War

Teaming up for the second time, Jet Li and Jason Stathem are the opponents in a movie that matches the latest trends in extreme violence. FBI agent Hank Crawford (Stathem) gets in the middle of a war between a Triad gang lead by Chang (John Lone) and a Yakuza family run by Shiro (Ryo Ishibashi), but he really wants Rogue (Li), a Chinese hitman who used to work for the CIA and now does the business for Chang. He also murdered Crawford’s partner and his partner’s wife and young daughter just moments before Crawford arrived with his own wife (Andrea Roth, Dennis Leary’s wife on Rescue Me) and son.

War is pretty much what one expects for a late summer action flick: plenty of action with guns and martial arts smackdowns, cops versus robbers and a bevy of gorgeous babes. In the latter group are Devon Aoki as Shiro’s daughter and number two, Nadine Velasquez (Catalina on My Name is Earl) as Chang’s wife and an uncredited, tall and very well endowed beauty as a hooker who delivers Li’s first payday.

The real hottie in War, though, is the car Jet Li drives throughout: the Spyker C8 Spyder. A Dutch marque not widely seen in the US despite being around since 1914 and having a Formula One entry, you can check them out in person at Spyker of Silicon Valley. However, you better go loaded since the car lists for over $250,000.

The director is Phillip Atwell, moving up to features after making his mark with some high profile rap videos for 50 Cent, DMX, NWA and Xhibit. Atwell does okay, never letting the action slow down and adding flash and movement even in what could otherwise be very talky scenes. The script, from Lee Smith and Greg Bradley, is less exciting though there are a couple of pretty decent twists in the third act; not terrible for the first produced script for either.

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