War (North America 2007)

Jack Crawford (Jason Statham), is an FBI agent in charge of an anti-Asian gang force in San Francisco who discovers that a hitman name Roge (Jet Li), is back in town after 3 years of complete seclusion. The trail is sparked up again by Rogue's trademark titanium shells with depleted uranium slugs. Crawford has dealt with Rogue's antics before due to the fact that he killed Crawford's partner Chang (John Lone), Chang's wife and daughter, and set fire to their home. Crawford is now hell-bent on getting revenge for his partner, so much so that it's cost him his marriage and his relationship with his son. While Crawford and his team hit the streets to find out this killers whereabouts, Rogue is pulling off robberies, and a murder that incites a war between the local Triads and Yakuzas in San Francisco. All the while, he's also a personal "yes man" for local mafia head Shiro (Ryo Ishibashi), and is ordered to help him keep his control over the local syndicates. While cleaning up most of Rogue's handy work, Crawford finds out Rogue has actually changed his face with plastic surgery and his current identity is Victor Shaw (Jet Li). Now it seems that Crawford's back at square one on his revenge tangent, that is until Rogue goes looking for him.

War is undoubtedly one of the worst action movies I've ever seen. One would've thought that "The One" was terrible enough to keep Jason "I play the same character in every movie" Statham and Jet Li from ever working together again. These two have zero chemistry together and I don't buy into the hype of these two together on-screen. The director, Philip G. Atwell's career lies mostly with music videos and he has no real experience in the action movie genre and that definitely shows in War. On the other hand, it doesn't really matter, because War plays out more like a bad drama than an action film. The story is a train wreck that is just so uninteresting you'll begin to question if you even want the over-acting Statham to get revenge for his partner or he'd just be better off callin' it a day. So the story just spins around and around, with the worst part of it being the ending. It comes so fast and abruptly that you'll stare at the black screen waiting for something, anything to help explain what just happened for one hundred and three of the longest minutes of your life. The saddest thing about War is that it seemed to have had the recipe for a solid action movie; revenge always equals plain and simple text-book action. It looks like everyone involved with War doesn't read books. (Converter)

Fearless (Hong Kong/China 2006)

Fearless follows the life of Huo Yuanjia (Jet LI), founder of the Jing Wu Sports Federation. When Hou was little all he wanted was to follow in his fathers (Collin Chou) foot steps. Eventually, he did just that, by taking over over the school and responsibly that comes with it. Now a little older, and only a little wiser, Hou is on the quest to become number one in Tianjin. As his brash tirade continues, he adopts more students that want to one day be as powerful as he is. When one of Huo's disciples is beaten by a rival master, Huo takes it upon himself to get revenge and prove he's the true master...even if it means facing disrespect from the community and his peers. His actions eventually make him lose face and family. So he retreats to the country side to find solace. Soon he comes across a small village, where a local by the name of Moon (Betty Sun) takes him in and cares for him. Moon and her village rekindle the idea of simple honor within Huo. Huo gets his act together and returns to his town and the people that he left behind. He returns to find out there are a few foreign faces that would like to take him out of the game permanently.

The movie is loosely based on true events and life of Huo Yuanjia and his Jing Wu Sports Federation. Jet Li's performance seems a bit up and down, even for the content, but this is never enough to hurt the movie. It takes the fight direction of Yuen Woo-Ping, (who never lets you down) and a little CG coupled together to give you some very intense fight sequences. The direction from Ronny Yu does what it needs to do, and that means showing us the fighting, which he does really well. Also, due to some lofty production, we get some beautiful location shots as well. Other than that, the story moves along in such a way as to just get the viewer to the next fight, but not in a classic "beat'em up" type of way. There is a story here; it's just on fast forward most of the time. So it kind of puts a dent in the story telling aspect of things, but this still remains a very entertaining movie to watch. As everyone knows, this will be Jet Li's final movie about martial arts, which is too bad. There is something about Li and his performances in a period piece that can be described as magical. Legend of Wong Fei Hung, Hero, the OUATIC (Once Upon a Time in China) series, and of course his all time best movie ever: Fist of Legend are all examples of this, and he shines in each one. Fearless is a good movie that does it's best to keep company with the classics preceding it. As his final martial arts film, Jet Li couldn't have done a better job. (Converter)



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Once Upon a Time in China (Hong Kong 1991)

When it comes to Wuxia martial-arts action, Once Upon a Time in China (OUATIC) is considered a true classic and with just cause. You'll have a hard time finding a better example of what Jet Li is truly capable of on-screen (except maybe Fist of Legend, but this is no place to get into that never ending debate). Wong Fei-Hung would've been proud.

The story takes place in 19th century Foshan, with the legendary Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li) coming under the realization that China will no longer be the same with foreign forces (American, British, and French) beginning to increase their presence within the region. He is approached by the general of the Black Flag Army in order to recruit and train a 'militia' of men to protect the area from these potential new threats. Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan) returns from America almost completely "westernized", much to the dismay of Wong Fei-Hung. After being back in China for awhile, Aunt Yee (not really Wong's Aunt) begins to realize how much she loves her country and just how much damage the foreign element is causing. We then meet Foon (Yuen Biao), who is a member of the Chinese Opera who arrives in town only to be harassed by Sha Ho and his gang who are extorting money from local businesses. Foon falls in love with Aunt Yee, but of course she has eyes for Wong Fei-Hung and wants nothing to do with him. Feeling alone and heartbroken Foon finds refuge with Master Yim (Shi Kwan-Yen), a vagabond who wants to defeat Wong in order to claim status as the best martial artist in town. If Master Yim succeeds, he'll be able to open his own school, which people will want to join because Yim will the best. Due to some unfortunate proceedings with the local authorities, Wong is placed under house arrest, which is a perfect time for Yim to make his move. Wong refuses to fight Yim due to his situation and thus everyone thinks Yim defeated Wong. The Sha Ho gang takes up with Yim and promises to help fund the building of his new martial-arts school. To make matters worse, the Sha Ho gang and Yim form the unholy alliance with the Americans (and their guns), who are sending Chinese women to America for slave labor, in exchange for riches and protection against Wong Fei-Hung. After some dastardly deeds take place, Wong Fei and two of his most faithful recruits, Porky (Kent Chang) and Bucktooth So (Jacky Cheung), are off to rescue Aunt Yee and finish off Master Yim.

Even though the story is based on historical events, the plot itself seems rather over-stuffed with ideas coming from every direction. This results in the film running at about two hours and twenty minutes. That's a bit long for a martial-arts movie. However, Once Upon a Time in China tries to tell a deeper story about the changing social and political climate of China at that time with some fantastic fights throughout to keep you entertained, but it really felt like the opposite. Running-time and an overly busy storyline aside, by no means should you pass on OUATIC if you haven't seen it. Even if you could care less about the story being told, the fight scenes alone are worth the viewing. Jet Li is excellent as Wong Fei-Hung. He displays an array of emotions portraying a man who you can't help but think was really someone special. Yuen Biao, as Foon, doesn't really come across as the goofy sidekick character that was probably envisioned at first (which would explain him being replace in part 2), but he does a good enough job, and we all know the boy can seriously throw down.

Once Upon a Time in China is one of those movies that you really can't help but like despite it's imperfections. The story is interesting enough without being boring, and the actors all do a fine job in their roles. The real reason to watch though, and let's be honest here, is to see Jet Li beat the crap out of countless bad guys. If you aren't a fan of the Wuxia, almost fantasy like martial-arts (think Crouching Tiger or House of Flying Daggers), than it might not be your cup of tea. However, you owe it to yourself to watch OUATIC at least once, and chances are it'll be in your DVD collection shortly after. (Lee)

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