BEIJING, Aug. 27 -- The teaming of Jet Li and Jason Statham results in a union that's less than the sum of its parts in "War," one of the many entries in the annual late-summer B-movie onslaught.

    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. The film opened Friday without being screened for the press.

    The film works in plenty of the familiar elements, from the tough cop out for revenge to the mysterious assassin on a mission to the usual convoluted plot machinations involving the Asian underworld. When the partner and family of FBI agent Crawford (Statham) are brutally murdered, he vows to get revenge on the mysterious assassin who subsequently disappeared. Cut to three years later, when the killer named Rogue (Li) returns to become involved in a turf war between the Chinese triads and the Japanese yakuzas. About 90 minutes later, the audience finally gets what it came to see, a protracted hand-to-hand combat between the stars.

    Unfortunately, that altercation, edited in the obligatory hyperactive style, is less than overwhelming, as is everything that has come before it. Although there is plenty of violence on display -- including shootouts, car chases and sword battles -- none of the sequences compares in excitement to virtually anything seen in Li or Statham's oeuvre.

    Statham glowers with his usual effectiveness but has little opportunity to show off his intense charisma. And Li, wearing a slight smirk throughout the proceedings, rarely displays the amazing physicality of which he's still clearly capable.

    Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley's screenplay attempts to throw in some character-defining quirks -- the cop is afraid of his wife finding out that he still smokes, the killer has really organized closets, etc. -- to little effect. And the final would-be surprising revelation, involving a pretty extensive plastic surgery job, is too little, too late.

    The supporting cast includes the superb John Lone, here wasted as a crime boss, and Mathew St. Patrick and Andrea Roth, both of whom have been seen to much better effect in their TV gigs on HBO's "Six Feet Under" and FX's "Rescue Me," respectively. One of the film's best unintentional laughs comes with Devon Aoki's ordering some tough guys at gunpoint to get her some salad, fast, with the dressing on the side.

    Cast:

    Rogue: Jet Li

    Crawford: Jason Statham

    Chang: John Lone

    Kira: Devon Aoki

    Benny: Luis Guzman

    Dr. Sherman: Saul Rubinek

    Shiro: Ryo Ishibashi

    Director: Philip G. Atwell

    (Source: CRIENGLISH.com)