User Reviews

A very poor film with som appalling acting! Statham rescues it to some degree, but not enough to ever want to see it again. Avoid!

War is a film with an unintelligible plot, very basic characters and not very abundant action scenes. In short, a disastrous film.

Statham and Li's action-thriller suffers from not fully embracing the more fun elements of it's B-movie nature. It takes almost an hour to get to the action we are waiting for. It's a little too plot heavy. Something that's really only a problem because our leads go so underdeveloped. There are also problems with the logic behind events. Like the scene where Statham is magically able to deduce who the dirty cop behind the gunning down of Yakuza thugs is. I like the different flavor the focus on Asian crime syndicates brings to the mix. It's a nice change of pace from your typical street thugs and mafia types. It kind of brings an interesting question to the table though. Why is War set in San Francisco? Bringing all of these Triad and Yakuza members stateside serves no other purpose than allow for a white actor to be marketed as the lead in order to appeal to an American audience. With so much of the architecture and locales appearing distinctly Asian, the U.S. setting feels wildly out of place. Especially since Statham is barely in the movie at all. They could have just as easily trimmed down his part, cast his character as Asian, moved the setting to Japan or China, and spent more time fleshing out Li's role as his is the one so crucial to the film as it's his increasingly questionable actions that will keep viewers interested right up to that incredibly satisfying big twist that almost makes everything worthwhile. When the action finally ramps up things get much more entertaining. There are all the katanas, shout outs, and chases you could want. Li and Statham have managed to stand out as actions stars thanks to the remarkably fast physicality they are able to show off in fight sequences. War makes good use of both of the actor's abilities and allows them to dish out some bloody deaths. So the film has some cheap thrills that make things more entertaining in it's second-half, and overall the first-half isn't terrible. Some questionable writing and half-baked characters bring things down, but the energetic violence and stellar reveal help bring some life to the mix. It may only hover slightly above the realm of mediocrity, but War can still manage to entertain the action movie fans out there who are more concerned with star power and some decent punches thrown as opposed to genuinely fulfilling writing.

Not the best but good .

10 for having Jason Statham in 0 for giving us a weird story. In the end I dont understand anything about the story who was who and what was what? Just watch it for the fighting scenes.

Reasons to see WAR WAR kicks ass, and you should see it a lot of times, for these reasons: Jason Statham yelling at people, and then kicking ass. In other words, being himself. Jet Li killing a guy by kicking him in the **** that's not his best kill. Random girls getting nude for no reason. Ninjas. Just when you think this movie couldn't rock any harder, they put Ninjas in the movie. A twist ending that would make M. Night Shawhocares *beep* himself. A car chase every 10 minutes. There's even one with motorcycles. Violence. Lots of it. Guns, blades, blood, kungfu, decapitations, the bases are covered. -Jet Li and Jason Statham fighting each other. It's as epic as you might think. So, in conclusion, if you, 1. Like things that are awesome. 2. Have a pair of testicles. 3. Need to see a movie that rocks for a change. 4. Are a human being. ...than WAR is for you.

War is lacklustre in many regards, with the storytelling, characterisation and acting leaving a lot to be desired. You could forgive this little B-movie for these shortcomings if it managed to entertain in other ways, but generally War just isn't enough fun. The action is all competent, and both the Li/Statham car chase and their close-quarters fight at the finale is well-handled, but the set pieces are over too briefly, and are surprisingly infrequent for a film of this type. It's also disappointing that a film that pitches Jet Li and Jason Statham, two of the most talented martial artists currently working on film, against each other and doesn't give them many opportunities to demonstrate their considerable combined talent - in most scenes they are reduced to taking pot-shots at each other rather than getting up close and personal. Aside from a couple of stand-out set-pieces, and Statham giving off his usual gravelly charm, War is a largely dull affair, with a flimsy plot, terrible acting and staggering cultural insensitivity. For a film like this to work, it needs something extra - whether it's more memorable and stylish action, a bit of humour thrown in or a better script, and it certainly cannot take itself as seriously as War does.

As expected, It was a solid action flick that was worth watching for Li and Statham alone. The twist at the end was a little expected but still worked out good. It was ok but not as good as I expected it to be.