Metacritic Film

War

Starring Jet Li, Jason Statham, John Lone, Steph Song, Nadine Velazquez, Kane Kosugi, Andrea Roth, and Devon Aoki

MPAA RATING: R for sequences of strong bloody violence, sexuality/nudity and language

Lions Gate Films
Action  |  Suspense/Thriller
103 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters August 24, 2007

After his partner is brutally murdered by the infamous assassin Rogue, FBI agent Jack Crawford vows to find the elusive killer and personally avenge his partner's death. But Rogue proves untraceable until three years later, when he resurfaces to ignite a bloody turf war between Chinese mob leader Chang and Japanese Yakuza boss Shiro. Eager to capture Rogue once and for all, Crawford leads his team of crime specialists headlong into the conflict. But Crawford's thirst for vengeance jeopardizes his professional judgment, and as the violence escalates, Crawford finally comes face-to-face with his enemy to discover that nothing about Rogue or his plan is quite what it seems. (Lions Gate)

WRITTEN BY
Lee Anthony Smith
Gregory J. Bradley

DIRECTED BY
Philip G. Atwell

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

36 / 100

Critic Reviews

67 Entertainment Weekly Marc Bernardin
There are few cinematic crimes more heinous than making a boring action movie. Sadly, that's what the first hour of Triads-versus-Yakuza thriller War is.
63 Premiere Paul Semel
War is like Statham's other actioners "The Transporter" and "Crash" -- fun, but not big or dumb enough to be glorious.
63 TV Guide
It's a complicated plot, but one that leaves plenty of room for everything a fan could want: gunplay, swordfights, brutal mano a mano fisticuffs, motorcycle races, car chases, Japanese gangsters eating sushi off of topless women, and that old standby, a decapitated head in a box.
50 Variety
Quickly devolves into a standard-issue crime drama laced with routine martial artistry.
42 The Onion (A.V. Club)
In spite of a late-game adrenaline surge, the hoped-for fireworks between Li and Statham never quite materialize.
40 Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton
The action sequences are shot in close-ups and with such rapid editing, it’s nearly impossible to find a sense of rhythm let alone follow what’s happening.
40 Chicago Reader
Routine crime thriller.
40 The Hollywood Reporter
Lacking even the galvanizing action sequences that would have compensated for suffering through its formulaic plot, this is a thoroughly forgettable exploitationer that will not enhance its stars' resumes.
40 The New York Times Andy Webster
Most regrettably, War squanders the considerable merits of its leads.
40 Film Threat Michael Ferraro
Perhaps this movie would have been better off if it starred Steven Seagal and Tom Arnold.
30 Los Angeles Times Sam Adams
War ties itself in knots trying to bring something new to a stale formula. It's never painful to watch, but that's only because it provokes no feeling at all.
25 The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason McBride
A kind of dumbed-down, souped-up action thriller in a quasi-"Lethal Weapon" mode.
25 San Francisco Chronicle
If you want to see Li and Statham in an underwhelming martial arts film, rent "The One" instead. Li talks considerably more in that movie, but at least he punches a lot of people out.
25 Boston Globe
Fun here is fleeting.
20 LA Weekly Jim Ridley
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Offering neither the enjoyably preposterous auto-heroics of the Transporter movies nor the lithe, legible athleticism of even second-tier Hong Kong thrillers.

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