Director: Christian Duguay
Starring: Wesley Snipes,Donald Sutherland,Anne Archer,Michael Biehn
Did you know that Wesley Snipes made his big acting break when he appeared on
Michael Jackson’s video “Bad”? Since then, his career has taken off like
Michael’s. I actually like Wesley. He makes no pretense of being a good actor.
He knows that he is an action hero. And The Art of War is a thoroughly
predictable fare. He is a good guy. He is usually the only black man in any of
his movies. Heck, there are more blacks in the PGA. He is usually a covert
operative. And he manages to walk among white and Asian people without getting
noticed. Again, I need to stress that he is undercover.
In this movie, Snipes plays a special UN covert operative Shaw who must
defend world peace. Unlike the secretary general, he gets to use some cool
gadgets, weaponry, and his martial arts. Imagine James Bond meets Bruce Lee. The
opening scene takes us to a Chinese party. Some fight sequences and stunts. He
gets injured.
Six months later, his partner Bly (Biehn) catches up with him at a New York
City basketball court. Bly starts trash-talking Snipes. They then play a little
one-on-one basketball. And then Snipes and Woody Harrelson prove that White
Men Can’t Jump and then go rob the Money Train. Whoops. Sorry,
wrong movie. After their one-and-one basketball game, they must do a UN stint to
hear the Chinese ambassador. Guess what? The ambassador gets murdered, Shaw
hears Bly say, “I’m hit. I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Not to spoil
the movie, but the scene was eerily similar to Jon Voight’s character’s
first death in Mission: Impossible.
After all the fire, who is the fall guy? C’mon. I will give you one guess.
Yup. Like the real NYPD, the movie cops find the nearest black man to blame. But
I told you that there was only one in the movie, right? So he must clear his
name, undo the diplomatic tangle between China and the UN, and find the
conspirator(s). Along the way, he must save a damsel in distress. There is
gratuitous violence, nudity, and Snipes with his shirt off. Anne Archer and
Donald Sutherland are in this movie because they were in danger of losing their
SAG membership.
The title is in reference to Sun Tzu’s ancient book, The Art of War.
However, the title has no meaning until the bad guy starts making a literary
reference towards the end. And Wesley Snipes and this movie were thoroughly
predictable. But you want that predictability. I wanted some mindless action
thriller and that’s what I got. The first half was fast. When they tried to
create on-screen chemistry between Snipes and a nameless Asian chick, the movie
began to drag. Rule #1 - let action stars (Van Damme, Seagal, Schwarzenegger,
Snipes) kick butt. Rule #2 - limit their dialogue. Rule #3 - no co-star touchy,
touchy. If you like action movies with no plot, I highly recommend this movie.
If you’d like to see a better interracial chemistry-martial arts flick, try Romeo
Must Die.
