Customer Reviews

The Art of War III: Retribution

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

"The Art Of War III: Retribution" was a decent movie. Fans of the first AOW & pt2 should check it out!!! Treach is no Snipes, but he does an okay job as Neil Shaw. He does good when it comes to the action scenes, but he could work on his dialouge some more. I gave AOW3 three stars because of Sung Hi Lee. She is really hot in Playboy!!! The beginning of the movie was cool when Neil Shaw stopped the terrorist.

Most people are knockin this movie & my suggestion to them is to watch it again and don't be so critical of every little detail.

The plot of the movie was interesting. North Korea is on a lot of people's minds. The real life clips of the politicans was a nice touch. This movie reminds me of "Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis Of Evil", perhaps because they both share the plot of a North Korean threat.

They shouldn't have called Treach "Neil Shaw" because that was Snipes. They should have gave him another name. Other than that, Treach does a good job of kicking @$$ in this movie & Sung Hi Lee is hot!!!

this is a pretty good movie. garuntee that it's not as good as the first two but still enjoyable.

"The Art of War III: Retribution" is a second sequel of the "Art of War" franchise. This new direct-to-DVD entry, however, doesn't have Wesley Snipes, the star of the previous two installments. Actually, "Retribution" doesn't have many action scenes, either. What you will see instead is just talk, talk, talk between two characters and some forgettable shoot-outs, plus endless, tired Zen master-like voiceovers from Treach (who replaced Snipes) that would quickly put you to sleep.

"Art of War III" revolves around a covert UN agent Nick Shaw (Treach) and his team, and they are sent to Seoul in order to prevent a suspected conspiracy about a nuclear weapon. Also, there will be a UN meeting in three days in this city, so this could be assassination or something. Anyway, Nick Shaw and his partner Jason (Warren Derosa) lost contact with their immediate boss in a very incredible way (you have to see it for yourself), and now they are in big trouble, that's what the film says.

Never mind. Incompetent actions and wooden acting abound, and "The Art of War III: Retribution" becomes an unintentional comedy at the unexciting climax, where the audience would witness the sloppiest security system and the sloppiest baddies in the world. Just in case you are still interested.

After watching Art of war 2...there is really no reason why I would continue to support the franchise, save for my love of movies. I picked this DVD up just to see what direction they took. Surprisingly it was a very good movie for what it is, a hyped up testosterone action flick. Not as good as the first but head and shoulders over the second. In this one Wesley Snipes is replaced by Treach ( Hip Hop fans might remember him from 1980's group Naughty by Nature), this is easily the best film he has ever taken part in. While Treach does not have the acting chops of Snipes, he does sell the character during the actions scenes, and this helps to accept him in the lead. The support in this film is more talented than Treach and this helps the overall quality of the film. Though the writing in this film is a bit formulaic, and sometimes wanting, the director does an excellent job providing clever shots and visceral action. So in short..this one will not win any awards, but if you want to microwave a bowl of explode o' pop, and enjoy a popcorn friendly actioner...this one is for you. If they where thinking of keeping the Art of War franchise alive, this film has taken it off of life support.

Got to see this on Cable TV. Or at least, about ten minutes of it before I began throwing things at the t.v. They really thought this was worthy of putting on film/tape? Uh, no. Big misfire here. Love Treach as a rapper. As an actor, he's a great rapper. Really thought the producers were out of their minds. This "Film", if it could be called a film, has the unique distinction of proving once and for all that rappers should not be acting. Now totally convinced they were indeed out of their minds. Horrible. Pathetic. Moronic. Trite. Abysmal. Puke. Barf. Poopy. There now, I think you get it.

The "Art of War" franchise has produced 2 good, fun films. Wesley Snipes has been largely responsible for how good they are, but there are also smart script-writers and effective directors involved.

Somehow, the 3rd film has run badly off-track. Since Mr. Snipes isn't in it, my guess is he saw the script in advance (they'd have been fools not to ask him), and gave it a big, big pass. Judging from what we now see on the screen, he was wise to do so.

The subject of the film is, generally, illegal arms trading. Namely, selling a nuke to North Korea. The primary focus is a UN-sponsored meeting on the issue in South Korea. The Secretary-General (a woman, which has not yet happened and may not since none of the Islamic nations, which have a vast, unreasoning fear of women, would vote for her) underplays a pivotal role here, and needed to have appeared a lot more.

Unfortunately, the film treats this subject in a somewhat fuzzy manner that obfuscates the seriousness of the issue. We know that the tyrant of North Korea wants a nuke so badly he can taste it. But my guess is that having it would be a prestige item much more than a threat - the Nuclear Club is a very exclusive one. Using a nuke invites retaliation - and North Korea's infrastructure is so fragile that a single hit - certainly more than 2 - would leave the state unable to manage itself. It can barely manage now. (By contrast, even if Seoul is completely flattened, South Korea would still be viable.)

We should mention that the major characters are: Neil Shaw (or Agent #1), played by Anthony Criss (billed as "Treach"); Jason (or Agent #2), played by Warren Derosa; Sung Hi Lee, played by Sung Yi; and the aforementioned Secretary-General, played by Janet Carroll. Criss, who is pushing 49 and doesn't really look it, has had a robust film/TV career and manages to play his role as if he half-way believes it. The dynamic between Criss and Derosa is exactly the same as that between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in "Men in Black" - who gets to drive, who gets the big gun, and so on. It would have helped to play this bit for comic relief, but you're not working with first-rate movie-makers here. Sung Hi Lee is an anomalous character who's found with the bad guys early in the film, but then plunges in to cooperate whole-heartedly to help the good guys.

The story is developed through a lot of shooting and fisticuffs and implausible misses by the bad guys, who can't seem to hit the good guys with a hail of bullets. The fights are too obviously staged. The ultimate mystery here is the identity is the main bad guy. Some red herrings are dangled, but on the precedent of previous films it has to be somebody under our noses. Main candidates: Derosa's and Lee's characters. He is always seem to be a squeaky wheel and she, the sweet innocent, turns out to know her way pretty well about kung fu. Of course, since they're so obvious, the bad guy may be someone else entirely. The Secretary General? Kim Jong-il? Wesley Snipes? I'd tell you, in order to spare you having to go through this thing in order to find out, but there would be the usual bad-movie-masochists who will complain I committed the "spoiler" heresy. Hell, this film was spoiled the moment it went onto celluloid.

Some of y'all will just love the senseless violence. For the rest, avoid this turkey. Sayonara, "Art of War" franchise.

acting stinks... director was asleep... movie is trash... actor isnt qulified
to be on the screen... some body bought his way in...

This is one of the worst movies I've seen. Was the director asleep? The acting gets corny. The main actor is so arrogant that it is unbelievable that he would reach his present level of success. The trainee acts like' he has too little knowledge to be in a secret operative. Why would the gov't have an on-the-job training position like this? The dialogue is simplistic and uncreative. Fortunately, I rented it for a buck at a Redbox machine, so I'm not out much.

I enjoyed this movie it was ok, someone brought it for me and in return i brought it for my son to add to his collection. He says he enjoyed the movie and he had never heard of this movie. I like that fact that I got it at a great price. So thanks AMAZON!!!!!!!!

Exceptionally poor acting, gratuitous profanity, make this movie unwatchable.
At least this is true for the first 30 min, since I could not stand it, and stopped watching.