War: why, jason and jet, why? **SPOILER FAVORS**
<rant>
First off, allow me to explain a new term i've just coined - "SPOILER FAVORS". That's right, I'm going to provide spoilers, but rather than alert you to that, I thought I should inform you that I'm doing you a favor. By the end, you'll be grateful, so you're welcome in advance.
The movie was cruising along at a solid state of mediocrity as exactly what i was expecting out of it- some entertaining fight scenes, lots of things that go boom, and the occasional naked woman. Perfectly normal action movie. Sure there were a few cringe worthy acting moments, for some reason there a flash back to the first two scenes about 5 minutes in.... I guess it's in case you forgot, or walked in late... But... the last 15 minutes are just... well... ridiculous. I expect action movies to have a not entirely believable plot, but it just stops making sense.
--**FAVORS**--
Allow me summarize a bit, so you have some context here - the movie starts with Jason Statham and his asian partner at the FBI shooting a bunch of yakuza dudes at a peir somewhere in San Francisco. (I'll get to that.) Statham gets shot, but his partner saves his ass from a big bad assassin by shooting the dude in the face. For shooting him, the Yakuza come after Statham's partner, and shoot up the entire house and burn it down. Upon seeing his partner's house, and the charred bodies they bring out of it, Statham goes into a rage. Since the movie does this hear, I'll repeat what I've told you thus far. (That's right, at this point, we have a flashback to the previous scenes.) The movie started with Jason Statham and his asian partner at the FBI shooting a bunch of yakuza dudes at a peir somewhere in San Francisco. Statham gets shot, but his partner saves his ass from a big bad assassin by shooting the dude in the face. For shooting him, the Yakuza assassin comes after Statham's partner, shoots up everyone in the house, and burns it down.
Okay... that flasback was a little unnecessary - bu whatever. Sweet. We have a perfectly acceptable pissed off FBI vs. assassin film set up. Let' fast forward a bit. Jet Li is introduced as Mr. bad ass assassin, and Statham in his quest to track down his partners killer, has gone a bit mental and lost his wife. He finds the signature bullets the assassin uses, and goes crazy about finding him, so he and his fellow FBI agents go on a mission to track him down. The assassin on the other hand has a lot of mystery around him as he's playing the Chinese Triad gang against the Yakuza and getting them to kill each other off rapidly, for reasons as of yet unknown. Now, before I move on, allow me to point out a complete fabrication in this silm, that I find amazing.
The triad's are based in chinatown - okay, no problem there. That's a place in San Francisco, and believable. Then we have the Yakuza... in... well... "The Yakuza district." I've been to Japan Town... that's basically near the Fillmore, the Richmond (woo! Richmond District, represent!), and Pacific Heights... But I have NEVER heard of "The Yakuza district." If you're going to make up places, make up places for both gangs, if you're going to use real places, USE REAL PLACES. *sigh* Anyhow, back to the plot.
In fact, this getting long, I'll just get to the point. We go through an hour of gun fights, terrible dialogue, titties, and explosions, and we're perfectly content. Then... it all falls apart. It turns out Jason Statham's partner killed the assassin at the house in the beginning after watching his wife and daughter die, and he takes his identity to go on a quest for revenge. Now, his asian partner spoke perfectly good english, where the accent is supposed to have come from, i don't know. This alone was a moment where you say, "WHAT?!" but immediately after, they reveal that it was Statham who was responsible for his family's death because he was working for the Yakuza and gave up his family's location. "WHHHHAAAT?!" so in the last five minutes, you find out Statham's the bad guy, and Jet Li is the good guy, so you've been watching the bad guy for 2 hours. I guess you're supposed to forget that Statham shot a hundred Yakuza guys and tortured more than a few going after the assassin... why? because he felt so bad that he wanted revenge... note that the yakuza, rather than killing statham as well, let him slide and come after them all the time, despite the fact that he at one point worked for them, and thereby was bretraying them? WHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTT?!?! Honestly, I don't know if I've conveyed how bloody confusing and random the end is, I've trieed to explain it as best I can, and as such may have made it seem to make more sense. For that, I apologise.
--**/FAVORS**--
So far the only logical explanation I can come up with for the ending is a very post-modern concept, since the film is largely about betrayal, the writers wanted the viewers to have an empathetic experience by absolutely betraying you. Actually, now that I think about it, THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN!!!! IT WAS SO AMAZING!
</rant>
First off, allow me to explain a new term i've just coined - "SPOILER FAVORS". That's right, I'm going to provide spoilers, but rather than alert you to that, I thought I should inform you that I'm doing you a favor. By the end, you'll be grateful, so you're welcome in advance.
The movie was cruising along at a solid state of mediocrity as exactly what i was expecting out of it- some entertaining fight scenes, lots of things that go boom, and the occasional naked woman. Perfectly normal action movie. Sure there were a few cringe worthy acting moments, for some reason there a flash back to the first two scenes about 5 minutes in.... I guess it's in case you forgot, or walked in late... But... the last 15 minutes are just... well... ridiculous. I expect action movies to have a not entirely believable plot, but it just stops making sense.
--**FAVORS**--
Allow me summarize a bit, so you have some context here - the movie starts with Jason Statham and his asian partner at the FBI shooting a bunch of yakuza dudes at a peir somewhere in San Francisco. (I'll get to that.) Statham gets shot, but his partner saves his ass from a big bad assassin by shooting the dude in the face. For shooting him, the Yakuza come after Statham's partner, and shoot up the entire house and burn it down. Upon seeing his partner's house, and the charred bodies they bring out of it, Statham goes into a rage. Since the movie does this hear, I'll repeat what I've told you thus far. (That's right, at this point, we have a flashback to the previous scenes.) The movie started with Jason Statham and his asian partner at the FBI shooting a bunch of yakuza dudes at a peir somewhere in San Francisco. Statham gets shot, but his partner saves his ass from a big bad assassin by shooting the dude in the face. For shooting him, the Yakuza assassin comes after Statham's partner, shoots up everyone in the house, and burns it down.
Okay... that flasback was a little unnecessary - bu whatever. Sweet. We have a perfectly acceptable pissed off FBI vs. assassin film set up. Let' fast forward a bit. Jet Li is introduced as Mr. bad ass assassin, and Statham in his quest to track down his partners killer, has gone a bit mental and lost his wife. He finds the signature bullets the assassin uses, and goes crazy about finding him, so he and his fellow FBI agents go on a mission to track him down. The assassin on the other hand has a lot of mystery around him as he's playing the Chinese Triad gang against the Yakuza and getting them to kill each other off rapidly, for reasons as of yet unknown. Now, before I move on, allow me to point out a complete fabrication in this silm, that I find amazing.
The triad's are based in chinatown - okay, no problem there. That's a place in San Francisco, and believable. Then we have the Yakuza... in... well... "The Yakuza district." I've been to Japan Town... that's basically near the Fillmore, the Richmond (woo! Richmond District, represent!), and Pacific Heights... But I have NEVER heard of "The Yakuza district." If you're going to make up places, make up places for both gangs, if you're going to use real places, USE REAL PLACES. *sigh* Anyhow, back to the plot.
In fact, this getting long, I'll just get to the point. We go through an hour of gun fights, terrible dialogue, titties, and explosions, and we're perfectly content. Then... it all falls apart. It turns out Jason Statham's partner killed the assassin at the house in the beginning after watching his wife and daughter die, and he takes his identity to go on a quest for revenge. Now, his asian partner spoke perfectly good english, where the accent is supposed to have come from, i don't know. This alone was a moment where you say, "WHAT?!" but immediately after, they reveal that it was Statham who was responsible for his family's death because he was working for the Yakuza and gave up his family's location. "WHHHHAAAT?!" so in the last five minutes, you find out Statham's the bad guy, and Jet Li is the good guy, so you've been watching the bad guy for 2 hours. I guess you're supposed to forget that Statham shot a hundred Yakuza guys and tortured more than a few going after the assassin... why? because he felt so bad that he wanted revenge... note that the yakuza, rather than killing statham as well, let him slide and come after them all the time, despite the fact that he at one point worked for them, and thereby was bretraying them? WHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTT?!?! Honestly, I don't know if I've conveyed how bloody confusing and random the end is, I've trieed to explain it as best I can, and as such may have made it seem to make more sense. For that, I apologise.
--**/FAVORS**--
So far the only logical explanation I can come up with for the ending is a very post-modern concept, since the film is largely about betrayal, the writers wanted the viewers to have an empathetic experience by absolutely betraying you. Actually, now that I think about it, THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN!!!! IT WAS SO AMAZING!
</rant>
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