Starring Wesley Snipes, Anne Archer and Marie Matiko, The Art of War is an action movie with a few surprises and heck of a climatic gun battle. Snipes stars as Neil Shaw, who along with the other members of his team, Bly and Novak (played by Michael Biehn and Liliana Komorowska) are part of the United Nations' Special Operations Section. Really, I think they are the only special ops members in the UN, working for Eleanor Hooks (Anne Archer), assistant to the Secretary General of the UN, Douglas Thomas (Donald Sutherland). There never seems to be a mention of other ops teams, and their team is highly under cover, as not even the Secretary General officially knows that they exist.

As an example of their work, the opening of the movie has Shaw infiltrating a Hong Kong party to celebrate the Millenium. By stealing some information and using some incriminating video, Shaw and his team coerce the South Koreans to return to the peace talks between North and South Korea (the talks being conducted under the auspices of the UN). Shaw then has to make a daring escape, getting shot in the process. So it seems the UN team conducts missions that promote the UN goals of world peace and understanding (raising some questions about the ends justifying the means).

Six months later, Shaw has almost recovered from his gunshot wound and is contemplating retiring from special ops. Hooks convinces Shaw to do one more mission. The UN is currently holding trade negotiations to open up China to the rest of the world. Chinese Ambassador Wu (James Hong) has been dragging his feet in the negotiations and Hooks wants Shaw's team to bug Wu during some banquet. Shaw and team get in as television reporters and bug Wu, but Wu is assassinated.

Shaw spots the assassin and gives chase, a chase which ends with Shaw being led into an NYPD ambush, where he is arrested. Shaw refuses to talk to the FBI and the only other eye witness, Chinese interpreter Julia Fong (Marie Martiko) keeps saying that Shaw is innocent. But Shaw is still blamed for the assassination, and being freed by the Chinese Triad doesn't help his cause. Meanwhile someone is threatening to reveal the existence of the UN special ops unit, so Eleanor Hooks has her hands tied and can't help Shaw.

With Julia Fong's help, Shaw has to find out who assassinated Ambassador Wu, while trying to stay one step ahead of FBI Investigator Frank Capella (Maury Chaykin) who wants to arrest him, and the Chinese Triads who want him dead. There is a lot of gunplay, explosions, shady dealings, double crosses, and just a little bit of sex.

What did I like about this movie? The concept of a UN Special Ops team. The United Nations is a big and influential organization. Regardless of what anyone might think about its effectiveness and real power, there are probably enough people with influence to train and equip such a team. Not for the kind of jobs seen in this movie, but real intelligence work.

I really liked the climatic gunfight. Two people in the wide hallway outside the elevators of the UN building shooting silenced automatic pistols at each other at a range of a few feet. The lights are out, bullets ricochet from walls illuminated by the streetlights visible outside the front of the building. Just a bit of CGI thrown in to enhance the action without making the CGI the focus of the scene. It's well done.

I think most people will enjoy The Art of War. It's not going to be a classic, but it's a nice change of pace if, like me, you've been watching too many dramas and romances lately. Wesley Snipes continues to be in good action movies, and if you've liked his previous work you'll like this movie too.