Pop Culture, High and Low, Past and Present.
One Day at a Time.
 
 
 

Email me:
vince AT vincekeenan DOT com

    Follow me on Twitter

    Monday, August 02, 2004

    Movie: The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

    Does that title actually mean anything?

    Fun movie, though. It’s a marked improvement over the original. It still has the same problem THE BOURNE IDENTITY had, which is that the stakes aren’t high enough. If Matt Damon fails in his mission, then the worst that will happen is ... he’ll be killed. The forces of evil won’t prevail, they’ll just get a little richer. In a spy thriller, I expect something more to be hanging in the balance.

    Matt Damon continues to impress in the role, but the real star here is director Paul Greengrass. His 2002 film BLOODY SUNDAY may be the best I’ve seen in this still-young decade. The techniques he used to create a savage immediacy in that movie are employed here to great effect, recreating Bourne’s thought processes. Everything comes to him in flashes and shards of memory. Unlike many of today’s ADD-afflicted action directors, Greengrass makes his edits as part of a design rather than a way to keep the audience awake. The movie wraps up with a kick-ass car chase through the streets and tunnels of Moscow that goes on the list of greats.

    TV: American Candidate

    This Showtime series is a political version of SURVIVOR. Ten people who want to run for President compete in weekly competitions. The winner receives $200,000 and a chance to ‘address the nation.’ I assume that means you get 20 minutes right before the season premiere of THE L WORD.

    I mention the show only because it turns out I went to high school with one of the ten finalists, activist Keith Boykin. Oddly enough, this is the second time a former classmate has turned up on a reality TV show. During the L.A. season of MTV’s THE REAL WORLD, I saw an old college friend answering phones in Roger Corman’s office. Rosemarie wants to know how I could end up seeing two of my classmates on TV when she went to school four years more than I did and has yet to see even one. What can I say? I ran with a flamboyant (read: needy) crowd.

    Miscellaneous: Links

    Silly me. I should have known that Harlan Ellison would have weighed in on I, ROBOT. He does so here. And Michael Chabon finally says what he thinks about SPIDER-MAN 2, for which he received story credit. Surfergirl, aka Liz Penn, aka Dana Stevens, recounts a Ted Koppel/Jon Stewart smackdown I wish I’d seen. And it turns out that the brainwashing method used in the original MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE actually was The Method.


    1 Comments:

    Some comments on The Bourne Supremacy, including one semi-spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the film. Since, as I understand it, the movie and the book are two entirely different things, it may explain why, no, the title doesn't mean anything. I agree with you on the car chase, but if you check out the comments on www.imdb.com, 80% of them are complaints about the camera work. It seems to have nauseated a good portion of them. If anyone has even been in a fight or a car accident, you know that what you see in the movie is exactly what you remember afterwards, bits and pieces in high intensity shock waves to the brain. Bourne's motivation in the movie is entirely low stakes -- it's revenge, getting even with whoever killed Marie (second-billed Franka Potente) at the beginning of the movie. No, the world is not at risk. But -- some imdb'ers are suggesting that Marie is not dead. Think through the early part of the movie again. Could it be? Steve

     

    Post a Comment

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

     

    Google
    www vincekeenan.com

     

    Site designed by Rosemarie Keenan
    Movie stills from The Prelinger Archives