Ms. Amused

Jason Statham so far has made a career out of making action flicks (either as lead or part of an ensemble cast) that are extremely watchable for me. In this day and age of endlessly recycled and “lets make things go boom” action movies, this is a big deal for me.

In the first 10 minutes, I’m thinking to myself that perhaps he’s finally missed the mark because it starts right out into a heavy gun fight scene and it’s hard to give a damn about anyone because you don’t know who’s fighting who and why.

But it’s all set up and then we see the basis for justice as per the tag line and then I was engaged.

I don’t often watch Jet Li movies but I really should because he’s excellent at establishing a real presence for his character with few words.

I did have some problems with the storylines.

Problem 1: My understanding of Japanese culture, Shiro should be carrying an eternal grudge that he has only a daughter for an heir. Instead, he’s very American in being proud of his daughter and her ability to be his heir. Plus Devon Aoki was rather wooden in her performance. I saw her “acting” her character whereas everyone else WAS their character.

Problem 2: Crawford (Statham) gets all bent out of shape over his partner Tom being killed. Yet his reactions in the tea shop when his new partner is killed seem suppressed. Yes I know he does kill the guy who shot him but the same level of angst isn’t there.

Problem 3: The ending is a anticlimactic. The final confrontation scene ends too quickly and the subsequent dénouement feels disconnected from the intensity of the revelations we just had.

The reasons to watch it anyways out number the cons.

Jet Li is awesome.

Jason Statham is a great conflicted cop.

Good balance of action/fight scenes to story telling.

Fresh twists on common stories.

And did I spy the latino actress from My Name is Earl, playing Shiro’s wife? Yep that is Nadine Velazquez!