| The Bourne Supremacy |
| Thoughts: |
| Afterthoughts: |
| Ah. More car chases. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but they've got kick-ass (literally) stunt coordinators who know how to put together a great car chase but let 'em stretch a little! Airplanes, fist-fights, a showdown at high noon...something! The chick annoyed me in the first one and it looks like she is gonna annoy me again. I'm all for normal-looking actresses in movies, but I honestly don't see what Jason Bourne sees in this particular one. Maybe it'll come to me while I'm watching this movie. Like the first one, the plot seems to be pretty straightforward and onion skin paper-thin. It looks like the only reason to watch this movie is for the action sequences. I hope I'm proven wrong. |
| Well, the good news is that the chick didn't annoy me and the plot of the movie is actually pretty good. The bad news is that it sucked. First, yay for Julia Stiles and the guy that played Eomer in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They're what made this movie tolerable. The guy that played Eomer (he DOES actually have a name and it's Karl Urban, but I like TGTPE better) is a bad-ass assassin sent to kill Jason Bourne and Julia reprises her role as the CIA covert mission planner. TGTPE does me a HUGE favor and...MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT! You have been warned. Anyway, he shoots Jason Bourne's girlfriend instead of Bourne, thus relieving me of having to endure her any longer than necessary. However, I did have to deal with her long enough to hear her try to preach to Bourne that he has a choice as to whether or not to go after the CIA types that he thinks are gunning for him. Now, they're in the back-backwoods of India during all this and they've been stalked and shot at. Uh, honey, if they can find you there, they can find you ANYwhere and they're not gonna leave you alone as long as they can find you. I'm all for pacificism and avoiding violence, but this kind of rosy-glasses-denial attitude is the same reason why I hate Amidala in the new Star Wars movies. They don't know that taking the moral high ground can only work for so long and sometimes you HAVE to punch the bully in the nose to get 'em to back the hell off. Julia Stiles's part was by far my favorite since I tend to like the logistical types, but I have just one issue with her: she shouldn't be in the field. There's one scene where Bourne has tracked the CIA down and they send Julia to this busy public square to make contact with him and try to bring him in. Naturally, Bourne is about 150,000 steps ahead of her, grabs her, and starts interrogating her as to why the CIA won't leave him alone all the while trying to make a getaway. At one point, they're both in a subway bathroom and he has a gun to her head demanding to know why the CIA won't leave him along and she's shrunken in to a corner, wailing that she doesn't know why and begging for him not to kill her. Now, I'd be doing much the same thing in that situation, but I'm not a trained CIA field operative, either. I expected more guts from a CIA officer, especially one calling the shots on missions. The story itself was good: Jason Bourne trying to clear his name. Simple, but good. Well, the movie gets in the way of the story. I suppose directors think it's cute to do quick 1-second cuts in action scenes and to use hand-held cameras instead of steadycams, but while they're off being artistes, I'm getting a headache that would level LA. Part of telling the story involves being able to see what's going on in the movie and the constant cutting back and forth doesn't allow your eye to focus on anything or to capture any of the action, which I suppose is supposed to make you feel like you're really there, but it just makes me feel like I want to throw up. I came to see the movie to be entertained, not to ruin the carpet. |
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| My Advice: It's not worth the price of Junior Mints. Read the book and use your imagination. You won't get dizzy from the poor editing and directing and you can cast whoever you want as Jason Bourne. I choose Jerry O'Connell. :-) |