Once we heard that Jet Li ("Fearless," "Unleashed," "Once Upon a Time in China") and Jason Statham ("The Transporter" series, "The Italian Job") were going to star in an action movie together, we were stoked. Li and Statham previously appeared together in "The One," but due to budgeting and time conflicts they didn’t get a chance to duke it out — much to my disappointment and, I’m sure, to others as well.
The story goes like this, "After his partner is killed by ‘Rogue’ (Li), the infamous assassin who has recently set off a bloody crime war between two rival Asian mobs, FBI agent Jack Crawford (Statham) starts a deadly game of cat and mouse to settle the score." Being fans of kung fu grips, pool ball kicks, and jaw-breaking fists of fury, Senh Duong and I (Phu Bui-Quang, programmer extraordinaire moonlighting as an entertainment reporter) thought this would be bigger than all five "Kickboxers" and four "Bloodsports" combined. Our adventure started when we had our very own diligent Jen Yamato contact Lionsgate to set up a set visit.
The plane we were supposed to take got struck by lightning. Luckily, we weren’t in the plane when that happened, but that meant we were stuck at the airport for more than twelve hours. Not the auspicious beginning we were hoping for. When everything was sorted out, we got on an alternate plane and arrived in Vancouver near midnight. We missed our rental car pickup due to our late arrival, so we took a taxi to our hotel. After unpacking and a bite to eat, we retired to our beds to prepare for the long day ahead.
In the morning, we met up with the movie’s publicist, Barbara Chomos, and she drove us to Ballantyne Pier, where the movie was shooting that day. As we walked into the building, the inside was nothing like a storage facility. A "Yanagawa Motors" sign greeted us. The place had been converted into a car dealership which showcased some really sweet rides like a Pininfarina Ferrari, Lamborghini, C12 LaTurbic, and C-8 Spykers, along with Honda Runes and Confederate Hellcat motorcycles. According to Chomos, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are the only two who have Confederate motorcycles on the West Coast. The car dealership also doubles as the Yakuza boss’ base of operations.
The scene we saw being shot involved Jet Li‘s character Rogue and Ryo Ishibashi as Shiro, Yakuza boss and the main baddie in the movie. In the scene, Shiro invites Rogue into his sword-decorated office for a talk. During their conversation, Rogue throws down a steel suitcase onto Shiro’s table. What do they talk about? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out!
On the second day, we saw the lovely Devon Aoki in action as Kira, Shiro’s ruthless daughter, attempting to intimidate Rogue. She leans in to whisper some words into his ears which I’m pretty sure were not sweet nothings. Meanwhile, another couple is deciding whether to buy a Ferrari or Lamborghini. A while later, Kira’s henchmen come into the room to escort Rogue out of the office.
In the next few days we’ll be posting up our interviews with the director Phillip G. Atwell, action choreographer Cory Yuen, actress Devon Aoki, and actor Jet Li. So enjoy!
