Hey folks, Harry here with what sounds like a horrible time in a movie theater. Sure it is just a weigh in from Pike, but whew it seems from this review that nothing really works in this thing. Well, it is still early, perhaps things will be improved... perhaps Pike's opinion will be a minority opinion... But for now, here's what we got...
Harry:
Very surprised no one has weighed in on last night's screening of THE BOURNE IDENTITY in Universal City.
Maybe it's because it has got to be the WORST FILM OF THE YEAR. Now, to be fair, the color wasn't timed, but this film looks pretty finished. And it is atrocious.
Let's start with the exceedingly boring script of a CIA assassin who can't remember who he is. Problem is, that as all the pieces start to come together we don't care who he was. You also have to be an idiot not to figure it out before he does. Yet, when they explain what's going on, it makes absolutely no sense, as one character actually contradicts himself just as a flashback is telling us what happened.
Next the acting. Damon looks like he were back in Vegas on the OCEANS set the whole time. And I can't blame him. Having to act alongside Franka Potente (who I love usually) as she can't seem what accent she wants to have in the film. German? French? American? Scottish? And Chris Cooper is doing all he can just to make every scene he's in seem ominous despite the aforementioned bad script.
And finally...Doug Liman just CAN NOT direct action. What should have been a great car chase between a mini and the police is so poorly shot and edited that he just is not up to this task. Every frame of this film is boring. There are those that will call this film "Hitchcockian" but they are most likely from Universal. And fat boy should be turning in his grave if they do. This is dreck of the highest order. Avoid this one folks...you have been warned.
Pike Bishop.
Meanwhile CallerFromLA just wrote in with a different take on the film. One that is a bit more hopeful, and he's a long term AICNer... a bit more trusted. So here ya go...
Heya hiyas. Caller From LA here with a non-spoiler report on The Bourne Identity, coming out of Universal Studios and into a theater near you.
Overall: This film is a great realistic spy thriller (albeit with a boring performance from lead Matt Damon) for the first 100 minutes, and then it gets a bit unrealistic during the climax and ho-hum during the end scenes. I recommend it, at matinee price, and shall I say it...also at full price.
Story: I read the Robert Ludlam novel five years ago on the steps of a beachhouse in New Hampshire, and the basic plot is followed in the film. An unknown man floating in European waters is picked up by a nearby boat. The man has two bullets in his body, a code hidden on his body, and amnesia. As he follows the clues, he learns that he may be Jason Bourne, and he may be involved in some shady government scheme.
Screenplay is from Tony Gilroy, who has been doing adaptations (Dolores Claiborne, Proof of Life) and W. Blake Herron. As I said, it was a decent enough adaptation of the book...the writers simply let the story be told and then got out of the way...good work. Not once in this film is the word 'spy' ever used, which feels more like real life in the CIA.
The problems come in the climax. Within the span of 30 seconds of film, Damon uses an unexplainable gadget, climbs a wall, and disables the phone and electricity. And that makes the film go from the category of "Great" to "Good". Indeed, the last five minutes are a typical Hollywood ending.
Direction: Doug Liman (Go, Swingers) serves up a great spy thriller. The setup tells the audience that we are in the real world of physics, and not in a James Bond-car-leaps-over-chasms universe. This approach gives way to one of the top ten car chases I've seen on film, a suspenseful hide-and-seek game between two assasins in a wheat field, and a nice wall-climbing (no spider webbing) suspense scene.
This is not a beautiful Europe he is taking us through; it is simply the real metropolitan European cities, rain and muck in the gutter and all. No cinematography trophies here.
Acting: Matt Damon does not display an emotion until 60 minutes into the film. I know he can do it, he displays a wonderful range of emotions on the boat in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Here's a guy with doesn't know about his spy past...you can take it lightly like Cary Grant in North by Northwest, or you can play it heavy and dark like Cruise in Vanilla Sky. Damon took neither road, instead he simply stopped.
Franka Potente is great here. Her character is the gypsy lady, pulled into Bourne's world. Immediately, you care for what happens to her, by her simple glances and line delivery. She needs to be in more great films.
All the other actors (Clive Owens, Brian Cox, etc.) are serviceable, except for Julia Stiles, who simply seems miscast here as a low-level agent. Took me out of the film too much.
Notes: This film opens on June 14th against Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Scooby-Doo, and Windtalkers. HSX.com has this making $21 million opening weekend, but I think that will a little strecth considering the Windtalkers ad campaign.
---
Also, I see Changing Lanes is coming out. I don't recommend it, my review is somewhere on the AICN site, which is down as I write this article. Save your money, and see 51st State (my review is also on AICN) in a matinee later in the month.
Cheers,
--Caller From L.A.
