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The Art of War
Release Date: December 8th 2000
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Certificate: 18
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Anne Archer, Maury Chaykin, Marie Matiko, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Donald Sutherland
Director: Christian Duguay
Running Time: 117 mins
Do you know who your enemy is?

Neil Shaw (Wesley Snipes - 'Blade', 'US Marshals') is an under-cover agent working directly for the Secretary General of the United Nations (Donald Sutherland - 'Instinct', 'A Time To Kill').

He is both agent and weapon - a critical line of defense for the UN, and his job is so secret that officially he does not even exist.
Unfortunately Shaw wants to retire but his boss (Anne Archer) asks Shaw to bug the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations (James Hong), whom they suspect may be working with a shady Chinese businessman (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) to foul up a US/Chinese trade agreement.

When a group of murdered Chinese refugees is found in a container in New York harbour on the eve of the a summit meeting, it sets in motion a bizarre and mysterious chain of events which lead to the murder of the Chinese UN Ambassador.
Shaw must then go completely underground, in effect vanish from his own life, as he is accused of the crime and needs to avoid both the FBI and the Chinese triads, to solve the mystery and clear his name.

Trusting only a beautiful UN translator Julia Fang (Marie Matiko - 'The Corruptor'), who may hold the key to a global conspiracy of cataclysmic proportions, Shaw attempts to uncover a plot to destroy the UN and stay alive.

'The Art Of War' is just the sort of flash-bang popcorn movie totally suited to action star Wesley Snipes. In the opening sequence, for instance, he scales the outside walls of a hotel to embarrass a North Korean defense minister by broadcasting his bedroom romps live to a crowd on a giant video screen. "I want you back at the negotiating table with the South Koreans tomorrow morning" orders Shaw before launching into an action packed martial arts fight with ministers goons.
The plot twists and double crosses that litter the film may be a little hard to swallow, but if you just sit back and let them pass, you end up with a movie which is supremely entertaining, complete with high quality performances. Director Dugay keeps the fast pace and the action at the top of his agenda withn some fine set pieces including the attack on a police van in central park and a raid on a chinese sex club in a clothes factory

Snipes' lead is totally cool, and he gets solid support from the likes of Chakin, as a comic-relief FBI agent, and Michael Biehn, as another UN agent who likes to quote from The Art Of War by chinese philosopher Sun Tzu...

But best of all is Wesley Snipes kicking some serious enemy butt all in the name of peace

Clayton Everett