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The Washington Post; Washington, D.C.; Sep 1, 2000; Jane Horwitz;
Sub Title: [FINAL Edition]
Start Page: WW.38
ISSN: 01908286
Subject Terms: Motion pictures -- -Multiple review
Personal Names: Snipes, Wesley
Walters, Julie
Abstract:
Wesley Snipes plays a covert trouble-shooter for the United Nations in this
implausible but slickly entertaining thriller. He uses everything from martial
arts to sexual blackmail to get world leaders to keep the peace. Not appropriate
for teens under 16, "The Art of War" features little blood early on,
but as the movie progresses, the shootouts, garrotings and bone-crunching fights
become more point-blank, blood-spattering and gratuitous. Other adult elements
include a gruesome pile of corpses (illegal alien stowaways), sexual situations,
a sexually explicit video, nudity, cocaine use, profanity, and subtle ethnic
and racial slurs.
Full Text:
Copyright The Washington Post Company Sep 1, 2000
THE ART OF WAR (R, 117 minutes)
Wesley Snipes plays a covert trouble-shooter for the United Nations in this implausible but slickly entertaining thriller. He uses everything from martial arts to sexual blackmail to get world leaders to keep the peace. Not appropriate for teens under 16, "The Art of War" features little blood early on, but as the movie progresses, the shootouts, garrotings and bone-crunching fights become more point-blank, blood-spattering and gratuitous. Other adult elements include a gruesome pile of corpses (illegal alien stowaways), sexual situations, a sexually explicit video, nudity, cocaine use, profanity, and subtle ethnic and racial slurs.
Offering a sophisticated, if cynical look at how economics can steer international relations, "The Art of War" gets its title from an ancient treatise by Gen. Sun Tsu, about outwitting one's enemies before ever firing a shot. In the movie's convoluted plot, certain Chinese interests are trying to scuttle a new trade agreement, even going so far as to assassinate their own ambassador. Snipes's secret agent must deduce who's up to no good--Chinese organized crime, a Hong Kong business mogul, or a traitorous mole in his own covert team. With its smart repartee and stylish camera work, "The Art of War" needn't have been so bloody.
