Review of Art Of War, The

Introduction

Wesley Snipes never quite made it onto the A-List, instead turning out a succession of by-the-book action movies, or playing second fiddle to one of the big stars (Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Tommy Lee Jones etc). Having said that, some of his movies are quite good fun, so I was keen to see The Art of War .

The movie centres on the United Nation`s efforts to seal a trade pact between China and America - which becomes increasingly unlikely following the assassination of the Chinese Ambassador to the UN. Snipes, a UN agent, is framed for the crime and has to disappear to fight his corner and to discover what is really going on.

Video

The video is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and is of a high standard, with no dirt or grain and a stable, crisp image.

As far as the visuals go, the film is very well made with some excellent locations on display, along with some excellent set pieces and special effects. As usual with a Snipes movie, there`s also plenty of hand-to-hand combat. The final shootout is visually stunning, with slow-motion bullets etc - and is very similar to the computer game Max Payne as well as borrowing heavily from The Matrix.

The film is also quite brutal, with plenty of blood and brains splattered around for good measure! Several scenes had me uttering an involuntary "ouch!"

Audio

The soundtrack comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 and I listened to it in both native 5.1 on my own system, and down-mixed to Dolby Pro-Logic at a friend`s house. The Dolby Pro-Logic mix was surprisingly good, with plenty of action from the rear, but of course the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is even better, with excellent use made of all available channels

In fact this film is noisy most of the way through, with gunfire, car chases and numerous other effects as the story progresses, but thankfully, the dialogue is always clear and understandable.

Features

Ho hum, just a trailer on offer here and no making-of to guide us through the impressive visuals. Very disappointing.

The disc is packaged in Warner`s usual horrid snapper case, the inside of which lists the generous 35 chapter breaks.

Conclusion

The Art of War is high octane action entertainment, with plenty fast and noisy sequences and special effects, but it wasn`t quite good enough to keep me interested - primarily as the plot is high dubious.

The film does have its moments, but in between there is major tedium, as the writers try to find something to take us to the next action sequence. Whilst Snipes is the same as ever, I find it hard to take Donald Sutherland seriously nowadays and Anne Archer isn`t especially convincing either. Snipes` sidekick is played very well by Marie Matiko, and the other members of the cast aren`t bad, but can`t help to lift the movie out of mediocrity.

The video and sound are both good, but there are no worthwhile extras, so this disc isn`t very good value.

I`d suggest renting The Art of War out, as it is unlikely that you would want to watch it more than once.