When The Bourne Identity first hit theaters in 2002, it’s kinetic style, exotic shooting locations and grounded-in-reality approach to the spy game had critics calling for the head of James Bond. Jason Bourne was on the scene. A new action hero for a new generation.
While 2006’s Casino Royale proved there was still some life left in the nearly 50 year-old franchise, it was clear the producers of the Bond films could sense the younger generation nipping at it’s heels.
Released in theaters this summer, the capstone to the Bourne trilogy made it’s way to DVD on December 11. The Bourne Ultimatum sold 5.4 million copies it’s first six days of release, sending a clear message that Bond isn’t out of the woods yet.
Director Paul Greengrass returns to the Bourne franchise abandoning the jerky hand held shooting style and quick edits that made The Bourne Supremacy hard to follow. This time out, Greengrass’s direction is more controlled and more efficient – just like Jason Bourne himself.
In the last chapter, we catch up with Bourne literally minutes after the last film ended. Wounded and on the run, he’s not in hiding for long after a London journalist publishes a story about him with direct references to his past. As Bourne tries to uncover his source, so are the political powers hunting him trying to do the same. When their paths cross, it’s pretty much a trans-continental chase sequence from there on out.
That description is somewhat pat and not reflective of the true spirit of the film. There are moments of quiet tension in between action sequences. There are ambiguous implications when Bourne is reunited with Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) in Madrid. Meanwhile, on the home front, there is seething animosity between CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) and Pam Landy (Joan Allen) about the best tactics to employ in order to neutralize Bourne as a threat to the CIA. Landy is ready to talk. Vosen is willing to kill whomever he has to in order to get to Bourne – even other agents.
“You start down this path, where does it end?” asks Landy
“It ends when we’ve won,” Vosen states emphatically – in the most clear allegory to certain wartime policies you’re likely to see in a summer action movie.
A hallmark of the series, the performances are all top notch from a wide variety of talents. On location shooting in Turin, London and Tangier give Jason Bourne a real-life playground to operate in. Practical effects in the action sequences sell everything on screen.
And the action sequences don’t fail to disappoint. A series of bait-and-switch routines as Bourne tries to lead his journalist out of the congested Waterloo train station is as tense and engaging as one could hope for. A rooftop chase sequence in Tangier is exhausting and exhilarating all at once. And the final car chase and shoot out in New York City concludes with gritty force. All of these sequences are expertly handled and leave you on the edge of your seat.
Extras on the DVD feel a little on the light side, but all of them are substantial and add appropriate shading to the film. Behind-the-scenes filming in each of the cities they filmed in reveals the logistical nightmares of capturing things on location. A featurette on the explosive, close quarters bathroom fight sequence demonstrates the intense preparation production goes through to deliver an authentic look and feel to hand to hand combat.
All in all, a great addition to your DVD collection and a must-have for action fans.
I think today’s comic will make a little more sense when or if you see Tim Burton’s adaptation of Sweeney Todd. From the early reviews I’ve read, it’s Burton’s best film since Ed Wood and could have been a lock for Best Picture if only Burton had reigned in his tendency to leap for the Z-grade horror moments.
You may or may not be familiar with the story of Sweeney Todd, but wrongfully accused, his wife and young daughter stolen from him, he goes on a murderous rampage in Victorian London in pursuit of revenge. He does this by luring his unsuspecting victims into his barber shop, where his slits their throats and disposes their bodies through a trap door into the local bakery below. There, the corpses are baked into meat pies.
At any rate, Burton really cuts loose (pardon the pun) when it comes to the murder scenes. Throats being cut and fountains of blood shooting like geysers everywhere. There is nothing lyrical or implied about it. He puts it right in your face. And I could see where that might turn off Academy voters down the line.
It’s a small complaint, compared to the rest of the film, I’m told. The performances and the music are great and the story seems tailor-made to suit Burton. But I think when it comes to the blood, that’s where he frustrates critics. Because often in his work, there is a self-serving moment that nearly capsizes the whole picture. His remake of Planet of the Apes was a whole FILM of those moments – and probably the reason it’s the most reviled film in his cannon.
I’m excited to see Sweeney Todd, but there’s a lot of great stuff coming out this weekend – National Treasure 2 and Walk Hard among them. I was supposed to see I Am Legend last night with Jared, but Cami’s been really sick lately and running a fever. So it wouldn’t have been a good idea to take off and leave her with Henry. Parental responsibilities will take you out of the stronger pop culture currents. I’m fine with this. But I hope I don’t fall too far behind. There’s too much stuff I don’t want to miss!
A quick note about next week – With the holiday’s coming up, I’m thinking about taking the week off. I need it. I’m exhausted. I don’t know if that means I’m taking the week off completely. I’m planning on watching a ton of movies I’ve been backlogged on and possibly posting the reviews next week. But I think comics are out of the picture just because they take a lot of time and I”m going to have my hands full with Henry, the holidays and relatives.
Keep coming back to the site, though. I’m sure I’ll be able to float you some new content. Just the comics will be on hold while I catch my breath. Also – since we’re not doing The Triple Feature next Monday due it being Christmas Eve and all, you’ll want to keep a close eye on this space in case we announce our replacement show. We’re talking about doing it next Wednesday. So come back here to confirm.
In non-site related news, I turned 30 today. I don’t know what to think about it. I guess I can’t really think about it. I’m so wiped out from the lack of sleep, it makes it hard to focus.
There’s supposed to be this large anxiety about turning 30 that I don’t have. I mean, I understand it’s a transition out of your 20’s and the free-wheeling ease of things. The older you get, the more responsibilities you take on and so forth. But there really isn’t a part of me that’s going to miss my 20’s. I had a good time then, but I’m having a good time – if not a better time – right now. Anyone who gets their knickers in a twist about turning 30, 40, 50, whatever… needs to reassess what it is about right now that sucks so bad compared to back then and change it. No one else is going to steer the ship for you, know what I mean?
End rant.
Anyway, tonight I’m staying in with family and we’re going to have cheese soup while I open presents. Not a bad little Friday if you ask me.
Take it easy and Happy Holidays!
I know I said last week that I was taking this week off. But, truthfully, with SO many good movies in theater right now, I couldn’t resist tossing this one into the mix.
Uh, yeah. Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem. Great movie.
Okay, it’s no Bridge Over the River Kwai, but it was a film I had been eager to see despite me deep-seeded loathing of the first Aliens Vs. Predator. Don’t ask me why. I’m a glutton for punishment.
I went and saw the film Wednesday night after everyone went to bed at my house. Cami had no interest in seeing it for obvious reasons, so it made it easy for me to get out of the house for a while. Believe me, after the holidays, I needed the time alone.
As far as my reactions to the movie are concerned, let me give it a left-handed compliment:
“It’s better than the first one.”
I had high hopes for AVP:R and a lot of that had to do with the ultra-violent red band trailer released in August. Watching that, I thought for sure that the movie was going to correct the mistakes of its misbegotten PG-13 predecessor. Well, it does that and then some. And then it rapes what’s left. Right before it pees on it.
This movie doesn’t know where the line is and that’s either a good thing or a bad thing depending on where your moral compass is pointing. NO ONE gets off light in this film. An 8 year-old gets tagged with a face hugger in the first five minutes. Once the aliens start multiplying, people are dying left and right. Stoners you meet in a pawn shop get their heads blown off by a Predator five minutes after you meet them. The alien queen stumbles into a hospital maternity ward and impregnates already pregnant women with eggs. Drooling over a nursery over crying babies, you know there is some twisted thinking at work here.
I’m not going to bother getting into the plot. There isn’t one. The human characters in the film are cardboard cutouts. The ex-con, the troubled teen, the military chick, the well-meaning sheriff. So what? They all become cannon fodder.
The movie is dark – not just in terms of content but in it’s lighting as well. don’t mind if you’re going to turn out the lights to make things scary, but at least sit the camera down for more than five seconds so I can focus on what I’m supposed to be looking at. In the film’s third act, it’s starts raining like cats and dogs (of course) and by that point, it’s nearly impossible to see anything.
AVP:R is a film that seems almost designed around cutting a good trailer. There are a ton of little moments that make the film interesting, but nothing that ties everything together. At this point, the franchise would be better served by taking the action off Earth and maybe setting it in the future again.
The other thing the franchise needs is a throw down between its monsters that lasts more than 5 minutes. In the middle of AVP:R, there’s a sequence in a storm drain that shows promise as the Predator is surrounded and fights off a small gang of aliens. But it’s over before it even starts. It leave you thinking, “The last battle must be a real knockout!” and then it comes and it’s basically a slap fest.
Think about great kung-fu movies where two guys would fight for 20 minutes. We need something like that. If your movie uses the word “VERSUS” in it’s title, we demand it.
Complaints aside, am I glad I went? Sure. My curiosity would have gotten the better of me at some point anyway. This is the kind of nerd stuff I *have* to see. But if you’re not a fan of the characters, you’re not going to find anything redemptive about the film at all.
That’s all for now. I hope everyone had a good holiday and I’ll see you back here on Monday!
Have a great weekend!
I always love it when a comic falls on New Year’s Eve. I dunno – it just feels like a great way to cap the year. I was feeling so celebratory, in fact, I decided to give you TWO extra panels in today strip.
Okay, so they’re pretty much for pacing a visual gag, but extra comics is extra comics!
I had kind of a hard time putting together today’s strip. Not just because the holidays have put me woefully out of sync with my regular routines. But when it came for Cami to share her pick for the best (worst?) movie of 2007, I was racking my brain trying to think of a film that was universally hated.
I combed a few “Worst of…” lists, which is almost ridiculous in it’s futility. I mean, I understand highlighting the best films makes for interesting copy and might motivate people to check out films they probably wouldn’t otherwise see. But ranking the worst? If they’re bad, can’t we just agree that they’re bad. Do you actually need to rank them and say “Movie X” is worse than “Movie Y?”
This coming from the guy who makes fun of movies semi-professionally.
Anyway, I was combing a few of the “Worst of…” lists and the only one that came up consistently was Norbit. I wasn’t sure if that was the movie to hold up as the shining beacon for terrible movies everywhere because I think it came back in January. Would anyone even remember it? Certainly there are probably less ambitious films, like I Know Who Killed Me, or some kind of horror kill-fest with no-name actors. But at least Norbit was more of a high-profile failure.
Whatever. If Norbit doesn’t work for you, just insert whatever movie you think was the greatest waste of your time this year. The joke works all the same.
I wish I could share with you my picks for the best films of 2007. But I’m holding off on that for right now. It’s something I plan to unveil with Gordon and Joe during our broadcast of The Triple Feature talkcast!
But before I get to far ahead of myself, I need to remind listeners that there will NOT be a show this evening due to the New Year’s festivities. Instead, our show this week will be on Wednesday, January 2 at 9:00 PM CST.
Secondly, our show this week WON’T be our picks for the best films of ’07, but rather a recap show where we plan on talking about all the movies we saw over the holidays. We took a week off last week, so there will be a lot of ground to cover. I was able to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Walk Hard – The Dewey Cox Story and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (curiously, all movies with a sub header in their title). I know Gordon and Joe saw much, much more than that so I know we’ll have a LOT to talk about.
Be sure to call in live and let us know what movies you enjoyed this holiday season! There were a lot of great one’s to choose from. We’re still trying to find time to see Juno, Sweeny Todd and Atonement without completely abandoning Henry!
…
Switch gears abruptly, since it’s the end of the year and since 2007 has been a year of considerable change for me, I hope you’ll endulge me for a moment as I stop to kind of take stock of things and examine where things ended up for Theater Hopper in 2007.
Obviously the biggest change for me personally was when we brought our first son Henry into the world on February 18. I don’t really know how much or how little to mention Henry in the blog about about movies. But Theater Hopper has always been as much of a sounding board for my personal life as it has been for my semi-professional life. I’ll never forget all of the wonderful e-mails that people sent in after we made the announcement. I’ve kept all of them and one day I’ll share them with Henry.
I worried for a while if having a baby would signal the end of Theater Hopper. In the back of my head, I kind of thought that’s how it was supposed to happen. But then I kind of set my sights on crossing the 5 year anniversary mark and found a way to make it work.
I can tell you that between 2006, when I released my first two books, and 2007 the site has taken a hit traffic wise. I mean, if you look at the archive page and scroll down to 2007, you can see it’s almost a patchwork quilt of guest strips, DVD reviews and movie reviews. These were all ways I sought to diversify Theater Hopper and add value to the site when the responsibilities of parenting prevented me from working on comics. Instead, I think it left people with the impression that I was inconsistent.
I know in 2007 I want to work to make the site better and streamline things more. I’ve been working on a redesign that will take advantage of WordPress and will shed some of the advertising. I want to work hard to bring people back. I want to put out a third book. I want to try and do a few more conventions and stir up interest in the comic again. I want to create a community around Theater Hopper and get discussions going again. And, hopefully, as time moves on, being a parent and being a father are two things I can merge together.
What I do know is that I have some of the best, most kind-hearted fans I could hope for. The e-mails you send… they’re unbelievable. Every now and again, someone will send a note thanking me for the work I put into the site and entertaining them each week. My first thought is typically “But I could be doing so much more!” because I don’t think I’m ever going to reach a place where I’m comfortable and can say “This is the best that I can do.” I want to keep improving as much as myself as for you.
But my second thought is always “I should be thanking *you*.” Because you guys really keep me going. How cool is it that I’ve found an audience for my voice? What an incredible validation. I mean, I’d do Theater Hopper regardless if I got any attention for it. But you’d have to be stupid not to be appreciative of the people who support you.
So, thank you for everything prior and everything yet to come. I can’t say it enough. Thank you.
Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. I’ll see you here in 2008.