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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
The first two Bourne's have for me quietly slipped into the category of "movies I can not help but watch over and over every time they are on, even when they are on USA or TNT, commercials and all". In the first installment of Bourne, there is a moment where our hero, having just disposed of the Paris-based Treadstone operative, offers the (in way over her head) Marie a "get out now while you still can" offer - immediatley informing us that at least one of the things he has retained in his unfortunate amnesiatic state is a true good guy sense for the well being of others who aren't trying to kill him (Marie responds to his offer by strapping on her seatbelt for an ensuing Ronin-like Paris car chase, in a sense boldly proclaiming, "I'm with you Jason!" ME TOO!!). This quality, which Damon effortlessly convinces us is a genuine Bourne characteristic leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy all over and makes the brutal ass kicking that ensues in Identity and Supremacy completely satisfying (read: everyone this guy lays the smack down on totally deserves it). This character element, coupled with the gritty directing of Limon and the Bloody Sunday guy makes me want to curl up and watch our boy outsmart the dipshit bad guys over and over (and over)... something I just can't say for so many silly and cartoonish Bond flicks and other failed attempts at this genre I won't bother mentioning.
Anyway, I totally love the Bourne movies, and can't wait to watch this latest installment. A good review from Salon is just icing on the cake. Full disclosure: I also can't turn off "The Devil Wears Prada" and the Lindsay Lohan update of "The Parent Trap" when they come on, so while I am tempted to explain why that is, I won't, and feel free to ignore this completely.
If you see Ultimatum, much of his struggle to deal with who he was, who he was turned into, and why, and who he is now, is what the movie is about.
I love the Bourne movies, have them on DVD and will be seeing the ultimatum tomorrow. I can't wait.
http://OsiSpeaks.com or http://OsiSpeaks.org
That first sentence isn't about hating Republicans, it's about hating George W. Bush. There are many Republicans who accept that Bush is a fraud and an intellectual child, just as there are (a few) Democrats who know that the Clintons are pandering whores.
Knowing how unqualified and dishonest the Bush administration is has nothing to do with being a Democrat or a Republican. It's an objective observation which transcends political parties.
I too can barely tolerate the new, for want of a better phrase, MTV-style of filmmaking. It's akin to someone who talks to fast, like those disclaimers at the end of pharmaceutical ads ("May cause blindness, diarrhea, gout, demonic possession..."). Tell, or in films' case, show me something in a human scale of understanding.
You wrote, "I love the constant whining against this so-called "MTV school of filmmaking." It seems its detractors are offended by a style, not by the many incompetent directors practicing the style. Let's remember the shower scene in Psycho. The shots are extremely short and the cuts are numerous yet it is still hailed as a masterpiece of film."
Well yes, but the famous shower scene was one scene, not an entire movie. It was shockingly effective, and then the movie reverted to a less frenzied pace.
Remember the end of Brian's Song, when the two football players run in slow motion towards the camera? That scene could make even a stone cry, but imagine if the entire movie had been filmed in slow motion. It's the same thing, IMHO, with all those quick cuts.
I guess to me it's simply a matter of what the technique brings to the film. Brian's Song using slow motion is arguably the same issue as Greengrass using fast cuts. They both are used to heighten the intended effect on the audience. One to make the audience cry, the other to make the audience feel the immediacy and speed of the situation. Also I agree that had Hitchcock used hyperfast cutting in Psycho it would be rediculous, but then, he wasn't making a film about a CIA-trained killing machine fighting for his life.
I guess the best defense I can muster is the three Bourne films. I believe the second and third ones to be far better than the first. Damon's acting improved, but I give the credit mostly to Greengrass (and Doug Liman who, as producer of these films, seems to agree, as he hired and retained Greengrass). Bourne (the character) is fast, kinetic, he's never quite aware of exactly what his purpose is or what he is doing. He is at once in the middle of the action/fighting and mentally removed from it. The same can be said about the films (TBS & TBU) themselves. When the manner of presentation can become the material its presenting, that reinforces said material. Identity did not do this as explicitly (or at all) and therefore is inferior in my eyes.
I will grant you that comparing the choreographed action sequences with a Fred Astaire dance sequence is an interesting one. However, where Fred Astaire's dance is graceful, smooth and obviously choreopraphed, the Bourne fights are disjointed and rough in their nature. Thus Greengrass decides to film them as such.
I wonder if a comparison with Jerome Robbins's choreography would have been more apt.
If you see Ultimatum, much of his struggle to deal with who he was, who he was turned into, and why, and who he is now, is what the movie is about.
As opposed to "Identity" and "Supremacy" -- which concentrated on Jason Bourne struggling to deal with who he was, who he's turned into and why, and who he is now. :)
At least James Bond knows who he is and who and what he's fighting for; Jason Bourne, fittingly, will likely never really know -- taking deniability to the next level!
The moral agency of Bourne's actions is another casualty of the forces that created him -- while Bond is comfortable doing dirty deeds for Queen and Country, Bourne's a mostly blank slate.
Bourne benefits from the knowledge he's gained on an operational level, but where Bond is suave, outwardly cultured and sophisticated -- an agent free to make choices and decisions, Bourne is kind of a killing machine on autopilot -- just put him in a situation and he reacts instinctively, or else he responds tactically to the needs of the moment. This creates still more deniability for him as a character -- he can't help himself, he's just been trained to be that way; he's Pavlov's Dog of Secret War.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
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