War (2007 film)

War is a 2007 American action thriller film directed by Philip G. Atwell in his directorial debut and also featuring Stage Combat by Corey Yuen. The film stars Jet Li and Jason Statham. The film was released in the United States on August 24, 2007. War features the second collaboration between Jet Li and Jason Statham, reuniting them for the first time since 2001 film The One. Jason Statham plays an FBI agent determined to take down a mysterious assassin known as Rogue (played by Jet Li), after his partner is murdered.

War
Directed byPhilip G. Atwell
Produced bySteve Chasman
Christopher Petzel
Jim Thompson
Written byLee Anthony Smith
Gregory J. Bradley
StarringJet Li
Jason Statham
John Lone
Devon Aoki
Luis Guzmán
Saul Rubinek
Ryo Ishibashi
Sung Kang
Mathew St. Patrick
Nadine Velazquez
Music byBrian Tyler
CinematographyPierre Morel
Edited byScott Richter
Production
company
Lionsgate
Fierce Entertainment
Mosaic Media Group
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • August 24, 2007 (2007-08-24)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Cantonese
Japanese
Mandarin
Budget$25 million[1]
Box office$40.7 million[1]
$27.5 million (domestic DVD sales)[1]
$67.9 million (net gross)

War's working title was Rogue; it was changed to avoid conflict with another film with the same name. It was re-titled as Rogue Assassin in New Zealand,[2] Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Australia, the Philippines, and several European countries.

Plot

During a shootout against Chinese Triads at a San Francisco dock warehouse, FBI agents John Crawford (Jason Statham) and Tom Lone (Terry Chen) stumble across the notorious assassin Rogue (Jet Li), a former CIA assassin who now works for the Japanese Yakuza. Rogue ambushes Crawford and is about to execute him when Lone appears and shoots Rogue in the face, causing him to fall into the water. Rogue's body was never found and he is presumed dead. However, Rogue survives and retaliates against Lone, his wife and his daughter. He kills them, burns down the house, and leaves their three corpses in the ashes of their home.

Three years later, Rogue re-appears, working under Chinese Triad boss Li Chang (John Lone). While working with Chang, Rogue secretly instigates a war between the Triads and the Yakuza, led by Shiro Yanagawa (Ryo Ishibashi). Rogue first attacks a club run by the Yakuza by killing the gangsters and later on the runners in order to recover a pair of antique gold horses, family heirlooms of Chang.

Now the head agent of the FBI's Asian Crime Task Force, Crawford is determined to hunt Rogue down and exact revenge for Lone's death. Crawford's obsessive pursuit of Rogue has taken a toll on his personal life causing him to be estranged from his family. Crawford comes close to catching Rogue in the wake of Rogue's various killing sprees against the Triads and Yakuza, but Rogue always manages to stay one step ahead.

Ultimately, Rogue's actions have gained the trust of both Chang and Yanagawa. Rogue succeeds in killing Chang, but spares Chang's wife and child, turning on the Yakuza. With Chang dead, Yanagawa appears in America, intending to expand Yakuza business operations. However, he is confronted by Crawford and the FBI; Crawford presents Yanagawa with proof that Rogue has betrayed him and spared Chang's family, but Yanagawa refuses to assist Crawford in locating Rogue.

Later, Rogue delivers the horses to Yanagawa personally. Knowing of Rogue's betrayal, Yanagawa captures Rogue and demands the location of Chang's family. Rogue turns the tables on Yanagawa's men and kills them all, and engages in a sword fight against Yanagawa himself. Yanagawa discovers that the real Rogue was killed when attempting to assassinate Lone. Lone in turn surgically altered himself to assume the assassin's identity. Lone reveals that his actions have all been designed to bring him face-to-face with Yanagawa, so he could kill the man who ordered the death of his family. Yanagawa reveals that Crawford was in his pocket that whole time and responsible for leaking Tom Lone's identity and home address to the real Rogue. Angered, Lone disarms and decapitates Yanagawa.

Meanwhile, Chang's wife receives a package from Lone, containing one of the two golden horses that belongs to Chang's family and a message reading, "Make a new life". Yanagawa's daughter also receives a package with the same message and inside the box is her father's head. Lone then calls Crawford as he is packing up his office, asking him to meet him at the dock warehouse where they last made their investigation. Before going to the warehouse, Crawford enlists the help of Goi (Sung Kang), an FBI sniper that aided Crawford throughout the investigation.

At the warehouse, Crawford and Lone battle each other in an intense hand-to-hand fight in which Lone reveals his true identity to Crawford.

When Lone reveals his true identity, a devastated Crawford reveals that it was true that he was working for Yanagawa at the time but had no idea that Rogue was still alive. He was then blackmailed into giving Yanagawa Lone's address thinking that Yanagawa's men were only going there to "rough him up a bit". Ever since, Crawford was angry at himself and wanted revenge against Rogue and everyone else involved in what he thought was his partner's death.

Crawford protects Lone by jumping in front of Goi’s line of sight, but is then shot by Lone. The next day, Lone later drives out of town to start a new life.

Cast

Reception

Box office

War opened on August 24, 2007 with $9,820,089 from 2,277 theaters, a $4,312 average.[3] As of December 2007, the film grossed $22,486,409 in United States and $18,200,000 in international box offices totaling $40,686,409 worldwide. DVD sales totaled $27,507,988.[1]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 14% based on reviews from 58 critics.[4] On Metacritic the film has a score of 36 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics.[5] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B.[6]

Paul Semel of Premiere wrote, "War is like Statham's other actioners The Transporter and Crash -- fun, but not big or dumb enough to be glorious."[7] Joe Leydon of Variety magazine wrote "Quickly devolves into a standard-issue crime drama laced with routine martial artistry."[8]

In 2014, Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films. War was listed at the 93rd place on this list.[9]

Soundtrack
War
Soundtrack album by
Brian Tyler
ReleasedAugust 21, 2007
Length65:09
LabelLionsgate Records

The soundtrack was composed by Brian Tyler. The additional music is by RZA, Mark Batson and Machines of Loving Grace.

  1. "Spyked" – 2:31
  2. "War Opening Titles" – 5:05
  3. "Confession" – 3:05
  4. "Rooftop Pursuit" – 1:44
  5. "Whips" – 2:14
  6. "Swordfight" – 5:16
  7. RZA – "Rogue Cleans Da Hizouse" – 2:15
  8. "Getting Started / Scene of the Crime" – 2:51
  9. Mark Batson – "The Set Up / Mr. Chang Sends Regards" – 2:36
  10. "Shiro Comes to Town" – 3:55
  11. "Bangkok Downtown" – 2:18
  12. "This Isn't Japan" – 2:16
  13. "Cop Hunting / Face to Face" – 2:42
  14. Mark Batson – "Compliments of Mr. Chang" – 0:36
  15. "Rogue's Revenge" – 1:09
  16. "Showdown" – 2:49
  17. "Plans for Retaliation" – 4:00
  18. "Watching the Changes" – 0:45
  19. "Shiro's Estate" – 2:33
  20. "War End Credits" – 5:31
  21. Machines of Loving Grace – " King" – 4:04
  22. "War Opening Titles (Remix)" – 4:54

Production

War was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

References
  1. "War (2007) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  2. Rudkin, Francesca (2008-02-14). "Rogue Assassin". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  3. "WAR". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  4. "War (Rogue Assassin)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  5. "War". Metacritic. 2007.
  6. "WAR (2007)". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on February 6, 2018.
  7. Semel, Paul (August 27, 2007). "War". Premiere Magazine. Archived from the original on October 20, 2007.
  8. Leydon, Joe (August 24, 2007). "War". Variety.
  9. "The 100 best action movies". Time Out. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
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