If you walk into a movie theater showing "War" and expect to be dazzled by some thought-provoking paragon of acting destined to change the way the world thinks about film and culture, you're either an idiot or an idealist. It's called "War" because that's what it is, a bullet festival with some sideshow martial arts.
"War" was designed only to be a brutal, dazzling death picture, and it delivers handsomely. There's scarcely 10 minutes at a stretch that lacks any appreciable action sequences, and the end result leaves more dead Asians than WWII. There are some truly insane displays of gunplay and a handful of inventive deaths (my favorites include a hubcap to the skull). Jason Statham delivers a pretty good performance, considering that this is really designed for pure blood-and-guts glory, and Jet Li is as impressive now as he was in "Romeo Must Die" and "Kiss of the Dragon" (thank GOD he hasn't retired). The plot's also not as simplistic as it needs to be, and it includes several plot twists (yet it never quite seems too convoluted, thankfully).
If you want to see War, be ready for it. Know that you'll go in looking for a mountain of bodies, and you'll get precisely what you ask for. My only real complaint is the relatively abrupt ending-- after the many and close-together action sequences, it downshifts pretty quickly, and leaves you wishing there was still a half hour left.
"War" was designed only to be a brutal, dazzling death picture, and it delivers handsomely. There's scarcely 10 minutes at a stretch that lacks any appreciable action sequences, and the end result leaves more dead Asians than WWII. There are some truly insane displays of gunplay and a handful of inventive deaths (my favorites include a hubcap to the skull). Jason Statham delivers a pretty good performance, considering that this is really designed for pure blood-and-guts glory, and Jet Li is as impressive now as he was in "Romeo Must Die" and "Kiss of the Dragon" (thank GOD he hasn't retired). The plot's also not as simplistic as it needs to be, and it includes several plot twists (yet it never quite seems too convoluted, thankfully).
If you want to see War, be ready for it. Know that you'll go in looking for a mountain of bodies, and you'll get precisely what you ask for. My only real complaint is the relatively abrupt ending-- after the many and close-together action sequences, it downshifts pretty quickly, and leaves you wishing there was still a half hour left.