Starring: Jason Statham, Jet Li, Devon Aoki, Luis Guzmán, Matthew St Patrick, John Lone
Director: Philip G Atwell
Scheduled release: Now showing

The problem with being a connoisseur of B-grade action movies is that eventually you start applying the kind of elevated expectations this genre is supposed to guard against. You get so accustomed to, say, a late-summer Jason Statham movie providing more thrills than many of its big-budget counterparts that suddenly Statham and Jet Li co-starring in a chintzy action picture becomes a victim of perhaps unreasonable expectations.

That pairing of Hollywood B-movie titans is neither a team-up nor a battle royale; it actually ends in a low-budget Heat knockoff, with a far larger cast and snakier plot than is warranted by the stars’ specific and unpretentious skill sets. Rogue Assassin begins with FBI agent Jack Crawford (Statham) losing his partner (Terry Chen) to a mysterious assassin called Rogue; so far, so cheesy, so good. But when Rogue (Jet Li) re-appears three years later, involved in a convoluted (or maybe just dull) bit of Asian-mob rivalry between the Yakuza and Triads, momentum falters. Crawford attempts to navigate the underworld and bring his partner’s nemesis to justice, while geeks in the audience become confused by Rogue’s inability to absorb Jason Statham’s mutant fighting powers.

For several long stretches, Rogue Assassin aspires for some kind of cop-show procedural tone, showing us the ins and outs of various shady betrayals and double-crosses as the feds close in on a vast network of baddies. In other words, it’s the kind of thing Michael Mann of Heat and Collateral does so well, and the wrong choice for a movie about a rogue assassin who needlessly kills club bouncers with tiny razor blades. The movie is cluttered with extra characters, presumably to up the potential humanity and/or body count. Statham, usually the consummate grizzled loner, even has a personality-deficient back-up team and an estranged ex-wife.

A few of the side characters have a little pep. B-movie staple Luis Guzmán spreads his trademark chummy vulgarity, and cartoonish-looking Devon Aoki brandishes blades and guns at every occasion, even while placing a lunch order. The film seems to be setting her up for a spectacular final confrontation with one or more of the big action stars, but that moment never comes: the screenwriters startle themselves by creating a non-wife female character and let her drop.

When the boys finally get around to their action, they’re a lot of fun. Statham and Li both remain convincing physical performers and the bloody mayhem around them unfolds with amusingly efficient brutality, although the net effect might be comparable to eating a meal at a cheap roadside dive after a very long day: you take what you can get and you’re grateful for it. This stuff is apparently choreographed by Corey Yuen, but bears little resemblance to the eye-popping, movie-anchoring fights and stunts he put together for either star in movies like Unleashed and the Transporter series.

Still, some more sustained chases and fights, even second-tier versions, would’ve been more than enough to warrant a recommendation. As is, Assassin could serve as entertainment in low-expectation venues – perhaps as part of an ‘American Films of Jet Li’ film festival – but its value as a stand-alone proposition is disappointingly low.

Back when Statham was a no-name supporting character in Li’s The One, an okay smash-up like Assassin might’ve seemed like a natural progression, but their action work since has simply been too entertaining for this one to work. Doubtless Li and especially Statham have more and better B-movies in their futures; sometimes even for second-tier stars, there is no turning back.

Jesse Hassenger