User Reviews

When i saw watching the movie i thought it was a good action movie. The story of from this kind of movies aren't always that great but mostly entertaining. I thought it was a good build story of game that jet li played with the jakuza and triades and jason statham's character who seeks revenge of the death of his partner.

The action was cool, story was OK, I would give this movie 7 stars. But then the movie ended and i though "why do they do this again?". Jason's character who turned out to worked for the triades and know of the attack on his partner. This is so clichéd and come out of nowhere. It would be better if the triade guy lied that jason was one of them. And the last scene ended that tom lone got killed just after he found out that jason was not one of them.

but know jason jumped for the shot after telling he was responsible and jet li stepping into his car and drives away, end of the movie. awful ending and ruined the movie for me.

In San Francisco, after the execution of his partner Tom Wynne and his family, the FBI agent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) becomes obsessed to catch the hit man Rogue (Jet Li). Three years later, Rogue reappears with an unknown face in the middle of a war between Japanese mafias Triad and Yakuza. Crawford chases the killer while the mobsters kill each other.

Revenge and Yakuza are usually great themes for action movies. In spite of having excellent cast and budget, "Rogue Assassin" unfortunately does not work due to the weak screenplay that uses a predictable collection of clichés with an absolutely unbelievable twist. When Rogue discloses his identity to Crawford, I was irritated and disappointed with the lack of coherence of the character of the FBI agent. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Rogue O Assassino" ("Rogue The Assassin")

I thought the movie had a very intriguing plot. It was well thought out and held the suspense to the end. Although you can realize that Jet Li is actually Jason Statham's partner the reason for why or how is left for you to ponder till the end. I thought however despite the plot the action was blurred by the constant camera motion that allowed the average person to be unable to appreciate/follow the fights. Lastly, the ending was a disappointment in my opinion. It was straight out of Brokeback Mountain and there was not a final clash between Li and Statham which I think my friends and I would have enjoyed. The movie left me thinking only about how bad the ending was rather than appreciating the plot and the movie prior to the final scene. I thought the movie was very interesting however if you are looking for an amazing action film this one leaves you wanting more.

War is an intense action movie. It's not a classic, but it's certainly enjoyable and pretty awesome. This is the 2nd collaboration of Jet Li and Jason Stathom. I'll say it's certainly better than many of the movies that came out at the same time.

War presents something rare as gold in 'action thriller' type movies: A fairly complex, in-depth plot that is good enough to keep you interested throughout the whole movie. Most films of this genre have simple plots and stories that are predictable and only serve for awesome action. The story of war is deep with enough plot twists to entertain you, but not so complicated that you can't follow along. The main story is the clash between the famous assassin Rogue(Jet Li), and FBI agent Jack Crawford(Stathom).

The acting is average for an action movie. Nothing to dull, but no Oscar-worthy performances either. You get what you expect from each individual, although Jet does pretty well portraying Rogue. As for the action of this action movie, it delivers. War has something for everybody. Fist fights, gun fights, car chases, and explosions are delivered. Jet Li fans may be a little agitated, however, because most of his fights don't come until the second half of the movie. I was expecting more action from him, and was slightly disappointed. His fight scenes were great. I just wish he had more in the first half. As for the final battle between Jet and Jason, it was intense but too short. A much better fight than what we got between them in 'The One', though.

I'd say this movie is renting, or even buying. A good way to spend a couple hours. I give it 7/10.

The Jet Li & Jason Statham urban crime thriller "War" qualifies as one of their worst. Anybody that saw an earlier Jet Li actioneer—the futuristic science fiction epic "The One" (2001)--knows "War" represents the second time that these two action heroes have shared the screen. In "The One," Statham was confined to a secondary role. In "War," however, Statham shares top billing with 44-year old Jet Li, but the two are never on friendly terms. Instead, Statham wants to terminate Li with extreme prejudice while Li sets out to decimate the entire Japanese Yakuza as well the Chinese Triads in San Francisco. Unfortunately, this one-versus-the-other opus never generates enough heat between its trim but grim co-stars. Surprisingly, they aren't allowed to display their marital arts artistry until the end of the movie and the martial arts action scene itself is incredibly lackluster. Legendary marital arts choreographer Corey Yuen of "The Matrix" trilogy doesn't create any cool looking fights or any new gags that have made him one of the top stunt stagers in either Hollywood or Hong Kong. Most of the time in "War," Jet Li relies on an automatic pistol to gun down the opposition without an expression. Sometimes, he wields a mean razor-edged sword and slices off a head, but you rarely see him do anything equivalent to "Kiss of the Dragon," "Cradle 2 the Grave," or "The One." Similarly, Jason Statham—best known for his "Transporter" movies and "Crank"—doesn't rip, tear, or shed his apparel during the fights. Basically, if you march off to "War" thinking it is going to be the eighth wonder of the world where martial artistry is concerned, you are drastically deluding yourself and the end result of freshman director Philip G. Atwell's realistic but slam-bang crime melodrama will disappoint you. Nevertheless, Atwell delivers lots of savage action scenes with a high body count, but "War" never degenerates into a big, dumb action thriller with clever lines or flamboyant fighting.

Essentially, first-time scribes Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley have taken the classic Japanese sword-fighting saga "Yojimbo" (1961) with Toshiro Mufine {later remade as the Spaghetti western "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and even later as 1930s crime opus "Last Man Standing" (1996)in which the lone hero enters a town and wipes out two bloodthirsty crime families by swearing allegiance to each but betraying both until nobody is left alive. The biggest difference is that Smith & Bradley have grafted onto this simple but solid formula another time-honored formula about the two cops that have been partners until one dies at the hands of the mob and the other sets out to wreck vengeance on the evildoers that killed his friend. As "War" opens, we're introduced to two FBI agents in San Francisco. Tom Lone (Terry Chen of "I, Robot") and John Crawford (Jason Statham), are best buds that keep their eyes on the Japanese Yakuza gangsters and the deadly Chinese Triad mob. They are after a notorious assassin named Rogue that nobody can identify because he has plastic surgery every six months and then kills the surgeon to preserve his anonymity. Rogue has a nasty way of going his own way, but his trademark—like The Lone Ranger's silver bullets—is his titanium shell casings that he leaves behind at the scene of his crimes. Our heroes think that they have killed Rogue during the opening shoot-out, but he survives and wipes out Tom Lone and his wife Diane (Steph Song of "The Long Lunch") and their young daughter Amy (newcomer Annika Foo) at their cabin and torches the place. When Crawford hears about the massacre, the bodies have been burned beyond recognition, but he finds a shell casing at the scene that matches those that Rogue uses. Crawford swears vengeance and dedicates himself to killing Rogue. In the meantime, his obsession with Rogue undermines his marriage, and his wife Jenny (Andrea Roth of "Highwayman") divorces him, takes custody of their son Daniel (Nicholas Elia of "White Noise"), and moves out. Three years elapse with no sign of Rogue, and Crawford retrieves a titanium shell casing from the scene of a particularly violent crime scene. When we see Rogue this time, he isn't wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask. In fact, this is the first time that we see Jet Li and he is playing Rogue. He enters a Yakuza nightclub and slashes the throats of the thugs guarding the entrance to the boss's gambling den. The Yakuza boss sends his two Dobermans charging after Rogue. We hear one yelp in pain and the second comes back with an explosives device attached to its collar and blows up its owner. Suddenly, Yakuza killers as well as Triad gunmen start dropping like ten-pins and Rogue is the wrecking ball behind their murders.

Writers Smith & Bradley let this nonsense churn on for about an hour and a quarter and then they pull the biggest switcheroo in screen history that contradicts everything in my plot synopsis. Mind you, they drops hints along the way that something isn't right, but you'd have to have read the script to know how incredibly characters change in the last quarter hour. Freshman director Philip G. Atwell makes his directorial debut with "War," and he does just about everything to salvage this drivel. First, he pares down the action to essentials so the whole thing is over with in 103 minutes. Second, he stages the action as if he were shooting a Miami Vice episode. Everybody drives a cool car. Rogue tools around in a sleek, shiny Spyker C8 Spyder, a handmade all-aluminum convertible equipped with electrically operated single-hinge tilted doors, while Crawford steers a vintage Chevrolet Chevelle SS.

"War" barely makes the grade as a crime melodrama.

This movie I just have to comment on, simply because it left me with such mixed feelings.

First of all, it seemed really well done on a first glance. There were flashy cars, nice outfits, good cinematography. I don't particularly recall the soundtrack, but I guess that's a good point. On the downside, the movie lacked a lot in story and character development. Alright, so it's an action movie, but for the first 95% of it you couldn't care less about where the story is going. The reason for that is that the characters never seem very likable. The main hero (Jason Stratham's character) is just out for revenge and treats his wife and kid bad because of that. While that's just one more reason to dislike the one character you're supposed to identify with, the movie never goes in-depth about it. For example, it never really shows the hero's relationship to his wife getting worse. Instead, they're just divorced all of a sudden. And while there seemed to be enough budget for nice sets and cool costumes, some of the props (especially the "horses") looked like they came straight from a toy store. Also, this movie forces you to realize that Jet Li is simply not a particularly good actor.

But my biggest pet peeve about "War" was that Jason Stratham and Jet Li seem to have traded places. If I watch a movie with those two actors in it, I expect Stratham to shoot a lot of people and Jet Li to perform a couple of cool martial arts stunts. Instead, you get some fist fights with Jason Stratham (some stunt double even does a couple of kicks for him), while Jet Li resorts to mostly shooting people. Why?????

I looked forward a lot to seeing this movie because I liked both leading actors. I was rather disappointed, but had a hard time disliking it despite its weaknesses. "War" is simply so pretty to watch that you're just begging for something cool to happen. And while the story seems like a sad excuse to fill the screen time with lots of dialogue, you are rewarded with a couple of nice action scenes and a good (if foreseeable) ending.

I've grown somewhat detached from Kung Fu movies in the last year or so. Some of these Japanese mafia/Chinese mafia related stories feel so much alike that sometimes it feels like you're just going through the motions, I felt pretty much the same way with Rouge Assassin until the twist actually kicked in. Say what you will about the shaky-cam technique, martial arts movies in general, especially Jackie Chan's movies, are so obviously choreographed, that you no longer feel that the fighting is dangerous and it really does feel more like a dance, Jackie Chan gets off most of the times, since that's how we works taking cues from the late great Charles Chaplin and also since his movies and generally aimed at a PG and PG-13 crowd, but again, most of these types of movies feature fight scenes that feel too much like the actors are doing dance steps rather then fighting. Rouge Assassin's no different.

For the most part, the story's about Jason Staham's character quest to avenge his best friend after he had been taken out by a mysterious hit-man who seems to change his allegiances between the yakuza and triad mob bosses as easily as one changes his sweater.

However, no amounts of Jason Staham-related scenes(his scene where he confronts a Yakuza enforcer in Japanese is cool) can make up such for a generic kung fu movie. But the twist, which mostly likely nobody will see coming when it hits, but careful viewers will probably notice some odd stuff at some point. Believe me, it will change your entire perspective of all the characters involved in this odd conspiracy.

I was also somewhat disappointed by Devon Aoki's performance, who doesn't really do much then looking a little tough, but just demanding a salad to his hench at gunpoint looked a little silly on screen.

The cast was decent, we had Jet Li, once again giving his usual performance and Jason Staham, who has pretty much now cemented himself as a top Hollywood bad boy, gives once again , another of his great performances.

The cast also includes some rising Asian stars, who play their part with competence(save for Devon Aoki), thought the movie seems a little too condescending enough and assume that the audience knows no difference between the Japanese mafia and the Chinese mafia.

It's worth a rental, it's a generic kung fu cop movie like many others before it, but has only one thing that elevates it above everything else. And that's the said twist.

This is a pretty entertaining movie. The action wasn't that exciting at first but once the plot starts to come into the picture, it gets much better. Kind of confusing at times as Jet Li is continually switching sides in this movie and just figuring out who's who is also confusing in terms of the two gangs in the film. The twist in the end is the craziest part of the movie and made the film a whole lot better. Making Jason Statham though a bad guy and his whole reasons for working for a particular organization do not make a lot of sense and kind of ruins the picture for me as it doesn't make any sense why he would avenge his partners death when he knew it would be coming. Overall though a fun movie to watch.

WAR is one of those action-packed gangster movies that you watch and then wonder what just happened. Utilising the cream of talent from the East (including the formidable skills of action director Corey Yuen) this is a tale of the Triads and the Yakuza as they battle for supremacy in America, and the story of a cop who gets in their way. The problem is that it's just a passé, seen it all before film, a slick exercise in bangs and beatings that does the job without ever attempting to be anything other than routine or matter-of-fact.

First-time director Philip G. Atwell was previously responsible for a lot of music videos and his presence is one of the biggest problems the film has. He brings the flashiness, the noise, and the pandemonium to the screen without ever focusing on character motivation or story. In essence, the story is about Jason Statham's search for hit man Jet Li but in reality it's just an excuse for a string of highly stylised set pieces. At least this film is better than the watered down THE ONE, the previous film that paired Statham and Li.

Statham's grown a lot since then, becoming a dependable action hero in his own right, but he's wasted here in a nothing role that allows him to chew the scenery in places and that's it. His character is a walking cliché who shouts his way through action scene and dialogue exposition alike, but around the halfway mark you suddenly wonder what he's doing in this film in the first place: his character has zero point in being here! Jet Li does better in a more nuanced turn but even he's wasted in favour of cramming in as much slick style as is humanely possible.

The supporting cast is a plus, even if the likes of Saul Rubinek and Luis Guzman are wasted in pointless roles. It's good to see Devon Aoki (SIN CITY's deadly little Miho) again, but she has little to do, although John Lone and Ryo Ishibashi fare better as the rival crime bosses. Elsewhere, there are twists galore (including a pretty remarkable one that's somehow fumbled), a lacklustre climax that dispels none of the brooding tension built up between the two stars, and some cool action, although the martial arts are in short supply aside from one outstanding highlight. Not a bad film perhaps, but not something you'd want to see again; for genuine Jet-Li-as-hit-man-thrills, try watching Hit-man.