Review of War (2007) by Thequietgamer — 10 Mar 2016

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.