The Art of War II: Betrayal (2008 Video) User Reviews

C'mon... it is entertaining!

[p-stepien · 5/10 · 24 August 2009]

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.

Exactly what you expect

[originaliko · 5/10 · 29 October 2008]

I don't know why people are giving this movie such a bad time. It's exactly what you expect of this kind of movie. It's an average movie worth watching if you don't pay to much for it and have some time to kill.

The acting is average, the plot is OK, almost a test case for this movie genre with very bad people wanting to kill the main character. Their some plot hole and some situation turnaround. Nothing too dramatic, just what you expect. It's look exactly like a Wesley Snipes movie and his fan will (have ?) probably enjoyed seeing him fight once again.

I've seen far worst movie than this one.

What a waste of money and time.

[giomanombre · 3/10 · 1 January 2009]

I knew this movie was a straight to DVD movie when I first saw it. The camera shots were obviously amateurish and it looked like a home-made video changed to DVD.

It seems I have to look at this board again, next time, before I rent a DVD. It's just another cliché action movie with an incoherent plot and even if you take your brain off it still delivers far short.

This teaches me one lesson. Before renting a DVD, stop by 'Internet Movie' database first before wasting your money renting a B, or Z quality movie.

I rate it three stars because in all honesty, I did see the movie from beginning to end, and was hooked to see what is going on -- but it still felt that I was looking at garbage quality material and felt like I just wasted my time.

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

[harshalizee · 2/10 · 21 August 2008]

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.

[awarlock00 · 1/10 · 12 July 2008]

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-1237 · 2/10 · 14 July 2008]

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.

Pure Entertainment

[fredfontein-1 · 22 April 2009]

Sad to see so many bad reviews. I give this film a seven out of ten.

Sure the film has a cheesy intro, and sure if you ponder too long the plot lacks credibility on many frontiers... but thats what makes many of the twists and turns so unexpected.

The acting is to be expected, and some of the sf action scenes are over the top... but then there are battles that are scarily realistic.

The switching of the realism and the ridiculous gives the film a charm.

I had this film in my possession for a long time and I discarded it purely based on IMDb ratings. I'm glad I watched it.

Ignore the bad reviews and get entertained.

This film has everything from poor to great.

terrible. awful. wasted my money.

[powtail · 1/10 · 28 August 2008]

Let me be perfectly clear. I'm 24 years old and I've never written a review for anything in my life. I've seen movies and used multiple products that I feel were terrible and did not deserved my money, yet I never felt like writing or complain about them. But this movie is so HORRIBLE and BAD! it really fueled this comment. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WATCHING THIS MOVIE. IS BORING and THE PLOT IS MEDIOCRE. I truly wasted my money and my time. Hopefully I did the world some good warning some people of this tragedy. You've been warned! I bought the DVD thinking the movie would be at least half as good as the first Art of War. I'm so disappointed with the production and Wesley Snipes role. I did not expected a blockbuster movie but at least a decent showing. I was wrong.

The Art of making a lousy movie on tight budget!

[Volken · 2/10 · 11 November 2008]

Perhaps you like or perhaps you hate the first Art Of War. However, considering limitations of this genre, what Christian Duguay presented from his creative side is truly fantastic.

Superb dosage of action. Action mostly intelligent at that. Cinematic side of the first one is exceptional and truly atmospheric, while sound treatment was of the same caliber. Well collaborated efforts with fine results. It is very clear to anyone who has seen the first part; that story and the movie itself, never really anticipated further conclusion; nor it required any sequel for that matter.

This could be any "of the shelf" action movie with Wesley and with title that would less embarrass both Wesley and the rest of the collaborating crew. I wont even path into this story. Just awful ! Technical and visual side of this movie is incredibly ambivalent. From time to time I had a feeling of watching a TV movie or high packed TV commercial. A few nice shoots, but what remains is almost vaccinated from cinematic experience. Wesley, I like you, always did. But please, learn the art of choosing the Sun Tzus among writers, directors and casting! And please, don't be cheap on production like this!

Worth Watching Once.

[Pratik112 · 6/10 · 6 September 2008]

Wesley Snipes is backing action in this action / thriller genre movie.

An agent goes to attend his martial arts tutor's funeral after he is informed of his death. But afterwards, he meets his daughter, who informs him that her father was murdered because of him and his job. The agent, however, begins to dig into this when a friend of his, who is a politician and is aiming to become a senator, starts helping him only to realise that all is not what it seems.

Starring Wesley Snipes, Lochlyn Munro, Athena Karkanis, Winston Reckert, Scott Heindi and Michael Ryan, the movie is directed by Josef Rushnak and is written by Jason Bourque and Keith Shaw.

This is an action packed movie all the way through – from the beginning, which makes one think what has happened, till the end. There are moments, regarding flashback which makes one remember certain scenes fro the 1970's TV series, "Kung Fu, which helps the story to move on. The only minus points for this movie is that it is predictable but on the other hand, it does have some good action sequences.

Conclusion: A good action thriller, which is worth watching at least once.

Paycheck job movie for all concerned

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 2 September 2008]

Wesley Snipes character from the first film is retired. However when a friend is blackmailed and another friend is killed he's drawn back into thee world of espionage.

Good looking, but uncaring sequel could have worked had anyone cared, unfortunately no one seemed to with the result its a disposable thriller that isn't bad but isn't worth the time it takes to watch it. The script isn't the problem here since there are some nice twists, the problem is the cast who sleep walk through it all especially Snipes. I'm forced to ask if Wesley Snipes was so hard up for money that he took this just to get cash to pay for his legal bills? Its enough to make me dislike the man and his movies completely. Clearly it was done for the money, hopefully it won't make any and we won't get another film in the series.

I disagree with the previous comments.

[rogerbee · 8/10 · 23 August 2008]

I just finished watching this movie and it was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the camera work, Wesley Snipes did an awesome job. Watch the movie and you'll see what I am talking about.Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't matter where the movie was shot. And what does his legal problems have to do with any movie? Plot twists and tweaks were common, and I thought the script was well written.Pay particular attention to the wardrobes, not terribly overstated, yet very believable. If you've ready anything about the actual "Art Of War" by Sun Tzu, you'll see a lot of it in this movie. It was actually written in the 6th Century BC ,consisted of 13 chapters and was a military treatise. Yet a great deal of it applies even today.

cool action movie

[WongFury · 6/10 · 14 August 2008]

This was a cool flick to watch, it has nice action, good fights scenes, all that was missing was a car chase, not as good as the first one, but it was still entertaining, it was better the Wesley Snipes last movie the contractor. I really don't agree with the other comments, it really wasn't that bad some people over exaggerate on the time the feel that they wasted watching a movie at the same time if it was so bad why you sit through all of it?, the story was kinda all over the place but it did hold enough of your interest to carry on somewhat, the first Art of War was probably a better story than this, if this movie had a little more better production value this would have been near on screen quality.

Wow. What happened to Wesley?

[moviemaker73 · 1/10 · 17 August 2008]

I got this movie thinking it was going to be as good as the the first. Wow was I surprised to see how WRONG I was. The first Art of War was a good movie. The story line was good. Camera action was on point. Directing was good. Acting was OK. Now this movie was missing all of that. The camera shots looked like the camera man didn't know how to use the camera. He kept on moving pass the shot he wanted, then kept going back to the original shot. Camera kept jumping. Don't know if they meant to do that or not. Directing could of been better. The script could of been so much better. They should of re-read the script before they shot. If you guys want to see a good Art of War, watch the original

Is this is how Wesley is dealing with his taxes by making this film....hahahahahahah crappy movie!!!

[Dream_seeker · 3/10 · 12 August 2008]

'Art of war' with Wesley Snipes back around 2000 was a pretty damn good movie; even though it was lack of plot but a lot of cool action sequences and a very attractive Marie Mateko it made the original film a interesting popcorn flick; Now eight years, and a couple of night flights away from the IRS later...Wesley continues his character of Neil shaw in a very damaging sequel of a pretty damn cool movie...this is what happens when you use very bad camera actions, lack of acting, character, and surprising enough not continuing the relationship between Neil and Ms. Fang's character from the first movie..oh did i mention this is filmed in Canada and not in Los Angeles (where the direction of the movie was suppose to be taken place but not due to Wesley's escaping the law...haha that's funny every time i hear it) the result is a very poorly done movie that only is showing Wesly's swagger and not much of the action the first movie contrived.

I'm not going to spoil this movie cause it wouldn't be fun....i want you to see this movie for yourself cause i had to laugh at this film for the due fact that this movie could of been A WHOLE LOT better if a better director, cameraman, and oh i don't know BETTER SCREENPLAY. But this is what happens when you evade the law and try to think you are going to get away with it a crappy movie like this. But don't take my word for it see it yourself!

Keep your enemies close.

[michaelRokeefe · 4/10 · 14 October 2008]

Agent Nigel Shaw(Wesley Snipes)comes out 'retirement' to avenge the murder of his former mentor. Along the way he allows himself to do some work for a friend(Lochlyn Munro), an actor turning candidate for the Senate. He ends up trying to protect current Senator Carlson(Rachel Hayward)from possible assassination. Shaw does his digging and finds a round robin of political corruption and dead bodies keep piling up. A romance starts brewing when Shaw's mentor's daughter Melina(Athena Karkanis)begins sticking to him like glue.

Some high octane martial arts and very good special effects. A simple story seems to become a snake uncoiling. The high tech surveillance is interesting, but the movie on a whole is a bit of a let down. Snipes is very much the hero and Karkanis is so easy to watch. Others in the cast: Winston Rekert, Ryan Mcdonald, Eric Brecker and Olivia Cheng. Its anyone's guess about a third episode.

Stands out like sore thumb !!

[adabsiz · 1/10 · 20 May 2020]

Wesley Snipes keeps takeing on the most bizarre roles ! This 2008 video, with one of the jerkiest camera action in film history is a disaster from start to finish. Snipes even dresses in total white (!) and manages to stick out like a sore thumb wherever he went ... And he's been all over the world on "missions" including Eastern Europe where it isn't easy to hide if one is an African American !! Still, at 58 he is still chasing masked bad men with guns. A waste of your time unless you are down with a cold and it is snowing outside ...

Bad sequel. Wesley keeps it watchable.

[RoboRabbit89 · 1/10 · 17 March 2021]

Boy, oh boy this was a bad sequel, I mean it's not entirely a complete was of time but it's close. But at least Wesley returned to do the sequel and made it somewhat enjoyable.

Wesley Snipes is back as now retired CIA/UN agent Neil Shaw. Now 8 years later, Neil attends the funeral of his dojo master and is pulled into a political conspiracy when a friend of his who is an actor is going into politics. From what I remember the main baddie is planning to assassinate a senator so his arms deal can go ahead. There are some pretty good action scenes in this because let's face it in a movie like this with an incoherent plot, you at least hope the action scenes are good, and they are, but the movie as a whole feels rushed.

Overall, Wesley made it watchable for me, but more passion should have went into this. There is also a third Art of War but sadly Wesley didn't return for it because of his tax evasion troubles, he's instead replaced by another actor who isn't really that good hell the not even that good. But it's a little hard to determine which sequel is better, but since I had recently seen both this second part is slightly better than the third. But the first Art of War will always be the best.

I give it a 1/10. Poor in quality and somewhat in acting because everyone sort of brings their C game. But at least I'm glade Wesley came back and made it somewhat watchable.

Save your money.

[WinAMPlify · 3/10 · 8 March 2009]

Lets say you were bored on a Friday night at home and you decided to rent a movie..Lets say the movie store was renting movies for 20 cents each..Lets say you had watched Blade and thought Wesley Snipes was a great actor...After all that, I'd advice you not to rent or watch this movie.

Wesley's dialogue is horrible. He needs a new acting coach and his fight scenes aren't that great either. Heck I've seen better fight scenes being done by Chris Tucker and he ain't some black belt martial artist. The whole plot of this movie is based around an ex-"super-agent" that has been forced out of retirement to fight some bad guys. Simple enough plot line that gets overworked with mindless plot twists that frankly, don't seem to make sense in the end. Plus whoever was in charge of dressing Wesley, pretty much ridiculed every fight scene by dressing him up in a jacket, blazer or coat.

But hey, if you're a fan of terrible acting, sub-par plot lines and just want to waste your life, then be my guest and watch this movie.

The Art of What? --not being okay

[bob-rutzel-1 · 23 November 2008]

While trying to find out who murdered his martial arts mentor, former spy Neil Shaw (Snipes) is on the run from Homeland Security who believe Shaw is implicated in a Senator's (McDonald) death.

When you have the word "art" in the title of a movie, what follows within the movie should have some semblance to it. Not the case here. Just because you use a quote from the book, THE ART OF WAR by Sun Tzu doesn't mean that the goal of "art" is fulfilled. While not artful, the story is okay, but the mechanics of making this movie somehow got in the way.

Many fight scenes were too dark and yes lasted too long. The nervous camera made some appearances and when will someone realize it just makes the audience dizzy and has really no dramatic impact at all. I guess we can blame the defunct TV show NYPD Blue for that. They did that so they could show a naked butt from time to time. Yes, yes, all in the name of "art" I am sure.

And, get this: Homeland Security raids Shaw's computer friends who are helping him unravel the troublesome situation he is in and Homeland Security enters those offices with guns blazing and all are killed. Nice, eh? Maybe the story isn't all that okay.

And, why would you leave Carlson (Hayward) a US Senator unprotected when you know others are close-by and out to kill her? Yes, she is seen leaving in a van from a hotel she was supposed to speak at; but another, with blonde wig, takes her place and the decoy van takes off. The bad guys figure it out and the Senator is left unprotected and is, of course, killed. Did I say the story is okay?

Actually, for an Okay-Not Okay movie, the acting by the entire cast was good. It was the other stuff.

Wesley Snipes' movies, by and large, are rather good. I would hate to see Mr. Snipes' future movies turn into another sad affair as we witnessed in a recent John Cusack movie, War, Inc. So what we will do is give Mr. Snipes a pass this time as he may have been distracted by his accountants. Doing an OKAY movie is not an option, Mr. Snipes and please do not use the word ART in the title unless you mean it.

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Some, not much

It's good but needs big improvements

[nims-1975 · 6/10 · 7 April 2020]

The Art Of War II: Betrayal is a good film and was quite entertaining but there were things in this film that it lacked. The film wasn't intensifying or action packed like the first film, the characters in The Art Of War were much better than the ones in this sequel, the action scenes in this film were not as good as the ones in the first film, Wesley Snipes looked better in the first film. The Art Of War II: Betrayal wasn't a lame or crap film, it did have some great things about it and I did enjoy watching this film. The fight scenes in this sequel were quite good and were great to see but compared to the fight scenes in the first film which were awesome this couldn't keep to the first films standards.

Even worse than already bad original

[Maziun · 1/10 · 22 March 2014]

The first movie was already bad one. This sequel takes everything that was wrong in the first one and makes it even worse. The acting is... wait, what acting ? There is no acting here.

Same goes for the dull dialogue , predictable story and lame action scenes. The action scenes are badly choreographed and the camera angles are completely amateurish. You barely can see what's going on ! I'm not even going to laugh at the dreadful CGI... Seriously , the CGI here is so fake that probably you could make it better Don't waste your time and money on this trash. Snipes deserves going to jail just for the fact that he made this movie. It doesn't even deserve to be called a B-class movie. I've seen a few fun B-class movies. This isn't one of them.

I give it 1/10.

A must see and own Snipes collectors item

[stock-1 · 8/10 · 22 June 2014]

Someone reviewed with 'Wesley Snipes Means No Budget These Days...', which might even be the case , but the Art of War II really means business. What Hollywood blockbuster of recent years made - or even tried to make - a mockery of the Homeland Security Department ? Not many except for this one. Although the timing, as is the case with Sun Tzu's art of war, of getting the Homeland Security rats cornered inside an abandoned ship can never be predicted accurate to the micro second, Snipes does a remarkable job of taking them out. The expose of the Homeland Security rats inside 'The Art of War II: Betrayal' apparently was painful enough to force the producers to back out to Canada and subsequently into an immediate for Video release only, instead of movies theaters. So yes, the 1 star only reviews are a interesting read when it concerns Sun Tzu's Art of War part II : Betrayal, where the movie ending would even surprise the Master himself. Even though the cliché about Senators taking bribes from an upstart Arms Research company may, at first sight, not seem that shocking, Snipes delivers as expected inside an interesting movie, which was forced across the Homeland Security border in order to get it released. One should really wonder what or who forced this to happen. Conclusion : The DVD box of this one is a collectors item.

Total waste of time

[sceptre13 · 1/10 · 3 September 2008]

I tried to watch this movie and only made it through 15mins, About 3 chapters. The music was really bad, and annoying! From the amount that I saw, The movie was poorly produced. The acting made me want to cry, I am surprised others could not see this before it made it out of the cutting room,It should have been left on the floor. It was so atrocious and A complete let down, And I was Shocked to see acting from Wesley Snipes in this manner. I figured he could do so much better, than this piece of (blank). I feel that this is a sign of a career ending of A great actor or a great hit to come. So ending this blog I hope everyone is able to hear through the grape-vine, Not to watch this movie, and don't waste your money.

If by spoiler you mean your life will be ruined if you watch this film......then ya this is a spoiler (not really)

[jezustolemyboat · 1/10 · 6 September 2008]

After reading bad review here and ignoring it I would like to apologize to whoever took the time to write that review. I actually went to the trouble of creating an account with IMDb just to tell you all how BAD this movie really is. Like I can't believe how bad it is. I am about the least picky person I know when it comes to movies but please be warned that this truly sucked. Snipes acting was mediocre at worst. I do believe the writing was done by an up and comer in the grade 9 remedial drama class. The story...while providing a decent twist, was possibly put together by some lonely Hollywood assistant who pieced together various scripts she found in the recycling bins on sets. The weak cinematography was on par with the rest of the film. I can only think they paid Snipes all the budget and then director called in some old favours?? I don't know where to stop. Please don't watch this movie unless you have absolutely no choice. And even then you might want to do some laundry or something so when' it's over you won't feel like you lost part of your life. Oh ya....the fight scenes. Apparently they have invented a new way to shake the camera around without moving it??? Strange stuff.