The Art of War II: Betrayal (2008) Reviews

• C'mon... it is entertaining!

  p-stepien2009-08-24

  It ain't no masterpiece or even great action flick, but all in all this is a Wesley Snipes bad-to-da-bone thriller roller-coaster with a couple of interesting twists. In the end a satisfying experience. Wesley Snipes returns as Neil Shaw, now an ex-special operative, who earns his dough by consulting Hollywood action flicks. The money is good and leaves enough time to hone the body and martial arts skills. The good life ends, when Shaw receives word of Mom, cross-dresser, special op, mentor and teacher, being killed in a freak robbery. But was this really an accident? Shaw teams up with Melina Cruz, the out-of-marriage daughter of Mom. The plot thickens, when his friend and employer Garret, an actor with his sights on the US Senate, is subject to a botched assassination attempt. Yes. It has flaws, especially the overusing of the shaky cam, but hell... so does 90% of movies nowadays. Also SFX are a bit iffy, but that shouldn't lower the satisfaction from watching the flick. Definitely on a lower level than the original, but all in all I did feel entertained and don't really feel the need to nitpick. Wesley Snipes stays fit and is appealing to watch, no matter how appalling the said role. This one however wasn't even half-bad and Snipes carries the movie decently. Forgettable, passable, but in the end not a total waste of time, if you want to chill. That said I did watch this one straight after "Brutal" (2007), which makes it seem a masterpiece in comparison.

• Wesley Snipes Means No Budget These Days...

  homecoming82008-10-16

  Wesley Snipes is to this day still a qualified action-star, movies like Passenger 57, Murder at 1600 and the Blade Trilogy made him great. The Art Of War was also a decent action-flick which co-starred Michael Biehn(Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss). On the action-level, it certainly delivered with a great twist at the end (and some good action as well). Art of War II co-stars Lochlyn Munroe, a comedy actor who has had some excellent roles in "Dead Man On Campus" and "Scary Movie". The story has nothing to do with the original, so it was purely a marketing-trick. Think of this as Snipes' former direct-to-DVD movies (Steven Seagal has some of these too) so the budget is limited, just like the acting, the story and so on. Like Seagal, Snipes is also years away from his glory-days. And you can tell.. A dull story, bad camera-work, lame characters and so on. You can skip this one, even if you love action-films. I still haven't seen The Marksman with Wesley Snipes, but judging by this painful mess, I am not going to bother. Watch Passenger 57 once again instead..

• Even if you are a hardcore Wesley Snipes fan...I suggest caution

  harshalizee2008-08-21

  Wesley Snipes' movies aren't exactly groundbreaking material, but the first Art Of War was a pretty good action movie even if it was a bit generic. The new Art of War movie is a total disaster. I don't even know where to start. The plot is thin and incoherent at best. Both the direction and camera angles are amateurish or even worse. The entire cast was at best platonic.Some scenes are shot so badly, you wonder whether it was directed or just some homemade video slapped into the movie. Also, the makers did a pathetic job of trying to pass off Canada as L.A. The only 'good' thing about this movie is that you might end up laughing uncontrollably at their miserable attempt at making a movie.

• awful - don't watch this movie its a real let down.

  awarlock002008-07-12

  Dude, Art of War the first movie was awes0m. This art of war 2 is crap, doesn't even come close to the first movie. It's like wesley snipes couldn't find a decent writer or any funding to make this...it could easily be some cheesy action flick from the 80's. Corny dialogue, cheap action, bad acting. You're seriously better off watching Zombie Stewerdess Vixens part 9 rather than this wannabe action flick. Cmon snipes, u were Blade ffs! i mean tommy lee jones could make a better movie than this, and thats sayin something. If you paid money for this movie then go slap yourself, you are now officialy one of the masses. This is lowest common denominator, worse than made for TV, on par with cheap B grade film script, production...etc

• Waste of Money

  ryan-12372008-07-14

  Wesley Snipes would have been better off using the money to make this movie to pay his taxes. The original Art of War was decent yet part 2 is absolutely horrendous. Its like watching a train wreck. Snipes tries to act which is never a good thing. His best movies are where he does very little acting and has very little dialog with a lot of action. The Art of War: Betrayal, is a worse than the typical Snipes vehicle and is headed straight to DVD. Maybe Snipes can watch it in prison and learn from his mistakes. The film is obviously shot in Vancouver, BC (to escape US taxes) with a few scenes filmed in Washington State however the story is set entirely in LA. The cinematography is decent (overly trendy and often too techy) however the plot, dialog, acting, directing and casting are all horrible. There are so many ludicrous moments in this film its sad. One of the worst is at the beginning where Snipes' character is being paid as a subject matter expert on a Hollywood film. Snipes' character offers a line of critical advice on an action scene and then swaggers off scene while the entire crew looks at him in awe. If you are looking for a highly implausible, totally unbelievable and predictable film with a lot of bad acting(aka your typical Snipes film) I would still recommend you look elsewhere for mindless entertainment.