Review #1,078: 'The Bourne Supremacy' (2004)

When we left Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) at the end of the previous film, The Bourne Identity (2002), he had managed to out-think and out-fight the CIA operatives gunning for his head, and had seemingly found a happy ending for himself in Goa, India with his girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente). But the laws of franchise film-making mean that the shady types hunting him down the last time still want him dead to tie off any loose ends, and Bourne must again use his CIA-trained super-soldier skills to escape anything coming his way. Dumping director Doug Liman turned out to be the wisest choice the producers made. No disrespect to Liman - Identity was a well-made film - but the hiring of Brit Paul Greengrass took the series to a whole new level.

Jason Bourne is still trying to piece together his memories - which appear to him in dreams Manchurian Candidate style - keeping a scrapbook in the hope of unravelling the mystery. One day he notices a man who looks oddly out of place, and Bourne's suspicions turn out to be justified as the man, played by Karl Urban, quickly tries to kill him, accidentally shooting Marie in the crossfire and leaving Bourne once again on the run and trying to figure out the plot against him. As we learn in the opening scene of the film, Bourne has been framed by some Russians for killing CIA agents during an operation overlooked by Deputy Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) to obtain some important documents on one of Bourne's previous kills.

The film takes Bourne to Naples, Munich and Moscow, but what makes this series superior to the continent-hopping of James Bond and his quest to bed every woman he comes across is Bourne's skill-set, as well as the gravitas Matt Damon brings to the role. Whether or not he will survive the encounter was never in question (especially with the knowledge that this is part of a book series by Robert Ludlum focusing on the character), but what makes it so thrilling is the way he dodges every bullet fired at him and dispatches every brooding assassin sent to get him. By keeping the action once again grounded, the fight scenes are brutal and messy (Bourne even convincingly beats someone up with a rolled-up magazine). Greengrass brings his famous shaky-cam to the proceedings, and although it occasionally induces sea-sickness, it transports you right in the middle of the fight.

Away from the action, a group of suits similar the ones in the previous film employ every spy trick in their power to track and take down their target, while trying to decipher Bourne's actions and motivations. It's incredibly similar to the plot of Identity, and in many ways to the next film, The Bourne Ultimatum, but you'll find it difficult to care that you're essentially watching the same film again when the action is this good. Greengrass also brings a dramatic edge that Liman failed to infuse into his film, with Bourne seeking out the daughter of a married couple he executed while still working for Treadstone in the hope of seeking forgiveness for his actions. That's not to say that Bourne spends the majority of the film pouting and brooding - the film is too fast-paced to stop and catch its breath for too long - but Damon does some great understated work here, and this is the main attraction, at least to me, of the trilogy.


Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban
Country: USA/Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,077: 'The Bourne Identity' (2002)

Few could have expected the affect Doug Liman's adaptation of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity would have on action cinema, and on the career of star Matt Damon, when it was released back in 2002. This well-crafted, relatively low-key action thriller takes the done-to-death spy-with-amnesia story and runs with it, avoiding the lure of throwing in Michael Bay-esque explosions and wisely keeping things grounded, as shady government types in dull black suits stare at computer monitors and make demands to their younger cronies that they have the information they require 'yesterday'.

In the Mediterranean Sea, a fishing vessel picks up a man near death with two bullet holes in his back. The on-board doctor tends to his wounds and pulls a small device from his hip, which reveals a Swiss bank account number when activated. The man has no memory of who he is, and so heads to Zurich to recover a safe deposit box that contains multiple identities, a wad of cash in different currencies, and a gun. He opts to go by the name on his American passport, Jason Bourne, but soon finds himself chased by a shadowy agency called Treadstone, seemingly led by the ruthless Conklin (Chris Cooper). Evading capture at the American embassy, he pays pretty German lady Marie (Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris in the hope of discovering who he is and who is after him.

Jason Bourne can now be spoken in the same breath as James Bond, and in fact makes the British super-spy seem ridiculous in comparison, especially the Pierce Brosnan incarnation. Bourne is infinitely more interesting because he is conflicted, tortured by a past of mass-murder and seeking to make amends for his actions. While the action scenes thrill in a refreshingly unspectacular way, it's Bourne's tender relationship with Marie that generate the most sparks. Potente is lovely in the role, and her naturalism and chemistry with Damon is the film's biggest positive, and there are smart turns from Cooper and Brian Cox as the grumpy old agency men and Clive Owen as a dead-eyed fellow assassin. While it may pale in comparison to the bar-raising Paul Greengrass sequels, Identity is still a nifty thriller with characters to actually care about.


Directed by: Doug Liman
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles
Country: USA/Germany/Czech Republic

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #744: 'X2' (2003)

Seemingly using the first film to practice big-budget movie-making, Bryan Singer followed the mediocre X-Men (2000) with X2 (one of many dodgy titles attributed to the film), a balls-out, mutant mash-up full of genuine characters focus, an intriguing storyline, and set-pieces worthy of the money it earned. In fact, the opening scene, which depicts newcomer Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), a mutant with a forked tail and the ability to teleport, attack a small army of helpless government agents to get through to the President, blows anything the first film had to offer right out of the water.

With mutant antagonist Magneto (Ian McKellen) imprisoned in a plastic cell, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) is focusing his time on helping the maturing students at his school for gifted youngsters. He has sent Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to Alkali Lake, in the hope of helping him discover more about his past, but he finds nothing but an abandoned military base. After the attack on the President, government operative William Stryker (Brian Cox) leads an attack on the unsuspecting Xavier's school, capturing Xavier and Cyclops (James Marsden) in order to strengthen his mysterious plans.

The plot summary is as compressed as can be, as, like the first film, X2 has a lot of big personalities with big, special powers with their own individual stories to tell to cram into a two-hour film. Although there are mutants with far more interesting powers and greater physical potential, the focus remains on the fan-favourite Wolverine. It's Jackman's enigmatic performance that makes him so easily likeable, and he is finally allowed to roam free here. There are no soft fights where nobody dies as in X-Men; Wolverine massacres many of Stryker's men during the attack on the school. When he first drives his claws into an agent who makes the mistake of firing on him, it is the first of many air-punching moments throughout the film.

It's hard to fathom a threat that could actually make a dent in a race of people with such unbelievable powers, so Stryker, a man with no liking for mutants but a fascination with harnessing their powers, has found a way to subdue them. Seeing a mutant like Magneto so helpless is oddly affecting, so, after his spectacular prison break-out, he becomes a sort of anti-hero, doing the kind of dirty work Xavier would not lower himself to. But ultimately, it's the Xavier-Magneto good vs. evil fight that remains the most fascinating, and even with Stryker playing the main villain, Magneto is far from forgotten and has plans to bend Stryker's actions to his own personal gain.

It's a shame then that X2 marks the high-point of the series. There is now a remarkable 7 instalments set in the X-universe, and although X-Men: First Class (2011) injected some life back in the series, and hopes are high for the new X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), none have come close to the kind of energy and invention of this. Though you could complain about the lack of a coherent narrative, and that some of the minor characters are left out to dry, X2 is a near-perfect superhero movie, and is still Marvel's greatest achievement. And with almost 15 years of men in tights and capes, that is high praise indeed.


Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming
Country: Canada/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #725: 'Zodiac' (2007)

You would be forgiven if you went into David Fincher's Zodiac expecting a routine serial killer flick, but, although it opens with two memorably brutal murders, it puts aside character and plot to simply document the case of the Zodiac killer in the late 1960's and into the early 70's. The problem is, he was never caught, so Zodiac draws you into the jigsaw puzzle that was the search for the killer, only to be frequently met with dead ends and red herrings. The three lead characters come and go throughout the film, but this is not about them, it's ultimately about the fear that gripped San Francisco when the Zodiac was on the prowl.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, a letter arrives from someone claiming to be the Zodiac killer, who has already shot a young couple in their car. The letter demands publication, and offers a puzzle involving strange symbols as a means of uncovering his identity. This draws in Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), who, despite his interest, is not taken seriously by the staff, who include crime reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.). The Zodiac strikes again, attacking a couple in a park and shooting a taxi driver in the back of the head. Police detectives David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) are brought in to investigate, and liaise with Avery and Graysmith, whose lives start to be consumed by the case.

Fincher is obviously comfortable in this setting, having already brought to life the eternally drizzly and grim world of Se7en (1995) and the miserable confines of modern corporate life in Fight Club (1999). Zodiac is a mixture of both, here filmed digitally, and here combines a grimy brown colour palette with Fincher's recognisable eye for the stylish. It takes pride in its detail, grinding out excitement within the most mundane of activities. In Zodiac, a close-up of handwriting or the discovery of a previously ignored newspaper clipping become just as tense as any action scene. After all, this is a film about the case, so such close observation is as vital as it is entertaining.

The acting is top class across the board, with Mark Ruffalo, a character actor who has gone underrated for far too long, standing out in the least showy role of the lead trio. Downey Jr. brings his natural charisma to the boozy, erratic Avery, and Gyllenhaal, given the most screen-time (his character wrote the book the film is based on) is a likeable underdog. The characters aren't given much time to breathe between the fast-talk conversations and the digging for clues, but its the Zodiac himself that looms largest over the film. He is barely seen outside of the opening half hour, but his presence is never far away in Fincher's nervous San Francisco. And there lies the film's genius. Impeccably directed, brilliantly written, and utterly terrifying.


Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards, John Carroll Lynch, Chloë Sevigny, Elias Koteas, Brian Cox
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #675: '25th Hour' (2002)

In the year following the 9/11 attacks on New York and America, film-makers and producers were still tip-toeing around the subject, even going as far as digitally removing the World Trade Centre from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trailer. Never one to shy away from confronting a controversial subject head-on, director Spike Lee made 25th Hour, a story of young Irish-American drug dealer Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) celebrating his last day of freedom before he gets banged up for 7 years. Brogan serves as a metaphor for the post-9/11 America - unsure, paranoid, angry, disillusioned. In the first scene, we see him younger, happier, and saving a dying dog with his Russian friend Kostya (Tony Siragusa), but this was before he got busted, and, presumably, before 9/11.

Lee is hardly subtle about his allegories, and the opening credits are shown over images of the beams of light shooting up in the air at Ground Zero, representing the fallen towers of the World Trade Centre. In another scene, Monty's two best friends Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Frank (Barry Pepper) discuss Monty's future once he gets out of prison. Frank's apartment overlooks Ground Zero, and Frank explains how nothing can ever be the same, both for their relationship with Monty, and for America. The presence of Ground Zero looms like some unshakeable ghost, almost serving as a character itself. Jacob and Frank's lives are hitting a sort-of midlife crisis also. Jacob is channelling his "liberal guilt" into sexually obsessing over a young student of his (Anna Paquin) and Jacob's Red Bull and stock market-fuelled existence is reaching breaking point.

Of course, this being a Spike Lee 'joint' (how I wish he'd stop calling them that), the subject of race is never far away, and Lee confronts this in a standout scene that comes out of nowhere. Monty, after a dinner with his guilt-ridden father (Brian Cox), goes into the bathroom of his father's bar for his reflection to launch into a rant about his hatred for the many ethnic groups that reside in New York. "Fuck the Sikhs and Pakistanis bombing down the avenues in their decrepit cabs, fuck the Korean grocers, fuck the Russians and the Chassidim," he shouts. He also fucks the church, the Wall Street bankers and rich trophy wives. This is a man focusing his anger at anybody, and much like Lee's masterpiece Do the Right Thing (1989), the film manages to capture what many were feeling at the time.

All allegories aside, 25th Hour holds it's own as a drama. There's no twist and turns or gunfights, and the only real tension comes from people's suspicions of Monty's girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) being possibly the one who fingered Monty. But there's no need for it, as Lee's aim here is to create something all the more sombre and reflective. The cast are superb, especially Norton and Pepper, the latter proving that his talents have gone unrecognised for far too long with a performance of self-destructive narcissism. The social messages can be heavy-handed at times, and it goes on for far too long, but the ending provides an outstanding fantasy prologue of blind optimism. One of the most honest depictions of America ever made.


Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #214: 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' (2011)

Back in 2001, everything was in place to re-launch a much-loved, yet dated franchise, that was first kicked off way back in 1968 with Planet of the Apes. The mythology was already laid out, and was ripe to be adjusted, experimented with, and ultimately improved upon. The re-make had an interesting (if overrated) director in Tim Burton, who had made a bona fide classic with Edward Scissorhands (1990) and the fantastic and lovingly-rendered Ed Wood (1994). In came up-and-coming A-lister Mark Wahlberg who had impressed in Boogie Nights (1997) and Three Kings (1999), and great support in Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter. Then the film came out. And it was shit. And worst of all it didn't make sense. It took ten years to recover, and thankfully another attempt has been made to kick this franchise up the arse. Only this time it seems like they've put some thought into it.

Dr. Rodman (James Franco) is on the verge of discovering the cure for Alzheimer's disease. He tests his drugs on apes, and when one the apes shows remarkable advances in intelligence, he believes he has it. But when pitching his product to investors, the ape escapes and goes on a rampage, only to be shot dead. It turns out she was only protecting her newly-born child, who Rodman takes home to care for. His Alzheimers-suffering father Charles (John Lithgow) is taken by the chimp and they name it Caesar. But as Caesar grows physically, he does so mentally too. He starts to notice that he is more a pet than family to Rodman, and when Caesar attacks a neighbour, he is taken into care by the sadistic John Landon (Brian Cox) and his son Dodge (Tom Felton). While there, Caesar rebels against the cruelty, and educates his fellow chimp-mates.

While Franco may be top billed, the film is stolen by Andy Serkis as Caesar. Of course, the special effects are a marvel and are often flawless. But the character breaks through the effects, and at Caesar's core there is something ultimately human and real. He is the film's heart, if you will, and the film would fall flat on it's face if Caesar was not successfully drawn. Serkis seems to be the go-to guy when a director wants the movements for an entirely CG-character (Gollum, King Kong), and it's clear why. He made Gollum possibly the most memorable character in the last twenty years, and here he shines in the quieter moments, as he broods in his cell, contemplating and absorbing his surroundings. His eyes speak louder than words. It's a triumph of effects and acting.

While there is plenty to enjoy about the film - it is as exciting, action-packed, and as intelligent as you would hope a blockbuster would be - there are some negatives. It's unclear as to why Brian Cox was cast in a relatively thin role that any actor could play, and Freida Pinto, one of the stars of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008), is wasted and is nothing more than eye-candy. Tom Felton, clearly cast for his twat-like qualities, highlighted in his role as Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, is given a rather cartoon bad guy to play, and the script never really allows the character rise above cliche.

But these are rather minor quibbles in what is a thoroughly enjoyable film, that equals it's CG-fuelled visuals with brains and genuine heart. A great start to what is hopefully an interesting franchise, and more than enough to diminish those terrible memories of Tim Burton's terrible 2001 re-make.


Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis, John Lithgow, Freida Pinto, Brian Cox, Tom Felton
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie