About 2/3rds of The Art of War is a slick, stylish thriller starring Wesley Snipes as a covert agent for the UN. The other 1/3rd (most noticeably the ending) is where the movie falls apart and loses all credibility. Snipes plays Shaw, a covert, top-secret agent for the UN as he infiltrates various events and uses a combination of blackmail and undercover work to procure a unified world with the inclusion of China in an international free trade treaty.

The Art of War has many things going for it - Snipes is almost flawless as the main character as he shows off his martial arts skills along with his usual style. The action scenes are well done - with a little bit of matrix-like bullet action - and not too much firepower. The first use of flashbacks was pretty cool as a way to advance the plot, but the consequent uses of the flashback technique just got old real quick. I enjoyed The Art of War for the most part, but there were a couple times where I could already see what was coming and as you come to expect from movies of this genre, the person you least expect to be the antagonist turns out to be it. The ending was a little to cliched for my taste and when everything is revealed, there's more open holes to the plot than were necessary. With a little bit of script re-writing and a more competent director, The Art of War could have been a great film, but as it is, you're just left with a slick thriller for 2/3rds of the movie and a generally boring, cliched action movie for the rest.

Genres: Action, Thriller
Rated: R - http://www.outermost.net/mra/images/artofwar.gif
Runtime: 117 minutes
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