Film Review: The Art of War (2000)

There are many films made quarter of century ago that simply can’t be made today. Reasons for that may vary – change of fashions or social mores, but in some cases it has mainly something to with the politics which is incompatible with what is considered “proper” today. One of the more telling and predictably obscure examples, at least for Hollywood and the rest of Western world, is The Art of War, 2000 action thriller directed by Christian Duguay.

Plot begins after Canadian diplomat Douglas Thomas (played by Donald Sutherland) has crowned his decades-long quest for world peace with the post of UN General Secretary. Aware that diplomacy alone can’t achieve those aims, Thomas uses special top secret UN department led by Eleanor Hooks (played by Anne Archer) to conduct surveillance, blackmail and other covert activities against all those that could bring world closer to war. The best of her operatives is Neil Shaw (played by Wesley Snipes) who is given the task to check on Chinese ambassador Wu (played by James Hong) and discover whether his connection with controversial tycoon David Chan (played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) might lead to diplomatic crisis that threatens trade deal between China and USA. Seemingly routine operation ends tragically – ambassador is assassinated, Shaw’s team is wiped out and Shaw himself, being an operative of organisation that officially doesn’t exist, becomes the most convenient suspect. Shaw becomes pursued both by FBI agents led by Special Agent Frank Capella (played by Maury Chaykin) and Chinese triads. The only key to proving his innocence is Julia Fang (played by Marie Matiko), Chinese interpreter whose testimony might point to real culprits.

Basic premise behind The Art of War goes contrary to anything major Western politicians, media and Hollywood actors have been preaching in past few years – peace is more valuable than war, diplomacy is more useful tool than bombing people and US government policies, instead of bringing benefits of democracy to the rest of the world, are solely motivated by its selfish economic interests. Such views were heretical even during the premiere, which might explain why Duguay’s film was torn to shreds by most US critics (and it would have fared even worse if released after 9/11). On the other hand, the film at non-US markets because such views, that some might describe as anti-American, would, thanks to invasion and occupation of Iraq, become more popular only later.

Seen without its potentially incendiary political context, The Art of War represent solid piece of action cinema. Christian Duguay shows his good skills as cinematographer and handles number of action scenes in very effective manner, helped a lot of by Wesley Snipes’ superb martial arts abilities. Script by Wayne Beach and Simon Barry, on the other hand, isn’t much to write home about apart from politics. Some of its “surprise” twists can be guessed by more experienced viewers after 15 minutes. General impression is improved by the work of the cast that include Maury Chaykin, character actor who appears to have fun playing conventional character for a change. Somewhat unconventional finale is also quite satisfying. The Art of War didn’t fare very good at the office, but those who stumble on it now would find it not only entertaining but also quite relevant for today’s world. In 2008 Wesley Snipes repeated the role of Neil Shaw in direct-to-video sequel The Art of War II: Betrayal, which was followed by 2009 film The Art of War III: Breach in which Snipes got replaced by rap artist Treach.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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