QUICK REVIEW: Jason Bourne

Howdy people, hypersonic55 back with another review and today I get to talk about Jason Bourne, the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 2007 film; The Bourne Ultimatum. Now I’ve been hyped yet cautious about this film since it was announced a few years ago, but the duo of Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon gave me hope. So after seeing the film I’m ready to pass judgement!

The plot for the film can be described as the following:

“A decade after his disappearance at the conclusion of The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne unexpectedly resurfaces at a time when the world is faced with unprecedented instability. At the same time, a new program, Operation Ironhand, has been created to hunt him down while he is still trying to find all the answers to his past.”

What I liked about the story was the following:

1. It was tonally consistent with the previous films
2. It felt relevant to modern times
3. It gave Bourne a reason to come out of hiding and go on the hunt
4. The world felt expanded and was layered when it came to history of Bourne and his ties to the CIA

I will admit that story took a little while to get going and didn’t have the immediate hook that I wanted, however after a key moment early on things shifted into gear and got interesting. From there the film went deep into the history of this film series, yet still presented new issues, conspiracies and dangers that relate Bourne, the CIA and the use of modern technology and privacy. There was a sense of realism, grittiness, intimacy and pressure involved, but what this film really did well was make things personal, not only for Bourne, but for the people he interacted with as well, this added a level of drama necessary for you to care about the characters and stakes involved. It has to be mentioned that this film’s tale isn’t as unique or engaging as the previous films, however if you just want to see more of the same then you’ll be fine.

As for the cast they were all very good. Firstly there’s Matt Damon who returned to great effect as Jason Bourne, the cool thing about Bourne in this film is that he’s off the grid, but still haunted by his past and once he gets involved with Nicky and starts to discover more mysterious behind his past made for some really cool and suspenseful material. Damon felt like he never left this role as was able to be calm and collected, badass and emotionally engaging. Alicia Vikander was the next most interesting character as Heather Lee, as a CIA agent her character was very smart, resourceful and knew how to strategize to sort out the situations she faced. I didn’t expect Vikander to be as involved and as important as she was, but it was a welcome surprise and I actually liked her a lot. Tommy Lee Jones was also good as director of the CIA, Robert Dewey, this guy had an interesting part to play in this film being very self-aware, aggressive, cautious and calculated when it came to his actions with Bourne and the secret operations within the CIA. Vincent Cassel as the Asset was very enjoyable, besides being a badass assassin, he was also driven, cold and ruthless and I liked that Cassel brought a sense of energy and urgency to this character. Also seeing Julia Stiles again as Nicolette “Nicky” Parsons, it was great to see that even after she went into hiding that she was still looking into the past for information and had Bourne’s interests at heart. And finally Riz Ahmed was nice as Aaron Kalloor, his character was very charismatic, likeable and interesting in this role.

Presentation-wise this film was pretty solid. Visually this film was great with wonderful cinematography, and awesome action sequences whether it was the insanely sweet car chases or the well-choreographed fight scenes, the visual style and flair of this series was on-point. Oh and the film score by John Powell and David Buckley was lovely, very energetic, emotional and amplified the action on-screen and brought back the familiar themes that came with the previous films.

In the end Jason Bourne was just what I wanted it to be, a kick ass action thriller that was intriguing, intense and badass. While not as good as the previous three films,  I still had a hell of good time with this film and I recommend it highly.

Rating: 8/10

So are you planning to see Jason Bourne and if you’ve seen it what did you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see you on the next review, laters! 😀

 

Revisiting The Matt Damon Bourne Films

Howdy ladies and gents, now after seeing the getting super excited for 30 second teaser for Jason Bourne, I thought it would be a good time to revisit that awesome trilogy of films from 2002 to 2007. I love these films so much, however I’ve only watched them 2 or 3 times each so I thought it’d be fun to see if my opinions have changed or remained the same since my last viewing. Minor spoilers follow!

The Bourne Identity

I’ve never been more fascinated and engaged with a film than with the intro of this one. Having Bourne found in the ocean with bullets in his back and no memory of who he was. Slowly but sure this film starts to give small details, small pieces of a bigger puzzle and the story just becomes more intriguing and engaging. The main story surrounding Jason Bourne’s amnesia and his search for answers is so compelling because he’s a blank slate at the beginning, but then learn that he’s travelled a lot in the past, he’s resourceful and has skills that make him look like a human weapon, and it also doesn’t help that he’s hunted by a secret group in the government who want him dead for reasons that become apparent as the film goes on. This film features some of the most interesting and smart story elements that I’ve seen in the spy genre, and sure it’s adapted from a book but it’s an enjoyable film regardless. I also really enjoy the action which is slick, well-edited and choreographed when it came to the fight scenes and there’s one car chase which is one of my favourites in film ever.

Oh and of course I really enjoyed the cast Matt Damon kills it as Jason Bourne, he rides a fin balance between being innocent and confused to being a full-on badass who’s in control of every situation. Franka Potente is also great as Marie Helena Kreutz, she’s just an innocent bystander who gets caught up in the madness and yet chooses to stick around because of the dangers around her and her ties to Bourne. Potente and Damon have such nice chemistry and their interaction throughout the film is great. Chris Cooper is awesome as Alexander Conklin, I didn’t remember him being as pivotal to this story, but damn he great to watch because of his intensity and commitment to trying to stop Bourne. Brian Cox is another solid actor as Ward Abbott, also Clive Owen as The Professor, the guy doesn’t say much or show a lot emotion, though when he’s on-screen he’s like a ghost-like Terminator and he has a pretty important scene later on in the film. I don’t think some fans and critics give Identity the respect it deserves in comparison to the sequels, this was a great spy film with mystery, conspiracy, tension and awesome action sequences and director Doug Liman did such a fabulous job at bringing this world to life and creating the foundation of which the next two films would build upon.

The Bourne Supremacy

Even though he wasn’t a complete man, Identity established that Jason Bourne was not someone you wanted to mess with and Supremacy reinforces that with the lengths that Bourne goes to in this second adventure. While the mysteries behind Bourne’s memories are still at the forefront of the story, in it is not the only story elements in play. A CIA operation goes bad and Bourne is framed for it so the government are after him to get answers. The levels of conspiracy go deeper than the first time and there are a lot of moving pieces to this story with Bourne’s past, the CIA and Treadstone, it’s a lot to handle but luckily it is done carefully and effectively, and adds to the history of the government program and Bourne too. This film also got a little more personal and emotional than before, and there are dramatic intense and heartbreaking moments a well. Once again this film shows off Bourne’s assassin skills but to a higher degree than before, here he’s a bit of a tactician, staying a few steps ahead of his enemies in really cool ways, he also displayed pretty badass fight moves and continued to find ways to be invisible and yet still be in plain sight.

The returning cast members are fantastic, Damon continues to be cool, vulnerable and engaging as Bourne, Potente is once again charming, supportive and lovely as Marie Helena Kreutz, Gabriel Mann is also back doing a fine job as Danny Zorn, Julia Stiles while good in the previous film, didn’t have nearly as much to do as she did here as Nicky Parsons takes on a more prominent role providing information and emotional depth. But it’s Brian Cox who steals the show as Ward Abbott, this guy, he has some of the best dialogue and I love how well-informed, suspicious and confident he is because of his history with Treadstone. With the new cast members the only two that really stand out are Karl Urban as Kirill and Joan Allen as Pamela Landy. Urban is a frigging badass here, he’s like Clive Owen’s character from the first film but more cold, ruthless and a bit more personality. And Allen really does so well as Landy, while not well-versed in all of the CIA’s operations, she’s tough, tenacious and ready to take down anyone who’s in her way. I will admit that there are certain elements of Identity that I liked over this film, but overall this film had new level of energy, darker tone and better direction thanks to Paul Greengrass when it comes to the filming of action (minus the shaky cam scenes) and adding intimacy to certain scenes. OH and this film has one of my favourite endings to any film involving a conversation between Bourne and Landy which basically confirms just how badass the man is. I love it. 😀

The Bourne Ultimatum

So here we are with the final entry in this series (until July this year), and it is one hell of an a good ride. From the time the film begins you’re already in the action and from there the film keeps up a fairly swift pace, but also slows down for some of the big reveals later on. Bourne’s always been a pawn in a larger game of chess with the CIA and their actions, and now more than ever this is about finishing the issues that the CIA started. I love the story in this film as things get more complicated and personal with the new mysteries surrounding Bourne’s origins, additional ties to Treadstone and the corruption with the CIA. Just like before there’s a lot of cat and mouse chasing going on in regards to: 1) Bourne hunting someone or 2) The CIA going after someone or 3) The CIA chasing after Bourne. There’s so much mystery, tension and paranoia surrounding these films and this may be the best at highlighting those elements, Ultimatum feels like a great culmination of the last two films with a satisfying conclusion that ties up all of the loose ends. Once again the action scenes are on-point with some incredibly well-choreographed fight scenes which are raw and realistic, there’s also some really great stunt work with some of the car and foot chases, and the amount of destruction that Bourne leaves in his wake in nothing short of incredible. I also have to note how much better the sound effects are than in the previous films as punches, kicks, glass smashing and explosions sound clearer and more distinctive than before. And just like before the film score by John Powell is so brilliant and fuels all of the scenes it’s used in.

The are all on fire and do such fine jobs in this film. Damon pretty much cements his awesomeness as Jason Bourne, here he’s still just as smart, efficient and lethal as before, but he’s also more focused than before to end the all problems and find out what really happened to him. Bourne has now started to come to terms with who he is and who he was and it’s really interesting and compelling to see how he deals with these issues when talking to certain people in some of these great dramatic moments. Stiles’ role once again increases with her return as Nicky Parsons, she has a lot more to do physically but also is very integral to the plot and Bourne’s missions and Stiles does such a fine job in this role. David Strathairn is new on the scene and does such a great job as Noah Vosen, he’s a new player in the CIA and he has his mission and when Bourne becomes a factor we learn how vicious and crafty he can be. Also Joan Allen really shines as Pamela Landy, she takes on more of a Ward Abbot role as she’s the one with experience with Bourne and knows how he operates and helps Vosen with finding Bourne. Landy is great at her job, but is also perceptive and can smell when something’s wrong and in this film we see that she does a moral compass and will break regulation to make sure that things are done correctly. I never even noticed Scott Glenn as Ezra Kramer before, but thanks to Daredevil I’m more aware of his appearances and he did really well as the director of the CIA. Paddy Considine is very good and intruging as Simon Ross, and Albert Finney is really good as Dr. Albert Hirsch. Oh and finally shout out to Daniel Brühl who I never even noticed until who plays Martin Kreutz!

In conclusion this Bourne trilogy of films is one of my favourite series of films and if it weren’t for The Bourne Legacy and the upcoming Jason Bourne, I would have labelled this as one of the most consistent film trilogies. We have some of the finest action, mystery and intrigue, and at the center of all this is a great story involving badass amnesiac who wants to find the truth. After seeing these films again I love them more so than before and my hype for the new film is SO high, I can only hope that this new film will have a story worth telling.

Also tell me what you think of these films in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

The Martian Review (SPOILER FREE)

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen, time for another film review and today I’ll be talking about The Martian. This is another film that’s been on my 2015 anticipated list, even when there was no footage, I had hope for the film considering that it had an interesting premise, Ridley Scott was directing and it featured Matt Damon. And after the trailers and early positive word of mouth I was excited to see this. So after seeing an early screening at Cineworld yesterday I’m ready to pass judgement!

The story can be described as the following:

“When a mission to Mars goes wrong for a group of team of astronauts, they escape, however one of their members, Mark Watney is left behind and presumed dead. With limited resources and a harsh environment to live in, Watney must fight for survival while communicating with NASA, other scientists and his crewmates on a rescue plan.”

I thought the story was really good. This is another film that focuses on survival, human ingenuity, endurance and spirit. I like how there was moral, ethical and logical dilemma’s for not only Mark, but his crewmates and the people at NASA as well, there wasn’t an easy way of doing things and for a lot of the choices that some of these characters made, there’d be sacrifices or negative consequences involved. I also appreciated the realism, the scientific talk and unpredictable nature of space, the Mars environment and spacecraft equipment. The film was also a lot funnier than I expected and I think it really helped ease the loneliness and dread. While this isn’t a brilliant or unique adventure, it is a solid and well-made film from director Ridley Scott, there is a sense of confidence and intelligence with Scott’s direction and I liked that aspect a lot.

The cast did such great work with their performances, but the main star is Matt Damon as Mark Watney. This is a character who is smart and courageous, but also has to deal with the fact that death is constantly present and could take him at any moment. Damon is a really great actor and I think a lot of people forget that, but here is allowed to be dramatic, charming, funny, frustrated and so much more, and a lot of the time he has to act alone, yet pretend like there is someone is watching and he pulls that off fairly well.

As for the people down on Earth I really liked Jeff Daniels as Teddy Sanders, he was an interesting character because he is a good person, but he also has to think of things from a business perspective and his decisions puts him at odds with his other staff members. Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose did pretty well and I think I think I liked her performance a lot mainly because it was the first time I’ve seen her in a serious role. Chiwetel Ejiofor as usual turns in a great performance Vincent Kapoor and Sean Bean was good as Mitch Henderson too.  Mackenzie Davis was cute and good in her role as Mindy Park, Benedict Wong was quite good as Bruce Ng and Donald Glover’s appearance as Rich Purnell was strange, humourous and entertaining for sure. As for the space-based characters, Jessica Chastain did well with her material as Melissa Lewis, she’s the most developed and important of the crew and has a lot of important decisions to make too. Michael Peña as Rick Martinez was also good, he had some humourous moments and good banter with Mark. Kate Mara was also good as Beth Johanssen, I also liked my man Sebastian Stan as Chris Beck and Aksel Hennie as Alex Vogel was good but a little forgettable. Together these characters had good chemistry and felt like a good team of individuals who cared about their mission but also for each other and Mark.

When it comes to the presentation it was really good. Visually this was a great experience. Spaced-based sci-fi films have been getting better with their special effects over the last few years with Prometheus, Guardians of the Galaxy and Gravity showing more and more impressive their art direction, realism and level of detail, and this film is no different. The Martian has wonderful cinematography, editing and sound design too. I was just stunned by the scenery of Mars, all the shots on the planet were gorgeous and the scenes in space were also very beautiful with great lighting and clarity. The film score by Harry Gregson-Williams was also quite good, William’s soundtracks tend to be a little hit and miss for me, but here he did a good job creating music that really amplified the action on-screen and it had many great moments elevating the emotional scenes.

In conclusion The Martian is a return to form for Ridley Scott, offering up a thrilling and dramatic story, great performances and brilliant production value. While I wouldn’t say it blew me away, it is definitely on the higher end of films I’ve seen post-summer season and in 2015 in general.

Rating: 8/10

So what did you think of The Martian? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them below and let me know. Until the next time, see ya later! 😀

 

Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass Return to the Bourne series!

Good day to you ladies and gents, time for some film news and boy is today’s story an interesting one. I just woke up around 20 minutes ago and scanned the internet as usual, then I see a news story about Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass returning to the Bourne film series, at first I think it is just another rumour, but to then see it on other sites as well, I realise that this is real and that I have to talk about it on my blog. So here I am! 😀 The following information comes from IGN:

Jason Bourne is back! Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass, who teamed for the second and third Bourne films (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum), are in the process of cutting deals with Universal Pictures to return for a third film together in the series.

Deadline has the report, which confirms Latino Review’s scoop from months ago that Damon would return to the titular character. Damon had always said he would not return without Greengrass, while the director had made it clear that he felt he had nowhere else to go with the character. Now, apparently, he feels differently.

Interestingly, Universal already had a Bourne film planned for a July 16, 2016, release, though that was to have been the Jeremy Renner-starring sequel to the spin-off picture The Bourne Legacy. But now the plan reportedly is to go into production first on the Damon/Greengrass film for the 2016 date and then follow up with the Renner sequel, which is to be directed by Fast & Furious franchise stalwart Justin Lin. This will enable Lin to focus on Season 2 of HBO’s True Detective, which he is in talks for.

Well, this is unexpected and I mean unexpected because I didn’t think it would happen. Now of course there have been rumours, whispers and conversations about Greengrass and Damon returning to this franchise for around 2 years now, but it was all just talk and I believed that both of them were done with this series and wanted to move on to different projects. But I guess it must have been a money issue or something that would have brought these 2 together again. Now, while I have been adamant about there being no need for any more Jason Bourne adventures, at the same time, this is Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, they make magic together and if there was ever a trusted set of people you would want to have in a series like Bourne, it would be them. I guess this means that Justin Lin will be out of the director’s chair  and while that sucks because I would have been interested in seeing what he brought to the series, it is Greengrass at the helm, this guy has yet to make  a bad film. So I wonder how this will affect Aaron Cross’ character, obviously The Bourne Legacy was his film and the way that film had ended it was clearly left open for a sequel, but now that Jason Bourne is coming back does this mean that Cross will be pushed to the side or will both characters have equal screen time? And will they team up or will they clash? There’s a lot of questions and possibilities in the air now, I guess we won’t know until Universal post an official story synopsis or if Greengrass, Damon or Renner have something to say in an interview at some point down the line.

In the end this is good news, I wasn’t overly interested in this franchise going forward with Aaron Cross, but now know that my boy Jason Bourne will be back makes me giddy with excitement. So what do you think of this news? Are you down with  Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass’ return to the Bourne series or does it not sit well with you at all? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to leave them in the comments below. Laters. 🙂

 

The Monuments Men Review

Howdy ladies and gents, I have returned again for another film review, yay! 😀 So after watching Her I checked out The Monuments Men, a film that had really caught my attention thanks to a good trailer and cool cast. The reviews for it after its release were pretty mixed, but I just had to have a look for myself. So how did it fare? Read on and find out!

So the story of the film follows an allied group, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, tasked with finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before their destruction by Hitler during World War II.

The premise for the film sounded great and I was hoping for something insightful, fun and dramatic, however what I got was a film set during war times with an unbalanced tone and a lack of engaging elements for around 60% of the film’s duration. I guess it also didn’t help that I nodded off a few times during the film, now to be fair to the film I went to be really late this morning. However the does take a while for it to get engaging as I found myself really irritable during the film wondering when something more interesting would happen. It wasn’t until the actual physical hut for the stolen art was in full-swing when the film got interesting.

When it comes to the cast they were fine for the most part, but no one really did anything overly amazing, having said that there were a few people that stood out. Bill Murray as Sgt. Richard Campbell and John Goodman as Sgt. Walter Garfield were clearly the best people in this film. Their performances were good, funny and charismatic and they were the center of attention when they acted. Also I really liked Bob Balaban as Pvt. Preston Savitz, he was pretty funny. Everyone else was okay and not really bad or great, but I do want to highlight that Cate Blanchett as Claire Simone was beautiful, I mean Blanchett is beautiful all of the time, but in this film there is one point when she gets dolled up and she look INCREDIBLE. Nuff said. One thing I did love was the soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat, this man has scored some of my favourite films in recent years so it is no surprise that I actually liked this music in this film.

In conclusion The Monuments Men was okay film, I had hope for so much more given the source material that was being used. The film just isn’t that interesting and suffers from an uneven tone of humour and drama. It is only thanks to the cast that the film isn’t a total failure. I do apologize if this review seems a little lacklustre however I don’t really have much to say about this film. I’m not actually gonna give this film a rating just because I don’t think I can in this case due to my indecisiveness and my lack of consciousness during a fair amount of the film too.

So what did you think of The Monuments Men? Have you seen or are you going to see it? Whatever your thoughts are drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo. 🙂

 

Elysium Review

Howdy people and welcome to another film review and today, after like 2 WEEKS after the film’s release I’m  FINALLY going to be reviewing Elysium. Now this was a film I’d been waiting to see for AGES, besides Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, The World’s End and The Wolverine, this was one of my key films to watch this summer. So after being let down by nearly all the films I saw this summer, I thought Elysium would be the one to rectify this and as it stands, its good, but not nearly as good as I’d hoped.

The story in this film goes a little something like this:

“In the year 2154 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds. “

I thought the plot in the film was good for the most part, but I can’t help but feel like it was a bit dull and lacking in originality. While watching the film I was trying to figure out where the film would go in terms of its direction and some of it I could tell from a mile away and some of it was harder to make out. I like the themes of the film involving social class, immigration and heath care, but some of it I feel could have been delved into a little deeper. What I did appreciate was the film’s raw and intense nature, the film doesn’t hide the fact that people on Earth are suffering and dying, everyone gets treated like shit and the laws in place for humans are just terrible with the robot enforcers being very difficult and uncaring about anyone. The social divide between the wealthy and the poor was nicely executed though I wish we got to see more of the snobby rich people, they felt more like window dressing than anything else. Max’s role in this whole thing was good though I wasn’t keen on how generically forced he was put into his situation.

When it comes to the characters they are all pretty much there and I didn’t care for the majority of them besides a special few. Let’s start with Matt Damon as Max Da Costa, he is basically the most important person in this film. He’s central character, I like his back story and personality traits, in this world of poverty, destruction and death he’s pretty level-headed and understands the reality of his situation. It’s only after a series of unfortunate circumstances force him into a situation where he has to become a hero and get to Elysium to change the fate of the world. Damon as always is wonderful to watch onscreen and he has a lovely screen presence and while this isn’t one of my favourite roles he’s done, it is certainly one that should be admired.

Jodie Foster as Jessica Delacourt was good as this very stern, badass Secretary of Defense chick whose job it was to keep all people from Earth off of Elysium and her radical methods make her a force to be dealt with. My only problem with Foster in this role is that her character doesn’t really have any kind of human personality to her, she comes across as very cold and militant, so I didn’t really care for her character. Also what was up with Foster’s accent, I couldn’t tell if she was American or some kind of British or French person, I think it was just due to the way that she pronounced certain words that threw me off.

But let’s talk about the standout performance that comes from Sharlto Copley as Agent C.M. Kruger, Jesus Christ this guy was a beast! I remember seeing Copley in District 9 and seeing how nice, friendly and innocent he was in that film, but he does a serious 180 in this film as he is this filthy mercenary who has series anger management issues and is a bit of a psycho. This man is just the baddest of the bad, heartless, ruthless and has a horrible history with people, in short he’s not someone you should fuck with. Copley plays his role to great effect and had me scared as to what he was gonna do next.

And then there’s the rest of the cast. Alice Braga as Frey Santiago is a decent character, she’s Max’s childhood friend and she serves her purpose in the film though I wasn’t too keen on how much she became part of the main plot. Diego Luna as Julio was another one of my favourite people, this guy is a tech expert and has some great moments with Damon. Wagner Moura as Spider is pretty decent and lastly William Fichtner was cool as John Carlyle, I’ve always had respect for Fichtner since his role in The Dark Knight and in this film while’s not doing anything as hardcore in this film, I thought he character was cool, devious and funny.

As much as it pains me to say this, the one thing about this film that stood out the most was the visuals. The presentation in this film is virtually flawless with some of the sharpest, cleanest and most detailed stuff I have ever seen. Granted a good few films have done that this year (Oblivion and Pacific Rim come to mind), but Elysium puts its CGI to good use as we get very detailed robots,  cool exoskeletons, kick ass guns that have varying results depending on which ones are used, an incredible-looking version of space and  the space station called Elysium itself looks gorgeous, it has a very simple yet practical design and I love everything about the way it looks.

In conclusion I enjoyed Elysium, it was pretty awesome and it featured some INCREDIBLE visuals, a wonderful central performance from Matt Damon and had a story just about good enough to keep you interested throughout. However I can’t help but feel like this film could have been more, Neill Blomkamp crafted something insanely specially with District 9 and its hard not to look at this film and feel slightly disappointed that it wasn’t of the same or even higher caliber. But in the end I’m glad I watched it and I’d still recommend it to anyone looking for a slightly more involved science fiction film.

Rating: 7.5/10 (Twas a great film but not nearly as amazing as I was expecting)

So what did you lot think of Elysium? Did you like it or were you disappointed? Whatever your thoughts are drop them below in the comments section and I’ll see ya on the next review yo!

 

Matt Damon Says Bourne Legacy Hinders His Return

I found this article to be very interesting from just the title alone. The Bourne film series became introduced its fourth part thanks to The Bourne Legacy starring Jeremy Renner, and while it wasn’t bad, it clearly didn’t hold a candle to the previous three films starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Now there was a lot of rumours and supposed talk that maybe Matt Damon would return to the Bourne franchise in a future film possibly going up against Jeremy Renner. However it’s always looked iffy as to whether Damon would return to the series, but now in this IGN article it seems like his mind is made up. Read on below:

“Last time Bourne Identity star Matt Damon was out doing press rounds, he had yet to see the action franchise’s latest installment, The Bourne Legacy, which starred Jeremy Renner in his stead. Now, though, the actor has apparently given the film a watch, although it sounds like it will be even more difficult for him to re-enter the series as a result.

“I did see it,” Damon told The Playlist. When asked what he thought of the film, he replied, “I think it’s going to make it harder for us to make another one. I’m just trying to figure out like… Because they used our characters, anything that happens in that world, that’s the Bourne world now. So the pill popping and all that stuff happens.” The pill popping Damon is referring to is the drug enhancement subplot featuring Renner’s character.

Damon was also posed the big question: What about doing another movie with Renner? To that, the actor sounded even less optimistic. “I don’t know what that story would be,” he said. “I love Jeremy and I’m a huge fan of him and I know him personally and love him outside of work, too. But I just don’t know what that story would be. I could never see Bourne teaming up with anyone. And all he said was — he wanted out, he wanted out, he wanted out. So how do you get that character going again?”

Damon noted this was the same issue they were confronted with when a fourth film was originally proposed. “Literally, we couldn’t figure out how to do it three years ago,” he said. “[The studio] said to us, ‘Why don’t you guys do one?’ And we said, ‘We don’t know what to do!’ So once they realized we weren’t going to solve that problem, they went a totally different way.”

So, for now, it sounds like Damon is off the franchise. That is, until they can think of a good reason to bring back Jason Bourne.”

Well I for one am happy about his decision. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Bourne series never needed a fourth film and should have stayed as a trilogy. The first three films were solid and didn’t need another instalment regardless of the source material that you could potentially work from. And while the idea of Bourne going up again Aaron Cross sounds interesting, I can’t help but feel like it would work without the right director and proper good writers. Well whatever, I just hope that Matt Damon sticks to his logical decision and stays away from making more Bourne films. He gave us three good ones already; he should just leave it at that.

 

Films I’m Looking Forward to in 2012: The Bourne Legacy

Howdy ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another instalment of Films I’m Looking Forward to in 2012 and today’s film may surprise some of you as it the upcoming fourth instalment in the Bourne film series; The Bourne Legacy.

Now if you’re like me and you’ve seen The Bourne Trilogy with Matt Damon then you know how brilliant those films are and the significance that they hold. While the films don’t revolutionize the world of cinema or anything like that, The Bourne Trilogy is well-made, perfectly executed and one of the most consistent trilogies in recent years along with the Toy Story and The Lord of the Rings. This trilogy first started in 2002 with The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, a man found in a critical condition with no memory of his past. After he is nursed to health he starts to patch things together and then goes on a mission to find his past, also add into the mix that he’s being hunted by assassins and the involvement of the CIA and you have a lot on your plate. Luckily Jason Bourne is up for the challenge. The Bourne Identity is one of those wonderful films that impresses you from start to finish, it’s not one of those thriller type of movies just for the sake of it. This film has all the codes and conventions of a great thriller film, it’s smart, with a well though out and thought-provoking story, it’s also action-packed and has characters you can get invested in and care about. Doug Liman did a fine job as the director, Matt Damon was awesome in the film and it was well-received by critics and the public audience.

And with the success of the first film, the Bourne series continued with the next two titles in the series; The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), now both under the direction of Paul Greengrass. The next two Bourne films continued Jason Bourne story as he continued to search for answers to his past and dive deeper into the business with the CIA and Treadstone. Just like Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum continue to impress and go from strength to strength developing the characters and creating a very interesting story full of a web of conspiracy, lies and deceit. And besides some issues with the “shaky camera” work from certain scenes The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum were well-received, commercially successful and The Bourne Ultimatum even won three Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing at the 80th Academy Awards. After this point the Bourne series had established itself as a pretty successful film trilogy.

A solid trilogy… There was no need for a fourth film. Darn money-hungry film studios.

The films are partially based on a series of books by Robert Ludlum, and while I have never read the books personally I’ve heard they are pretty good. Now embarrassingly I didn’t get around to watching any of these films until around 2009 to 2010 I think, I’d always heard of them but had never really been interested. But after being in a media class and watching a number of thriller films I gave these films a watch and I fell in love with them. The current Bourne Trilogy is one of my favourite trilogies ever, it was perfect, consistent and fine the way it was. I could watch those films over and over for an eternity…

So imagine my frustration and to find that there was potentially going to be another film.

I am a firm believer that most film series should never go beyond a third film unless there really is a need for it like if the third film sucked or if there is much more story to divulge. The Bourne Trilogy was solid, there really wasn’t a need for another film. Sure there were still some questions left unanswered still leaving the door open for more material but I feel the series ended with enough closure. So in 2008 it was reported that Paul Greengrass was going to direct again and Matt Damon was going to play Jason Bourne again. Then in 2009 Greengrass pulled out as director and then in 2010 Damon pulled out stating that he wouldn’t make another Bourne film without Greengrass and also said that the next film for him wouldn’t be made for 5 years. At that point it seemed like Bourne was going to be left alone, well at least that’s what I had hoped. It was announced by the writer and new director Tony Gilroy that the new film would be going ahead under the name The Bourne Legacy. His words on the justification of this new film’s existence caught my eye though, check it out:

“This is not a reboot, it’s a whole new chapter. The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal. Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he’s very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for The Bourne Legacy, and everyone who got into them will be rewarded for paying attention. I’m building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy. We’re going to show you the bigger picture, the bigger canvas… The world we’re making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne’s reappearance somewhere down the road.”

So basically this film would be building around the world that the first three films were set in? Hmmmm. While it was a smart way to stay connected to the previous films I was still wary. But I don’t think it was until 2011 when Jeremy Renner was announced as the new title character of the Bourne series. Right there and then I think many people on the internet became unhappy with the choice. I mean no offence to the guy, he’s a good actor and I know he can do action and thriller-based work from what I saw in The Town, but stepping into the world of Bourne just didn’t fit for a lot of us. I guess we were all too attached to Matt Damon. But then who wouldn’t be? Filming also started in 2011 and then Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton were cast and I was like “What? Really? Okay I’m a little more interested now.” Firstly Rachel Weisz is not only a great actress but she’s hot as hell and Edward Norton is great actor too full of talent, so if this film could attract them then this film might be worth checking out.

But my interest wasn’t properly caught until this short trailer came out in February:

I saw this trailer and I had to actually watch it twice, it was nicely stylized, had the same sort of tone from the previous films and it showcased Jeremy Renner basically doing what Matt Damon did before; basically going to get answers and beating guys up in stylish ways. But obviously in a totally different environment and under different circumstances. Renner certainly looked combat-ready and able to handle himself. However I can’t help but think that this film shouldn’t exist or that it won’t compare to the previous titles. I know that’s close-minded, but it’s only because of my opinions on film series’ being overstretched. I am really interested in The Bourne Legacy just to see what Jeremy Renner and crew do with this one, whether it’ll be compared the previous films and stand on its own or whether it’ll fail. I guess we’ll just have to wait until August to find out. Either way, this summer has just gotten hotter with another interesting summer movie.