War (part 2)

Aki:

Nobody really found the original Rogue’s body, right? That should be used in the plot. So Rogue vs Rogue II. No, it’s a comedy.

Aki

I should have been clearer. Rogue, the original, is dead. John Lone killed him, shot the rest of his face away, put his own wedding ring on Rogue’s finger, then burned down his house, so that Rogue’s bones would be taken for John Lone’s body.

Ok, here’s what I missed, and it wasn’t long:

Statham gets a call from new-Rogue. I was wrong in thinking Statham had figured it out, he still thinks Rogue is Rogue. Jet Li tells him to meet ‘Where we first met’ so that part was right in my guess: the movie ends in the warehouse by the docks where it began.

Statham and Jet Li have a terrific fight. Jet Li is not wounded; even having his arm half cut off makes no difference to him! Corey Yuen directed the fight scenes, and they are up to his usual standard of excellence.

At the climax of the fight comes a moment of pause and Jet Li reveals who he is. At first Statham can’t believe it but then he does. ‘Look into my eyes, John. They’re the only thing the surgeon can’t change!’

One more flashback, of when Lone set fire to his cabin. Out on the road he finds Rogue’s car, in the trunk is a suitcase with money, guns, passports and presumably everything he needs to take Rogue’s place.

‘Jesus, Tom, is it really you? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘It was the only way I could get at Shira. But why did you betray us?’

‘They said they just wanted to rough you up for shooting Rogue in the face. I tried to stop working for him so many times. I couldn’t. Can’t you forgive me, Tom?’

‘Tom Lone is dead. There’s only Rogue now.’

Jet Li aims his gun at Statham. There is no forgiveness in him.

But Statham knows he has stationed a sharpshooter with rifle back there. When Jet Li stands up so the shooter gets a clear shot, Statham leaps up between them. Jet Li fires, but the sharpshooter holds his fire so as not to hit Statham; Statham crumples to the ground. The sharpshooter looks through his scope for another shot but Jet Li, Rogue, Tom Lone, is gone.

A final set of shots show Jet Li getting into his sports car, driving off, and driving away across the Golden Gate Bridge.

…

So I was wrong that he had nothing to live for. The sequel is going to feature Jet Li as Rogue (if there is a sequel) but since we only saw Statham’s body on the ground, he might still be alive. I think they cheated there a little bit, and instead of what I guessed (Jet Li would die but not-die) they did the other way, and Statham died, but they can say in the sequel he was just wounded.

I must say seeing Jet Li drive away was not satisfying.

But one other thing I never made clear: we never see the original Rogue’s face. In the warehouse prologue, before he’s shot in the face, his face is in shadows or offscreen. When he comes to kill Tom Lone and family, he wears a mask; probably to cover the half-shot-up face.

So, the only scenes where we see Jet Li and know it’s Jet Li, he is a good guy, though we think he’s a bad guy.

Ah!

So you got the ending right, almost. You liked the movie, though?

The movie is crap! But I like Jet Li, I like Jason Statham, the stunts are good. Moreover, they use a flashy jump-cut music-video style that usually I hate, but I found it worked for me in this movie. I wish I could tell you why or how it worked. Partly I think it worked because the jump-cuts were not in there only to be flashy, but they sped up the storytelling, moving the story along faster. But I think it goes beyond that.

(5 May 2009)