War

FBI Agent Jack Crawford (Statham) is obsessed with avenging the death of his partner murdered by the notorious assassin known only as Rogue (Li). As Crawford sets out for revenge, the elusive trigger-man sparks an all-out War between Asian gangs—the Triads and the Yakuza. When Agent Crawford and Rogue finally do meet face-to-face, the ultimate truth about their past will emerge. (Stacey Pendry)

Special features include up-front previews; three commentary tracks: one with Director Philip Atwell, the second with Writers Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory Bradley, and the third is an audio trivia track; a nine-part featurette The Action Of War (71 minutes); a two-minute gag reel; three deleted scenes; the Scoring War featurette (nine minutes); and additional previews. Additional supplements on the Blu-ray Disc include the 72-minute featurette The War Chest, the Yakuza Fighter Game, and a Bookmarks option.

The anamorphically enhanced 2.37:1 DVD can show a somewhat hazy picture. Black levels are solid, but the entire image can have a somewhat foggy appearance. Shadow delineation is fairly good. Whites occasionally can bloom, but details in the brightest portions of the image can look good. Resolution is somewhat lacking, although there are times when the picture can look very nicely detailed. Fleshtones generally look accurate. The image can look digitized and pixilated at times, but edge enhancement is not much of a problem. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc shows a similar picture quality, with solid black levels and decent shadow delineation and somewhat blooming whites. Resolution isn't as good as on the better high-definition releases, but, again, there are times when the imagery can be quite detailed. (Danny Richelieu)

The Dolby® Digital Surround EX™ 5.1-channel soundtrack features an extensive use of the surround channels, often to the detriment of the front stage. The surround stage can be completely overpowering, with levels occasionally reaching as much as 20 dB higher than the fronts. Even in more quiescent scenes, the surrounds are still at higher levels than the fronts, generally becoming a distraction. Music is mixed heavily into the surrounds, as are atmospheric effects that can leave the soundtrack sounding unnatural. Dialogue fidelity is good, and it generally is never lost in the fray. Imaging in the surround stage is impressive, but the distraction of the mix can be too much to handle. The uncompressed, 7.1-channel linear PCM encoding on the Blu-ray Disc provides a noticeable improvement in fidelity and dynamic range over the DVD's encoding (which is also included on the BD), and the surround channel levels are encoded at much more appropriate levels. The Blu-ray Disc's encoding is a marked improvement over the DVD. (Danny Richelieu)