MATT DAMOOOON
The Bourne Trilogy
Wow, two trilogies in a row! I feel so accomplished, I feel like I'm really doing something important! Yes, I am, because watching movies is the most important thing ever. Ever.
Back in 1980, Robert Ludlum wrote a book called The Bourne Identity, about an amnesiac assassin trying to piece together his past while not getting shot full of holes. It was an exciting book, a well-told story with a likeable main character that eventually got a 1988 TV movie that not many people remember and then the big-screen treatment in 2002 with Matt Damon in the lead. Back when I first saw the trailer (and only knew of the book's existence), I was worried at the sight of Matt Damon in martial arts-ish fight sequences, because the closest thing I'd ever seen to big-name non-action stars doing martial arts was McG's Charlie's Angels, the action sequences of which are about as appealing to me as giving myself a swirly.
Thankfully, Damon did not disappoint, despite the fact that director Doug Liman only has Damon use the same three fucking moves in every fight scene. In a way, I can understand it from a tactical standpoint--block the opponent's attack, kick them in the leg, then elbow them in the head, then rinse and repeat--and also from a character standpoint in that Bourne must have had that very sequence drilled into him over and over and over again to the point where it's just reflex, but when you're watching a movie and you expect the hero to do a particular set of movements--and then he does!--it starts to wear a bit thin after the tenth guy he flawlessly pulls it off on, kinda like how Bruce Lee would always do a big roundhouse kick to a spinning back kick at around the three-quarter mark in most of his film fights, then end it off with a badass animal growl screech.
That also seemed to be the focus of the first movie's action--to get Bourne into as much hand-to-hand as possible to show off just how much Matt Damon trained for this movie. Not to make light of the hard work Damon put in, but when Paul Greengrass took over the series and did the second and third films, Bourne really only got one or two barehanded action scenes, with the movies instead focusing on the character and the tense plotline instead of the novelty of indie actor Matt Damon as a hardline action hero. Sure, all three films feature at least one creative gunfight, one really well-shot car chase per film, and one "signature" hand-to-hand fight in each film where Bourne improvises Jackie Chan-style, albeit with much deadlier results.
Of particular note is this scene:
which actually looks like a fight, in how fast it is and how Bourne actually hurts his opponents to the point where they won't really want to get up again. This sets the action apart from a lot of action movies with similar mixes of gunplay and martial arts, where the movements are heavily stylized and very cool-looking, but also don't really have any weight.
One thing I kept noticing while watching the movies was just how well everybody was dressed--not in a James Bond way where everybody was wearing exceptionally nice suits or dresses, but how Bourne has made the comfortable-looking wool sweater acceptable action-scene wear, or how normally-forgettable-to-me Julia Stiles looks so damn good in these movies. Even the villains--Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, and David Straitharn--come across as exceptionally intelligent without appearing unrealistically slick. They're bad men who honestly feel they're doing the right thing for their country, and taking a little bit for themselves at the same time. Sure, they're no physical equal for the action hero--but that's not the point, the point is that their machinations are more than enough to run Bourne ragged by the end of the movie, where the based-in-physical-skill hero must fight the type of battle he may not necessarily be comfortable in.
I'm glad to see that this is the direction that modern action movies are going in--Shooter was a little too similar to these movies in execution of plot and action, but I'd rather take that over endless wirework and needless CG.
Next: Going back to the two-movie format, the next up for viewing are Braveheart and Broken Arrow.
Wow, two trilogies in a row! I feel so accomplished, I feel like I'm really doing something important! Yes, I am, because watching movies is the most important thing ever. Ever.
Back in 1980, Robert Ludlum wrote a book called The Bourne Identity, about an amnesiac assassin trying to piece together his past while not getting shot full of holes. It was an exciting book, a well-told story with a likeable main character that eventually got a 1988 TV movie that not many people remember and then the big-screen treatment in 2002 with Matt Damon in the lead. Back when I first saw the trailer (and only knew of the book's existence), I was worried at the sight of Matt Damon in martial arts-ish fight sequences, because the closest thing I'd ever seen to big-name non-action stars doing martial arts was McG's Charlie's Angels, the action sequences of which are about as appealing to me as giving myself a swirly.
Thankfully, Damon did not disappoint, despite the fact that director Doug Liman only has Damon use the same three fucking moves in every fight scene. In a way, I can understand it from a tactical standpoint--block the opponent's attack, kick them in the leg, then elbow them in the head, then rinse and repeat--and also from a character standpoint in that Bourne must have had that very sequence drilled into him over and over and over again to the point where it's just reflex, but when you're watching a movie and you expect the hero to do a particular set of movements--and then he does!--it starts to wear a bit thin after the tenth guy he flawlessly pulls it off on, kinda like how Bruce Lee would always do a big roundhouse kick to a spinning back kick at around the three-quarter mark in most of his film fights, then end it off with a badass animal growl screech.
That also seemed to be the focus of the first movie's action--to get Bourne into as much hand-to-hand as possible to show off just how much Matt Damon trained for this movie. Not to make light of the hard work Damon put in, but when Paul Greengrass took over the series and did the second and third films, Bourne really only got one or two barehanded action scenes, with the movies instead focusing on the character and the tense plotline instead of the novelty of indie actor Matt Damon as a hardline action hero. Sure, all three films feature at least one creative gunfight, one really well-shot car chase per film, and one "signature" hand-to-hand fight in each film where Bourne improvises Jackie Chan-style, albeit with much deadlier results.
Of particular note is this scene:
Click to viewwhich actually looks like a fight, in how fast it is and how Bourne actually hurts his opponents to the point where they won't really want to get up again. This sets the action apart from a lot of action movies with similar mixes of gunplay and martial arts, where the movements are heavily stylized and very cool-looking, but also don't really have any weight.
One thing I kept noticing while watching the movies was just how well everybody was dressed--not in a James Bond way where everybody was wearing exceptionally nice suits or dresses, but how Bourne has made the comfortable-looking wool sweater acceptable action-scene wear, or how normally-forgettable-to-me Julia Stiles looks so damn good in these movies. Even the villains--Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, and David Straitharn--come across as exceptionally intelligent without appearing unrealistically slick. They're bad men who honestly feel they're doing the right thing for their country, and taking a little bit for themselves at the same time. Sure, they're no physical equal for the action hero--but that's not the point, the point is that their machinations are more than enough to run Bourne ragged by the end of the movie, where the based-in-physical-skill hero must fight the type of battle he may not necessarily be comfortable in.
I'm glad to see that this is the direction that modern action movies are going in--Shooter was a little too similar to these movies in execution of plot and action, but I'd rather take that over endless wirework and needless CG.
Next: Going back to the two-movie format, the next up for viewing are Braveheart and Broken Arrow.