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\tWar is director Philip G. Atwell's Hollywood feature debut, after cutting his teeth on hip-hop music videos – experience that translates onto celluloid in the form of flying bullets, swords and fists, punctuated by dramatic explosions, fast cars, and some very beautiful women.<\/p>\n
\tJason Statham reprises his US accent – until he shouts, that is – as an FBI agent who is hell-bent on bringing mysterious mercenary Rogue (Li) to justice for killing his partner. This personal vendetta unfolds within a larger war on the streets of San Francisco, as the Yakuza's hired gun begins to play his paymasters off against the Triads, while staying one step ahead of the authorities.<\/p>\n
\tSharp dialogue has been dismissed at the expense of sharp swords and sharper suits. Jet Li hardly says a word but his actions speak volumes as the corpses mount up. This is an action film, and a violent one at that – the bloodshed matches an abattoir staffed by accident-prone hemophiliacs. The obligatory twist in the denouement suggests that there is a moral buried somewhere beneath the body count: the effect of violence, the reasons for it and the desire to avenge it, rips apart every relationship in the film. In this age of pared-down anti-heroes – see Bourne, Bond and Shooter – War is a welcome return to the genre of the anti-villain. <\/p>\n