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Submitted by Sith Lord

2 votes 4.5

All along, Rogue (Jet Li) was working for Shiro, the boss of the Yakuza clan. The killing he was performing against both sides was a means of igniting a war between the Yakuza and the Triads in order to gain trust with the Triad boss Chang, in hopes of getting close to him and to have him killed. Chang’s desire has been to regain some stolen gold horse statues that Shiro stole from him long ago. With some help from Rogue he succeeds in stealing them from the Yakuka, but the war continues to build due to Rogue. Rogue eventually completes his mission and kills Chang, but turns on the Yakuza when he is ordered to also kill Chang’s wife and child. He instead kills his accomplices and helps Chang’s family escape and hide somewhere safe. With his plan supposedly complete, Shiro makes his trip to America.

Crawford (Jason Statham) eventually finds Shiro and informs him of Rogue’s betrayal in hopes of bringing Rogue down as revenge for his murdered partner. When Rogue shows up to collect his pay and to turn over the stolen Horse statues, he is shown the evidence that Crawford presented and is captured and taken away, but manages to escape his captors. The statue that was given to Shiro was a fake and full of explosive gunpowder, which promptly blows up, destroying most of the warehouse. Shiro and Rogue engage in a brutal swordfight and the truth is finally revealed: the Rogue we’ve been following is really Tom Lone, Crawford’s partner who was believed killed along with the rest of his family. Apparently, the real Rogue came to Tom’s house at the beginning to kill him and his family as revenge for shooting him in the face, but Tom was able to overpower and kill him after his wife and daughter were shot. Tom put his ring on Rogue’s body and burned the house in order to fake his death. Using facial surgery, and his similar facial structure to Rogue, Tom was able to assume Rogue’s identity in hopes of getting to Shiro and taking revenge on him for the ordered execution of him and his family. Before killing Shiro, Rogue learns that the insider who worked Shiro all along was none other than Crawford himself, and he was the one who gave him Tom’s address and identity as the FBI agent who shot Rogue. After killing Shiro, Rogue sends the horse statues to Chang’s family to help start a new life, and sends Shiro’s head back to his horrified daughter Kira (Devon Aoki) in Japan.

Rogue then contacts Crawford and they confront each other at the docks were everything started. After an initial fight, Rogue reveals his true identity as his partner. Crawford is naturally shocked and confesses that he did indeed work for Shiro, and that he never thought that they would try to kill him or his family when he informed on Tom. A nearby FBI sniper nearly gets Rogue, but Crawford stops him, only to have Rogue shoot him in the back, saying that Tom is dead and that he is now Rogue. Rogue then disappears.