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The Art of War

The Art of War

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Poor Excuse for a Film
Review: It's final. Wesley Snipes has been type cast. No one can deny that. In this action thriller, Snipes plays Neil Shaw, a covert operative working for the U.S. Government. After years of service, one of his team-mates gets killed and then he is pinned for the death of a high foreign national. Now he is on the run looking for the person who did this to him. This is nowhere near Snipes' best. In my opinion Jungle Fever or Boiling Point show his true acting ability. It is overly violent, using Matrix style matial arts as one of its' the key selling points. I figured out the so-called "mystery" in the first few minutes of the movie. Even with a talent filled supporting cast; Donald Sutherland (Disclosure, Shadow Conspiracy), Anne Archer (Patriot Games), and Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator). This movie couldn't be helped. One to steer clear of it at all possible.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: okay action thriller
Review: Fairly engaging action thriller about U.N. covert operatives trying to salvage a trade agreement with China as various unsavories try to torpedo it. Snipes turns in a surprisingly wooden performance (I've come to expect better from him.) A fair number of martial arts scenes, with some pretty good moves, but the photography is poorly executed so that the fight scenes blow by in a flurry of fists and feet with no real opportunity to see the techniques being used. The primary device for generating excitement involves jumping from great heights and smashing through glass. An inordinate amount of glass is broken in this movie. Still, it moves along briskly, and is never dull.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good action combined with a good plot
Review: The premise starts with a garden variety action sequence but quickly blossoms into a very nice story with enough twists to keep balance with the multitude of action scenes. Though I have to admit I guessed whom Wesley was chasing there were still a couple of nice twists that took me by surprise. Quite pleasantly so I might add.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Helping Red China = good, opposing Red China = bad
Review: I just can't afford wasting my time going back to the DVD and get the exact quotes - and why should I punish myself? Thank G_d I watched it from a borrowed copy. Having to actually pay to watch this would be too painful to contemplate.

I don't intend to discuss the movie's artistic merits, whatever they might be. What deeply disturbed me was the script and the idea this sorry excuse for a flick attempts to promote.

Get this:

- The UN Secretary General is trying to make the UN a 'world power'. He's a good guy and this is good.

- Unrestricted trade with Red China is good.

- Those who oppose it because of China's genocide in Tibet or China oppressing its own people are bad. They are right-wingers too, and what's badder than that?

- Red China's UN Ambassador is a good communist and a good guy overall. He eloquently makes the point that we, in the 'free world' must not dare criticize China for anything for as long as we have 'homeless'.

- The Hong Kong 'capitalist' Chinese is bad and he's an ally of the Triads. Capitalism is bad (see the Triads connection), Communism is good.

- Open trade with Red China is opposed by the right-wingers because China is communist (a good thing) which the right-wingers fear a lot.

- Trade with Red China is in fact a 'democratic' thing, and that's why the right-wingers and the Triads fear it so much.

- The UN's developing a secret army is good, because the UN likes open trade with China.

- The right-wingers, who oppose open trade with Red China are racist too, that's why they are all white and all bad.

- Those who like open trade with Red China are not racist. In fact they are very 'diverse' and incredibly multicultural, which is good.

- The movie ends with the UN guy (a good guy) speech, loudly proclaiming that the UN now stands for things such as 'intervention' and 'aggressive enforcement' of whatever the UN feels like enforcing. And that, at least according to those who made the movie, that is a VERY good thing. Opposing UN intervention or aggression is, of course, a bad, bad, bad thing and only right-wingers would do that.

Does it all appear very confusing. Well, in fact it is. The one thing that's quite clear: if this movie was not financed by Red China's Propaganda Ministry and 'The American One-World Organization', then I just don't know who would have financed such an idiotic piece of propaganda.

My personal advice: don't buy this movie - if you do, you may be financing Red China's oppressing its own people.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Why Does Everyone Hate This Movie
Review: Hey I dont Care what anyone says this movie was really good from the action scenes to the plot changes, it is good so just take my word for it and check it out .

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: the art of war
Review: didnt keep me guessing i guessed the plot ten minutes into the movie

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This ain't Blade, folks
Review: What a disappointment. This is a poorly conceived political thriller. The script is actually the high point, and that's not saying much. Not that the script is terrible, because it's not. I could even forgive the fact that the film has nothing new to offer. (It borrows from James Bond and Mission: Impossible on several occasions.) It's just that this movie is not executed very well. It's also predictable if you're familiar with this genre.

And then there's the action. It's pretty weak. If you're expecting BLADE caliber action you've come to the wrong place. There are these wannabe martial arts scenes that are quick and fail to excite. The rest of the action is strictly by the numbers and not impressive by any stretch.

This movie was blown out the door and released in late August when there wasn't much competition. The DVD release was also given lousy treatment without any features whatsoever. The distributors obviously realized that this movie isn't very good.

I'd skip it. Enemy of the State, Entrapment, any Bond movie, both Mission Impossibles -- blow this away.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Just not that good
Review: This is one of those movies that starts and ends like hundreds of others do. It seems like I had already seen this movie before. The action scenes were just like any other action movie. Fights in moving cars and people chasing each other through buildings in New York City just shouldnt impress anyone who watches action movies anymore. If you want to watch an action movie for the sake of watching an action movie then its not that bad, but certainly not good by any stretch of the imagination.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The True Art of todays Cinema
Review: After hearing very little about this film other than negative reactions from friends, I bought the DVD, and am thrilled with the film and the pressing. Director Christian Duguay has super charged a sometimes confusing plot with lots and lots of action, gunfire, chases, explosions, you name it - it's here. There is very little "down time" in this movie. The visuals are stunning whether at the very top of a high skyscraper, in a nightclub, or on the street great effort was spent in getting it right. Turn off the sometimes overpowering surround sound and view it once, twice, any number of times for the pure joy of detail, color, and the essence of mood, rain, darkness, it's all there. So the acting at times is stretched, the plot confusing, the visuals are worth the viewing. Actress Marie Matiko (from The Corruptor) breaths fresh life into this film. She is headstrong, determined, vulnerable at times, always moving staying up with the action, creating action and enhancing what is happening to her and around her. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa who first came on the scene in a very memorable performance in "The Last Emporer" performs the "perfect" villian, smooth, evil, premeditated, you won't forget him. As to the others I'll let you be the judge. Just order it, play it, study it, and enjoy "The Art of War".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: NOT THAT BAD OF A FLICK !
Review: BUY THIS MOVIE IT'S WORTH THE MONEY TRUST ME ON THAT.GOOD ACTION AND DEATH SITUATIONS HAPPEN ALL THE TIME.


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