Summer movies (part 3)
The Bourne Ultimatum, Paul Greengrass (Dir.), Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Albert Finney
Who is Jason Bourne? Find out in this latest installment of the Robert Ludlum adaptations. I must admit to not remembering much about the first two, other than the fact that I didn't like them. That's probably largely to do with my having a considerable distaste for Matt Damon, as well as having watched them on a 4 inch-square screen on an economy class flight to somewhere. However, this third chapter is quite compelling, even if it doesn't particularly stretch Matt Damon's acting abilities. Having had his memory, identity and girlfriend taken away from him, Bourne returns to get to the source, a top-secret CIA operation known as Blackbriar. His investigation takes him to Paris, London, Madrid, Tangiers and New York, and reunites him with CIA agent Nicky Parsons, played by Julia Stiles. There's non-stop, engaging, implausible action all the way through. The film is like a feature-length hybrid of Alias and 24, and suffers from much the same downsides of those two shows, namely a rather one-dimensional portrayal of US response to paranoid national security issues, an equally one-dimensional obsession with violence and revenge, and the ridiculous attempt to portray computer geeks and surveillance technology as ultra-cool. Interestingly, the CIA and NSA always tend to come off badly as portrayed in Hollywood movies, in general contrast to the US military and the FBI. There's a thesis to be written somewhere in there. All that aside, it's all mindless entertainment, particularly if you like the increasing trend for rooftop chases (To Catch A Thief is still the original and the best, closely followed by The Untouchables).
Who is Jason Bourne? Find out in this latest installment of the Robert Ludlum adaptations. I must admit to not remembering much about the first two, other than the fact that I didn't like them. That's probably largely to do with my having a considerable distaste for Matt Damon, as well as having watched them on a 4 inch-square screen on an economy class flight to somewhere. However, this third chapter is quite compelling, even if it doesn't particularly stretch Matt Damon's acting abilities. Having had his memory, identity and girlfriend taken away from him, Bourne returns to get to the source, a top-secret CIA operation known as Blackbriar. His investigation takes him to Paris, London, Madrid, Tangiers and New York, and reunites him with CIA agent Nicky Parsons, played by Julia Stiles. There's non-stop, engaging, implausible action all the way through. The film is like a feature-length hybrid of Alias and 24, and suffers from much the same downsides of those two shows, namely a rather one-dimensional portrayal of US response to paranoid national security issues, an equally one-dimensional obsession with violence and revenge, and the ridiculous attempt to portray computer geeks and surveillance technology as ultra-cool. Interestingly, the CIA and NSA always tend to come off badly as portrayed in Hollywood movies, in general contrast to the US military and the FBI. There's a thesis to be written somewhere in there. All that aside, it's all mindless entertainment, particularly if you like the increasing trend for rooftop chases (To Catch A Thief is still the original and the best, closely followed by The Untouchables).
Labels: 24, Alias, films, Julia Stiles, Matt Damon, movies, Paul Greengrass, The Bourne Ultimatum
posted by CCT at 9:25 am
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