|
|
USA Today; Arlington, Va.; Aug 28, 2000
Andy Seiler
Sub Title: [FINAL Edition]
Column Name: MOVIE REVIEW
Start Page: D.4
ISSN: 07347456
Abstract:
[Christian Duguay] (Scanners II and III) tries to goose this dud any way he
can, mostly by slavishly imitating John Woo's most outrageous stylistic trademarks.
He renders serviceable action scenes incomprehensible by rapid-fire editing
and inane shots of flying pigeons and other irrelevancies. Normand Corbeil's
hideous score is punctuated by everything from bombastic operatic excerpts to
watered- down hip-hop, quieting down only for distracting sound effects.
[Neil Shaw]'s complicated yet dopey mission is to make sure that the USA and China forge a trade agreement by thwarting a cruel and cunning Hong Kong businessman and numerous nefarious others who are bent on sabotaging it. This means that Duguay gets to traffic in the kind of inscrutable Asian stereotypes most often associated with old Fu Manchu movies.
Full Text:
Copyright USA Today Information Network Aug 28, 2000
Entertainment
The art of war may be difficult to master, but the art of suspense must be even more challenging. The proof is director Christian Duguay's "thriller" The Art of War ( * out of four), a Wesley Snipes vehicle.
Duguay (Scanners II and III) tries to goose this dud any way he can, mostly by slavishly imitating John Woo's most outrageous stylistic trademarks. He renders serviceable action scenes incomprehensible by rapid-fire editing and inane shots of flying pigeons and other irrelevancies. Normand Corbeil's hideous score is punctuated by everything from bombastic operatic excerpts to watered- down hip-hop, quieting down only for distracting sound effects.
Snipes, poker-faced throughout in a one-note performance, plays Neil Shaw, a gadget-happy spy in the James Bond mold. Shaw is a covert agent so deeply classified he doesn't officially exist, working undercover for -- get ready -- the United Nations.
Shaw's complicated yet dopey mission is to make sure that the USA and China forge a trade agreement by thwarting a cruel and cunning Hong Kong businessman and numerous nefarious others who are bent on sabotaging it. This means that Duguay gets to traffic in the kind of inscrutable Asian stereotypes most often associated with old Fu Manchu movies.
Despite the premise, you won't learn anything about international trade from this movie -- not that you'd want to. Even China's human rights record and the plight of illegal immigrants trying to get to the USA are throwaway plot devices.
Donald Sutherland, as a UN honcho, delivers his lines so soberly that it appears he's been brainwashed into thinking he's in a much better movie. Anne Archer, as his assistant, guarantees that the proceedings won't get any better with stiff line readings that emphasize every cliche.
The Art of War takes its title from Sun Tsu's ancient Chinese handbook of combat philosophy. But the book is best known in Hollywood as the strategy manual that superagent Michael Ovitz used to pass on to his staff.
Maybe it worked in the agents' offices, but it clearly does not translate to studio soundstages.
Perhaps the next time these filmmakers make a movie, they could intensely study a more useful philosophic tome: The Art of Alfred Hitchcock. Now there's an art worth mastering. (Open nationwide; did not screen in time for Friday review. Rated R for strong violence, sexuality, language and brief drug content.)
[Illustration]
PHOTO, Color, Jan Thijs, Warner Bros.; Caption: But is it 'Art': Wesley Snipes
plays an agent in The Art of War.
