Friday, October 19, 2007

Action action we want action



His name is Bourne, Jason Bourne. Well it isn't actually but you know what I mean. There have been two previous movies in which Matt Damon plays an amnesiac who is remarkably good at fighting, killing, and driving various cars. We know that he is some kind of special project of the CIA and that it is a really bad idea to piss him off. Which of course the American government does every chance it can get.

So the movie opens where the last one (Bourne Supremacy) left off. Bourne is killing something, or driving something, I actually can't remember. The next hour and a half goes by with Bourne fighting people, killing people and driving things. All while avoiding many international police forces, who all seem to know exactly what he looks like.

I often wonder about that. If you were a police person and there were large numbers of wanted people that it is your job to catch, and then the CIA issues another one, would you really remember? Or would you be more interested in catching speeding motorists than recognising a fairly unremarkable looking man who is walking down the street as an internationally wanted criminal?

Bourne receives some help from another CIA agent, which was a very weak point in the plot. She explains why she is helping him, endangering her job and life in the process, by saying that she once did something to him and feels guilty. But they never explain what she did to Bourne and she really only exists as something for him to protect. They just don't make female CIA agents as tough as the men do they?

The movie is interesting in showing that the US government can be its own worst enemy. I am pleased that they didn't suddenly decide to make the bad guy a terrorist as that has of course been done much better by Die Hard. And you just can't compete with the brilliance that is the Die Hard franchise.

Overall verdict: Great fighting, stoic faces and car chases. It is what it is and does it well. 2 fighting fists

4 comments:

meva said...

Yeah! Matt Damon does much better fighting against the CIA than starting it!

I really enjoyed this film when I saw it. I saw it several weeks ago and it is now just a blur. I do recall that it was action-packed, but I couldn't tell you anything about the plot!

Cinema Minima said...

Haven't seen it, but it sounds just like the previous two Bourne films, which were ok-ish.

gigglewick said...

I really enjoyed it.

Matt Damon is so damn everyman. And Julia Stiles!!! Julia!!!

Two fighting fists indeed.

badgerdaddy said...

I'm pretty sure the implication with the Julia Stiles relationship was that they had been an item - which is very strange as I don't remember the slightest hint of it before. But that was what I took from it, certainly.