Art of War
What an excellently made movie. I was prejudiced against Wesley Snipes–no, not because he’s black–don’t be silly. I think it was from his silly role as Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man with Sly Stalone. But then, I was also impressed by him in Liberty Stands Still.
I’ve seen other Snipe films, like Blade, U.S. Marshals, and others, but need to revisit them.
Anyway, Art of War was made in 2000, but the movie cemented it for me with Snipes. He does what he does–and he’s really good at it. Some of the martial arts sequences in this movie are fantastic, and I’m not a martial arts fan. I love his seriousness. I love how he cares, particularly how he cares about Julia Fang, played by Marie Matiko.
Matiko was great too, warm, but with lotza attitude as well.
This is an action film but it damn near came close to being an art film, or should I say, it was filmed artistically. Christian Duguay did a great job of direction. I only know him from one other work, Human Trafficking, which also had Donald Sutherland, along with Mira Sorvino.
But, credit really should go to the DP, editor, art direction, f/x, and sets.
Alot of things I don’t always notice on first pass of a movie. I missed the score on this one. This is ironic, since music is my primary focus, with screenwriting coming second. Well, I notice music supervision more than scoring, because I’m a songwriter, not a film composer.
It pisses me off that I miss things. And it pisses me off that some scores are so effective, they go unnoticed, as they are meant to. I’m torn on this, since in some movies, like John Williams, themes play an integral role in the film. In other movies, scoring is used to heighten the story without detracting from it.
There is a fun scene between Neil Shaw (Snipes) and Robert Bly (Michael Biehn). Biehn is also intense. It’s a fight scene where the two square off and it’s just fun and exciting to watch.
Sutherland does a fine job portraying Douglas Thomas, United Nations honcho. It’s not a big role, but Sutherland plays it tight. I was a little uneasy about Anne Archer, playing Eleanor Hooks, right hand “man” to Sutherland, because I found her too sexy. Well, that’s my problem.
You can cut the story two ways: It’s a bit unbelievable that UN officials would be involved in a plot to thwart a trade agreement between China and America. But then again, I wonder, just how dirty is the United Nations? And the story does draw attention to China/US relations, something we really need to take a look at more in the coming years (to wit, the movie made 6 years ago from the time of this writing).
North Korea is posing a major threat to world security, and where China fits into the nuclear game is controversial and puzzling.
We need to get past the “Triad” depictions of China’s underground and heroin stereotypes. This is a nation of what, a billion people? Certainly there are more stories than drugs or martial arts.
The two main leads in this movie where black and Asian. What a nice change that is.
I’d like to see Snipes in a serious drama, without action, without martial arts. Well, maybe not without action. He’s so serious and so intense. He’s a great action hero. But I’d like to see him “act” more. Maybe he already has, and I just haven’t caught it yet. He’s done a ton of movies since the Art of War.
I’m going to watch this movie again, because of it’s colors and I’ve never seen glass break so artistically before.
I’m still trying to figure out how much of a role the screenplay plays in action movies. Since it’s action, that’s what you’re caught up in, not the story or the dialog, or even the characters, per se. I don’t know how much of the action was created by the screenplay or created during the filmmaking process.
