When you sell a movie on the basis that "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein," even a minimal spirit of fair play requires that Abbott & Costello and Frankenstein, you know, actually meet.
But in this turkey, sold as "Jason Statham Meets Jet Li," Statham and Li have only two scenes together and exactly one fight. That fight is only about two minutes long and ineptly photographed, and part of it takes place with Li under a big black net. He could've been anybody, and probably was.
After a reasonably lively opening scene, it takes about a year for anything else to happen, and too often what happens involves neither of the actors we came to see. When Li does materialize from time to time, he's usually shooting people. Who wants to see Jet Li shoot people? Statham, on the other hand, is generally found talking. Who wants to see Jason Statham talking?
There are other absurdities, of course -- such as Tom Lone's decision to resurrect himself as a hit man who's about four inches shorter and has a heavy Chinese accent, which he retains even when speaking with the former partner who betrayed him. (Unless we're meant to believe that his accent was surgically installed when he had his face remodeled.) But that sort of thing is expected in this kind of movie, and I could easily have put aside any amount of silliness if the payoff had been there. But it just wasn't.
Very disappointing.
But in this turkey, sold as "Jason Statham Meets Jet Li," Statham and Li have only two scenes together and exactly one fight. That fight is only about two minutes long and ineptly photographed, and part of it takes place with Li under a big black net. He could've been anybody, and probably was.
After a reasonably lively opening scene, it takes about a year for anything else to happen, and too often what happens involves neither of the actors we came to see. When Li does materialize from time to time, he's usually shooting people. Who wants to see Jet Li shoot people? Statham, on the other hand, is generally found talking. Who wants to see Jason Statham talking?
There are other absurdities, of course -- such as Tom Lone's decision to resurrect himself as a hit man who's about four inches shorter and has a heavy Chinese accent, which he retains even when speaking with the former partner who betrayed him. (Unless we're meant to believe that his accent was surgically installed when he had his face remodeled.) But that sort of thing is expected in this kind of movie, and I could easily have put aside any amount of silliness if the payoff had been there. But it just wasn't.
Very disappointing.