As we all know, Jet Li is an amazing martial-artist. You have but to watch
Lethal Weapon 4 to see this. He's amazingly fast. He's got amazing
skill. He's got what it possibly takes to become the next Bruce Lee, if we
let him.

So now we are shown his second American-made action movie. This is on the
heels of the dubbed Hong Kong action flick Black Mask, which was a
decent movie: The story was lacking in a lot, but the action was simply amazing.
Therefore North Americans knew what to expect action-wise.

We've seen Hong Kong action movie stars try to make their way into the Hollywood
action-movie business. Often, though, it's met with moderate success. Jackie
Chan tried to do it with Rush Hour, a fun little romp but overall nothing to
write home about. Chow Yun Fat tried it with The Replacement Killers, an excellent
action movie, but it wasn't quite warmly accepted. We haven't seen this man
do anything really outstanding, action-wise, since. So, with this kind of precedence
we cannot help but expect Jet Li to do just like the others: Moderately well, but
with either a poor product or a somewhat cool reception.

May I just say... Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!

I LOVED this movie! It was great! A fabulous action movie! Certainly, the
plot left a little something to be desired, but that's not the point. The action
is simply amazing. Fast and furious and just plain fun to watch. This is the way
that martial-arts movies should be!

The plot? It revolves around two warring gangs, one Asian and one Black. The
son of the Asian leader is murdered, and so the movie begins. The Asians aren't
happy with the Blacks, and the head of the Black gang wants to become legitimate
once he has gotten around to closing a deal with some NFL moguls. The main plot
revolves around finding the killer of the son (who turns out to be Jet Li's character's
brother) and figuring out what the hell is the big deal about some shady waterfront
dealings. Tell the truth, the love story that the promos and adverts all allude to
is really just a bit of a background thing. This ain't no Romeo and Juliet or West
Side Story. This is a martial-arts movie.

But, the action! As I've said, it was fast and furious, and at times rather painful.
When a shot is exceptionally hard (it happens three times) an ex-ray shot is shown
and we get to see the bone break. Wow. Just watching Li at work is amazing, especially
when he's taught how to play football. You've never seen football played like this
before, and lemme tell ya it was about as impressive as the football scenes in Oliver
Stone's Any Given Sunday, but entirely different.

My suggestion to you? Simple. Go see this movie. It's amazing for action, the acting
is actually quite decent, the plot is a bit above average, and you get to hear Jet Li
utter what has to be the best line in a movie that I've ever heard:

"You killed my brother. That... was a mistake."

Video Re-review
**1/2 out of 5

It has some amazing action sequences, yes, but it also has a lot of story and family
values shit. Now, while this may prove kinda nice upon first viewing, subsequent viewings
suffer the wrath of the Fast Forward button. This is a painful wrath, indeed, for any
movie. This one suffers it quite a lot, seeing as much of the story sequences are of
the family values persuasion, though there are a few interesting ones where plot is pushed
along. Overall, though, it's only good for its action sequences, and so it loses a bit in
the transition and if you watch it more than once. Sad thing, that, but can't be avoided.

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