Rogue, o Assassino

When his partner and partner's family are murdered in a revenge attack, FBI Agent Jack Crawford devotes his career to tracking down the near-mythical Yakuza assassin Rogue. Three years later his unit is starting to get close when Rogue because killing again in the San Francisco area. However his pursuit puts him right in the middle of a bloody gang war between the Yakuza and the Triads as the conflict between the two seems to be suddenly and violently escalating.

I ignored War at the cinema because of the negative reviews but when it came on television recently I checked it out – a process which mainly confirmed by decision not to bother with it when I would have had to pay. It is not that War is a bad film (it is not) just that it is quite lacklustre in far too many regards. The story. The plotting has been described by others here as intelligent and complex but I have to disagree. I think it had potential but it is not drawn out as sharp as it needed to be for this and when it needs to be at its strongest (the conclusion) it really fails to execute and just fizzles out. However apart from the reviewer from The Observer, few will have come to this film looking for plot but instead top of the list will have been the desire for action – specifically a faceoff between Li and Statham. Unfortunately this is also only so-so across the whole film. There is action that is noisy but there are no "killer" scenes and I was surprised by how uninvolved and unmoved I was by all of it.

Statham does help the film by having a great, tough charisma. It is a shame that he has yet to have a really strong action film but it is noticeable that he is a constant "good thing" even when other areas are lacking. Conversely Li has gone overboard on his "cool detached killer" character and at times appears to be either asleep or thinking about how long it would take him to spend all the money he has. I did not expect De Niro/Pacino type interactions here but I did think these two would be used off one another better but they were not – their shared scenes did not stick in the memory one bit. The support is OK but unmemorable but it was nice to see Guzman, Kang, Velazquez (My Name is Earl) and Patrick (Six Feet Under). The direction and packing of the film is never more than genre-standard, with pumping music, quick edits and so on.

War is not a bad film, but it is a disappointing one. I ignored the hype so it is not a case of me believing that, but it is a case of me not being happy with a "so-so" film when a good one would not have been so hard to achieve. As it is most of the film is quite lacklustre and, while distracting, there are better films by both lead actors out there to see.

This is a man's film. They really should be selling brats and beer in the theaters for attendees. Anyone going to a film with jet Li or Jason Statham should know what to expect. Going to a film with the two of them and you know there is going to be blood, violence, killing, action, noise, and an eventual winner. If this is not your cup of tea, go see The Nanny Diaries and leave this to the fan boys.

This is not their first film together. They both appeared in The One six years ago. This time they are the leads and on opposing sides - Statham an FBI agent and Li a contract killer. The action takes place in the middle of a Yakuza war in San Francisco.

Fans of Jet Li will not be disappointed. he still has all the moves even if he is 47; however, he does rely more on swords and guns, and other weapons in this film. Statham is Li's equal and gives as good as he gets. The story has an interesting twist which i will not give a clue on as it is a major plot point.

Interesting entertainment by girls in cages at the Yakuza club. I thought that went out in the 60s, but it was a nice diversion.

This film is red meat. It has no pretensions of quality and dialog is minimal, which goes along with the story. If you are a fan, you will be entertained. If you are not, why are you there?

War walks in the footsteps of movies like Kiss of the Dragon, and the Transporter series. It blends martial arts with stylized shoot 'em up action fairly well to create visually stunning action sequences. One of War's strong points, is that none of these action sequences feel too contrived or pointless; most of them advance the plot in some matter. 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. (we never truly know the unit he's a part of, but face it, it's not important). L.A. is seeing the beginning of a gang war between two Japanese gangs, the Changs and the Triads. As he investigates, it soon becomes apparent that an assassin by the name of Rogue (Jet Li) is involved, the same assassin that killed Statham's partner 3 years ago. This story line seems to be the weaker one of two that are explored in the movie. The more intriguing one involves Rogue who seems to be playing on both sides of the playing field. This moves the movie forward as his dark agenda is slowly revealed.

The movie lends itself to some interesting fight sequences, shoot outs and sword fights. There is a brief chase sequence between Statham and Li, but it feels like an afterthought. The action is spread out well over the 100 minute running time, there are no real slow spots and yet unlike many of Statham's earlier works (Crank) it does give you a chance to breathe. We're treated to one or two exciting twists that tie up a lot of the intrigue before the final act. This is where War begins to slip, it is a very successful action thriller for the first ninety minutes, it's the brief closing that doesn't satisfy.

The ending feels forced and leaves you unsatisfied. It's unnecessarily bleak and doesn't really fit with the rest of the movie. They should have cut the final ten minutes of the movie and replaced them with a tighter ending. But, even accounting for this, War still succeeds in being a solid action thriller. Perhaps if it does well we'll be treated to a sequel that will pick up the pieces of the disappointing ending.

War undergoes one of those unnecessarily title changes for this part of the world, naming itself after Jet Li's assassin character Rogue. Billed as "The Ultimately Martial Arts Duel of the Year", the person who wrote that blurb for Rogue Assassin obviously hasn't seen many movies, or martial arts ones for that matter, or is plain lying through the teeth. You'd half expect that pitting two action stars against one another will instantly mean box office success by pulling in fans of both Jet Li and Jason Statham, but it's a downright insult as you don't see any punches pulled between the two for 99% of the time.

Jason Statham actually starred opposite Jet Li in the movie called The One back in 2001, where Li had no decent cinematic opponent to spar with, and had to do so with himself, assisted by CGI. 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. It's no doubt I'm a fan, but in Rogue Assassin, all he had to show off his fighting chops, was a sequence in a ubiquitous teahouse.

But Jet Li fared no better too. His Hollywood foray had been more misses than hits, either playing assassins or cops like in Kiss of the Dragon, or be stuck in roles that require little dialogue and only to look bad-ass, like in Lethal Weapon 4, and Cradle 2 the Grave. Or the easiest of all, forget dialogue and kick around like a mad dog - no offense but that's what he really did in Unleashed (which I thought the notion of it all was rather degrading for an action star). Nonetheless he goes back to a story on warring factions again ala Romeo Must Die, but this time, it's not between boyz in the hood, but putting Japanese Yakuza and Hong Kong Triads in the streets of San Francisco.

As I mentioned earlier, there's nothing martial arts here. Everything is guns, guns and more guns, with a complimentary sword fight put in, but not between the touted leads. The action sequences, from fights to chases to stunts all looked rather tired and rehashed, with absolutely nothing that will make you go "wow, that's nothing I've seen before". Statham and Li share no more than 5 minutes together in the same scene, and only at best a minute bashing each other up, in the dark, in a narrow dock warehouse, before launching into more verbal mumbo jumbo.

Everything here is a caricature, and not even a clichéd revelation saved the movie, when it had expected to, except to give some runway to a possible sequel. War/Rogue Assassin reeks of plain laziness, and plays out like a cartoon. In trying to be sophisticated, having to label locales with "The Triad Warehouse", or "The Yakuza Lair" was just plain hilarious, unintentionally of course. The number of supporting caricatures, some recognizable Asian actors, all fall into the realm of predictability, and the villains are all too smug and too boring. 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. Even in trying to be a little sophisticated in its plot, it decided to allow some plot loopholes to go through an exercise of the implausible, and put in some major character motivation error. But then again, we're talking about cartoony caricatures here, so that probably won't matter. It became a victim of its own star casting - you don't know who you want as the bad guy, and as a result, becomes a below par mediocre, generic action movie that you can stick some other monkeys in and still work.

Nail-biting and violent thriller set in San Francisco, being well starred by the tough , two-fisted Jason Statham to track down a serial killer played by Jet Li who has been targeting Oriental mobsters by murdering them in cold blood . After his partner Tom Lone and family are killed apparently by the infamous and elusive assassin Rogue , FBI agent John Crawford (Jason Statham) becomes obsessed with revenge as his world unravels into a vortex of treason and guilt. As the FBI Agent seeks vengeance who murdered his partner , looking for a mysterious and lethal series killer . Crawford and his colleagues , Goi (Sung Kang) and Wick (Mathew St. Patrick), carry out a relentless manhunt going after the bloody murderer . Then Rogue eventually resurfaces to settle a score of his own, setting off a bloody crime war between Asian mob rivals Chang (John Lone) of the Triad's and Yakuza boss Shiro (Ryo Ishibashi) and his daughter Kira (Devon Aoki) . When Jack and Rogue eventually come face to face, it's a deadly and lethal confrontation and the ultimate truth of their pasts will be revealed. One wants justice, the other wants revenge ! . Vengeance is the ultimate weapon !.

Intriguing and decent thriller movie with noisy action, grisly killings , suspense , chills , car pursuits , crossfire , lots of violence and a surprising final twist . Jason Statham is nice in his usual style as the agent who is dispatched to take down a series murderer. Here Statham is top-notch as Agent Crawford , he plays following his ordinary manners as a tough and two-fisted guy , interpretations that have given him a considerable success, thanks to films as " Revolver" , "Crank" I and its sequel "Crank II" , "Transporter" saga, "The Expendables", "Killer Elite", "Safe" , "Homefront", "Wild Card", "The Mechanic" I and II, "Fast and Furious" 7 and 8, "Megalodon", among others . Along with martial expert Jet Li who previously played a lot of of successful action heroes in films as "Romeo must die" , "Cradle 2" , "Hero" , "The one " , "Kiss of dragon" , and "Danny the Dog" . Big Duo Stars Jason Statham and Jet Li are well accompanied by a good support cast, with full of familiar American/Japanese/Chinese faces such as : John Lone , Devon Aoki , Luis Guzmán , Saul Rubinek, Ryo Ishibashi, Sung Kang , Mathew St. Patrick , Nadine Velazquez , Andrea Roth , Mark Cheng and Kane Kosugi , Shane Kosugi's son , among others.

It contains a brilliant and colorful cinematography by cameraman Pierre Morel , completely shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and San Francisco, California, , as well as thrilling musical score by Brian Tyler . The motion picture was competent and professionally directed by an usual videoclip filmmaker called Philip G. Atwell, at his film debut , delivering action and tension enough . This filmmaker is a fine craftsman who has directed a large number of videoclips and episodes of TV series as The Shield . Rating : 6/10. The picture will appeal to action/thriller enthusiasts . Essential and fundamental seeing for Jason Statham and Jet Li fans.