ART OF WAR
by Sekou
(New York)

I was encouraged to see this film by an interview w/ Snipes in which he claims, among other things, that he took pains to portray the protagonist as a simple, understated man. Interested in seeing Snipes create a new wrinkle in his standard action-flick fare, I bellied up to the video counter-- only to be sorely disappointed. From start to finish this is the same ol', same ol'-- predictable plot, shallow characters, and a cocky, wisecracking Snipes. Though there are some good scenes, there is nothing in this film that makes it stand out as Snipes implied it would. I look forward to BLADE II, a continuation of the only Snipes action vehicle where Snipes exhibits a significantly different persona-- and still whups a*s.