Action Kung Fu films are primarily a genre that should be judged on other terms: Story (to at least to some extent), buildup ( to heighten expectations for the final battle), stunts (the more dangerous the better), choreography (the fighting must be cool to look at) and the climax ( the villain must be disposed of in a manner that will satisfactorily settle things once and for all, with maybe enough room for a sequel). This film, unfortunately makes the grade only in buildup and a few stunts.

War, a glorified by the numbers tale of a cop (as usual hard nosed Jason Statham) out for revenge against an Asian hit man (a stoic Jet Lee)in the midst of a gang war. The film takes advantage of a great gritty setting - the streets and nightlife of San Francisco. But all but ruins it with a lot of headache inspiring jump-cut editing and cinematography. The director also feels the need to edit so quickly that we don't get time to really take in anything beyond the most basic plot points. In other words this could be a much better film, but from what we can manage to make out it's just mediocre

The real disappointments here lie with the fact the you don't get much of a payoff in the end. Our two arch nemeses only collide in the end and it lasts for only one sub-par minute. Unfortunately we spend the bulk of the film wasting time with perfunctory characters trying to give insight into some kind of cartoonish version of a crime world that does nothing to advance the plot. We get unnecessary flashbacks, boring dialogue and a few topless women for the manimal in us. And even with some well paced chase sequences you really don't get enough bang for your buck in the end. If you're going to make a paint by the numbers Kung Fu Actioner, you've got to color the numbers, don't expect the audience to paint them for you.