The Artless War

"The Art of War"
Overall Rating: *


Some people hate action films. "The Art of War," exhibiting every problem the genre is notorious for, provides a clear example why.

"The Art of War" opens in Hong Kong on New Years Eve, 1999. There, Shaw (Wesley Snipes)--a James Bond-like secret agent working for the U.N.--is attending a party on top of a hotel. Unlike the revelers, Shaw is not there to celebrate the "new millennium"--but rather, to spy on a North Korean general. The general has ended peace talks with South Korea, but Shaw promptly finds proof that the general is spying on the U.S, and, additionally, that he is having sex with teenagers. Shaw then uses this information to blackmail the general back into negotiations.

That mission, however, has nothing at all to do with the plotline--at least, what little plot there is. Basically, the movie sticks with the "best and loyalest agent is framed" formula. Predictably, Shaw--though everyone is either out to get him, or at least unwilling to help him--is able to hold his own. Also predictably, you should have suspicions about who the villains' real mastermind is about five seconds after meeting this person. This predictability is only part of the film's unoriginality. Several sequences seem almost stolen straight from "True Lies," "Entrapment," and various James Bond films, only to be awkwardly grafted into "The Art of War." Beyond these recycled elements, there is no plot. Shaw bounces from action sequence to action sequence almost at random. Nobody seems to have examined whether the final cut made sense. For instance, Shaw is able to find Julia (Marie Matiko) because he knows where she's going to be ambushed by the villains--though how he knows where and when to find her remains unknown. Nor does the movie offer any explanation of how Julia knew about an underground sex club; not that the club really matters, other than getting a few more naked women and guns (the latter when the police raid the place) on screen, I couldn't figure out any reason why Shaw and Julia went there. It was around here I decided that logical analysis of this movie was totally futile.

The logical gaps in the plotline might not be as bad, were there any likable characters. Sadly, aside from Julia--who seems to be an innocent victim--most of the characters are odious. Considering how Shaw treats her, I can think of two reasons why she protects Shaw at every opportunity and eventually falls in somewhat in love with him: stupidity, or Stockholm syndrome. Beyond keeping Julia handcuffed at nearly every opportunity, Shaw also beats people up without provocation--and this is the character we're supposed to like. As a general rule, the kindest thing you can say about most of the characters is that some of them are smart enough to be Machiavellian. So much for sympathy.

To give the film some credit, there are some good stunts. The one that comes to mind immediately is a sequence where Shaw manages to save everyone in a diner from a bomb--planted by a nameless villain in an awkward attempt to kill Julia. These well done scenes are few and far between, however.

Generally undermining the stunts is the cinematography. Many shots are underlit. Others are sped up to the point you can't follow them. One really confusing flashback sequence further muddles the picture. There are even a few bizarre camera angles to make sure every possible problem happens.

"The Art of War" is definitely not family fare. It has graphic violence, full frontal nudity and graphic sex scenes, considerable strong language, and on screen drug use. Throwing in that it's bad cinema, you really have everything that parents might want to protect their children from.

Sun Tzu must be turning in his grave--Hollywood stole his title, and stuck it on a really bad action film. As for this "The Art of War," there isn't really a full-fledged war, and there definitely is no trace of art.

Title: "The Art of War"
Release date: August 25, 2000
MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: *
Aprox. run time: 117 min.
Director: Christian Duguay
Writers: Simon Davis Barry, Wayne Beach
Stars: Wesley Snipes, Anne Archer (plays Hooke), Marie Matiko

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/ArtofWar.htm
Added to blog site: 7/26/09