seen outside of horror movies. Those moments are slightly disturbing and, for horror fans like me who unconsciously pick up on visual cues like that, it creates an expectation that is never fulfilled. There are moments when it feels like three different directors had a hold of this film giving it a very disconnected feel.
War is one of those movies that should have been fun, but unfortunately it just didn’t deliver on what it promised. If you want a good (or at least better) action film starring Li and Statham, I suggest renting The One.
The DVD
Video
The movie was presented in 16×9 Widescreen in 2.40:1 ratio. The picture was crisp and clear with no apparent problems.
Audio
The audio was presented in Dolby Digital Surround EX. Most of the sound came through the center channel and there was no real directionality. Surprisingly, this is one of the few action movies where the sound didn’t raise ten decibels every time something exciting happened.
Extra Features
Audio Commentary with Director Philip G. Atwell
Audio Commentary with Writers Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley
“The Action of War“-9 Behind the Scenes Vignettes (cumulative running time: 60 minutes)
Despite the cumulative running time, these vignettes don’t really give any useful information about the movie. Each vignette is devoted to one aspect of the film, from the opening shot to a rundown of the action scenes, and are divided into two parts: the story and the style.
Gag Reel (running time: 2:03)
Most of these goofups are only slightly amusing. The funniest ones are Luis Guzman adlibbing a phone conversation, which, unfortunately, is also his finest acting moment in the movie.
Deleted/Extended Scenes (cumulative running time: 2:13)
There’s nothing particularly interesting about these three scenes. You can see why they were cut from the movie.
Scoring War (running time: 8:57)
This feature is moderately interesting, especially when the composer, Brian Tyler, talks about the different styles he and the director tried to infuse into the film like hip hop, Asian music, and traditional orchestra.
DVD Credits
Trailers
