Movie review- War

I seem to be watching a lot of brain dead films this month. The next one that my wife and I watched was called War.
It stars Jason Statham (the Transporter himself) as an FBI agent taking on the Japanese Yakuza with his partner. During a raid, his partner shoots a man in the face while saving Statham's life. It is possible that the guy who was shot was a bigtime hitman who works for the Yakuza named Rogue.
Several weeks pass by and Statham is on leave and is going to a game with his family and his partner's family. As he arrives to pick up his partner, the house is engulfed in flames and, afterward, they discover 3 bodies- his partner and family. Evidence is left that suggests Rogue.
3 years pass and Rogue (Jet Li) shows up again and is in the middle of pitting the 2 Japanese crime families against each other and Statham vows to bring Rogue to justice.
The action scenes are impressively staged and a lot of bones are broken and blood spilt. Statham and Li are both presences on screen and demand your attention. The script is all over the place with tons of exposition about the battle between the families, but none of it makes sense. Statham and Li are used well, but the supporting cast (Luis Guzman, Saul Rubinek, Matthew St. Patrick, Nadine Velazquez) are all onscreen for 5 minutes tops and dropped. Devon Aoki, who has done her own stunts in Sin City and DEBS, is wasted in her role as the daughter of one of the family heads.
There are several nice surprises in store if you can make it through the rough first hour. The last 15 minutes almost makes up for the rest- ALMOST, but it's a case of too little, too late.
This is a definite recommend for action junkies, all others- beware, depending on your tolerance of these types of films.

film- 4
movie- 6