For
most Snipes fans, seeing Wesley in a well timed, high impact action is
often all a movie needs to deliver, and for those who have been awaiting
Snipes’s reappearance on the big screen since Blade, the Art
of War just might do the trick. However, despite its high kicking
hand-to-hand fisticuffs, the Art of War disappoints more than it
delivers.
In a no-brainer set-up, Wesley plays Shaw, a secret United Nations
operative who blackmails Chinese government officials to bring China
back to the UN trade negotiations. During the New York summit, the
Chinese Foreign Minister and UN Ambassador is assassinated, and the
crime is pinned on Shaw and his supposed associates, the Chinese Mafia.
The only person convinced of Shaw’s innocence is an attractive Chinese
interpreter. Her support for Shaw, however, places her life in danger,
and thus the two become partners in an effort to discover and expose the
conspirators.
When Snipes is in action, with all of the swift and effortless bone
breaking moves, martial arts wizardry, and signature attitude, the movie
is going just great. Unfortunately, such action scenes are far too few,
too short, and often shot in shadowy lighting that diminishes the full
scope of hand combat thrill.
The premise of shady and complex politics behind China’s acceptance
in world trade holds potential, but ultimately, the story turns out like
a mismatched puzzle board with a few gaping holes. Unconvincing
rationale, unclear characters motivations, and most annoyingly, absurd
action scenes, like the one with men shooting at each other from short
distance and dodging each other’s bullets in ‘matrix’ style, take
away from the kind of invincible and fun warrior spirit everyone expects
Snipes to deliver.
A breath of fresh air whips through for a moment with the hint of
romance between Shaw and his unwilling new ally, but this subplot gets
sidetracked before it’s given a chance to bear fruit. In the end, we
were stunned by the involvement of veterans like Donald Sutherland, Anne
Archer, and Michael Biehn considering the caricatures they portray. And
perhaps, that is a part of the problem. Kung-fu action movies are
generally highly engaging when they stick to simple plots. In the Art
of War, the attempt to develop a larger context in contemporary
world politics fails in almost all respects. We were far too often taken
out of the intrigue and the action thrills because we just could not buy
in.
Still, those few moments of Snipes action charisma running full blast
might redeem the Art of War as a mindless summer distraction
flick.
