When his partner is killed by shadowy Yakuza hitman Rogue, FBI agent Crawford (Jason Statham) vows revenge, only to realize that Rogue isn’t who he thinks it is.

CRITIQUE

War is a subpar action tale that turns out to have a potentially-interesting idea going on at the core of it.  Unfortunately, this idea isn’t handled well at all; screenwriters Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory Bradley save it for a surprise ending, but when it is revealed, it simply renders a lot of the movie pointless.  As it is, this is a generic film that isn’t very well directed, and there isn’t enough that works to really make it worth seeing.

The initial set-up here is interesting if familiar, as FBI agent Crawford and his Asian partner Tom clash with shadowy hitman Rogue, who Tom appears to kill, though Rogue disappears after falling into the water.  Rogue then attacks Tom’s house, killing his wife and kid and apparently Tom; Crawford wants revenge, and three years later finds signs that Rogue has returned.

Unfortunately, though Crawford is the main character here, he really doesn’t have much to do; his detective work is largely limited to finding the titanium bullets (which are Rogue’s trademark) left lying around crime scenes.  As the script goes on, more and more time is devoted to Rogue, who it becomes clear is playing off one big Asian group of gangsters against another, killing off members of both sides.

But once it becomes clear that Rogue is apparently a good guy, it all falls into place – after Rogue killed Tom’s family, Tom was able to kill Rogue and take his place, changing his face.  But though this is an interesting premise for a film, again the script saves the revelation for the ending, though audience members able to guess it halfway through (which will likely be a large number of them) will likely be bored waiting for the movie to acknowledge what is going on.  Unfortunately, the fact that Rogue is the most interesting character just means that all Crawford’s scenes don’t serve much purpose, Rogue is a blankfaced cipher throughout, while a twist in the ending really doesn’t work all that well either.

Jason Statham has an appealing roughness to him, but he isn’t given much to do as Crawford.  Jet Li gets a chance to show off his martial arts skills here and there, but the direction, by Philip G. Atwell (in his feature debut), just isn’t very good:  the visuals aren’t crisp, the editing is jumpy, and as a result the action is consistently hard to follow.  By the end, this all feels like we have scene it before, and though there are some potentially-interesting story ideas here, the filmmakers just don’t use them well as all.

THE VIDEO

War is presented in 16x9 widescreen.  The visuals are never very sharp or crisp.

THE AUDIO

War is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX Audio.  Dialogue, music and sound effects come through clear.  There are English and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

There are 2 Audio Commentaries, one featuring director Philip G. Atwell, the other featuring writers Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley.  Atwell’s commentary is monotone and bland; the writers are chattier, though there isn’t a lot to what they are talking about.

There is also a Trivia Track, providing random information about the cast and production.  The movie just isn’t interesting enough to make any of the tracks worth sitting through.

The strongest extra here is a 9-part series of Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes on the film’s Action setpieces, totaling about 80 minutes.

There’s also a Featurette on the movie’s Score.

There are three short, negligible Deleted Scenes, only totaling a couple of minutes.

There is also a 2-minute Gag Reel, largely made up of Jet Li cracking up at things that go wrong.

FINAL THOUGHT