PRO:
It's a complicated plot, but one that leaves plenty of room for everything a fan could want: gunplay, swordfights, brutal mano a mano fisticuffs, motorcycle races, car chases, Japanese gangsters eating sushi off of topless women, and that old standby, a decapitated head in a box. -- Ken Fox, TV Guide
MIXED:
There are few cinematic crimes more heinous than making a boring action movie. Sadly, that's what the first hour of Triads-versus-Yakuza thriller War is. [Then] along comes a plot twist so ingenious that it almost redeems the rest of the flick. In fact, you kinda feel bad for the twist itself, which deserved a better home. -- Marc Bernardin, Entertainment Weekly
CON:
War is like Statham's other actioners The Transporter and Crash--fun, but not big or dumb enough to be glorious. -- Paul Semel, Premiere
Quickly devolves into a standard-issue crime drama laced with routine martial artistry. -- Joe Leydon, Variety
In spite of a late-game adrenaline surge, the hoped-for fireworks between Li and Statham never quite materialize. -- Nathan Rabin, The Onion (A.V. Club)
The action sequences are shot in close-ups and with such rapid editing, it's nearly impossible to find a sense of rhythm let alone follow what's happening. --Toddy Burton, Austin Chronicle
Routine crime thriller. -- J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
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. --Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Most regrettably, War squanders the considerable merits of its leads. -- Andy Webster, The New York Times
Perhaps this movie would have been better off if it starred Steven Seagal and Tom Arnold. -- Michael Ferraro, Film Threat
War ties itself in knots trying to bring something new to a stale formula. It's never painful to watch, but that's only because it provokes no feeling at all. -- Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times
A kind of dumbed-down, souped-up action thriller in a quasi-Lethal Weapon mode. -- Jason McBride, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
If you want to see Li and Statham in an underwhelming martial arts film, rent The One instead. Li talks considerably more in that movie, but at least he punches a lot of people out. -- Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
Fun here is fleeting. -- Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Offering neither the enjoyably preposterous auto-heroics of the Transporter movies nor the lithe, legible athleticism of even second-tier Hong Kong thrillers. -- Jim Ridley, LA Weekly
Sources include: metacritic.com
