the art of war' with my boy snipes is better than the sniping reviews. it is a bond flick, but better. this one is pulled off with a modicum of style, a complicated and twisty plot, and a nicely politically plausible scenario. very much like a ludlum novel, you are not quite sure who is good or evil until the very end, and the weary hero works to extricate himself from all geopolitics.
much like geopolitics, the exposition in 'the art of war' is often murky, the plot doesn't careen forward as crisply as in similar fare such as denzel washington's better 'the siege'. nor is snipes' character drawn with as much emotional weight in this picture as compared to his last fugitive exercise in 'u.s. marshals'.
nevertheless this picture succeeds for many reasons, not the least of which is the bravado of the plot in the post-vietnam, post-cold war, post-gulf war trough of spy subject matter. watching this film was intriguing. there was a mix of slightly suspended disbelief coupled with a bit of dramatic tension and a fair amount of action. yet i can see how some folks, just dying for some pure action, pure drama or pure intrigue could lose patience with 'the art of war'.
once again snipes situates himself among a well-casted mix whose performances vary. sutherland is ponderous and bland. archer is snappy yet somewhat weightless (a mere shadow of benning in 'the siege' but adequate here), marie matiko and maury chaykin carry all the emotional water in this flick which is too bad, because in the end we care about characters more than the fate of the globe. then again, what exactly can you expect when the hostage of the film is the geopolitical balance of power?
the humor is right on target and well done. the fight scenes are excellent as usual. the production is high quality. the score is pretty damned good for an action flick.
82%
