Ultimatum schmultimatum
Saturday, I attended an awesome birthday brunch for my lovely friend Anna, and eventually the conversation came around to that inescapable topic, the Bourne Ultimatum. And, as a bevy of girls (plus Dan) all gushed about how awesome it was, I stupidly fessed up and said I hadn't seen any of them, which was met with a collective "WHAT?!?!?!?!" It's not like I've been boycotting, it's just I never got around to seeing the first, and accordingly didn't want to see the second, etc. At any rate, I went to see "Ultimatum" last night, and I gotta say (with SPOILERS)...
Minus a few small questions, I followed the story completely, so I don't think my dislike had much to do with not seeing the first two films. And I actually liked large chunks of it...which was part of the problem: The early scenes in London outshined anything later in the film, and the NYC climax is dull dull dull. What's that you say? He doesn't remember who he is because he's been trained by a covert op by the government? Didn't we know that from the first TRAILER for the first movie?! If the big reveal is that he willingly signed up to slaughter, it plays like common knowledge...perhaps because Damon doesn't move his face um...ever.
After hearing all the tales of whooping audiences, it's entirely possible that the viewing conditions have a good deal to do with one's impressions of the film (let's put it this way-- Joan Allen dissing Strathairn's egg white omlette got the most vocal response in my screening). Or maybe I just can't get around the way Greengrass shoots his actions scenes and deploys the same damn memory flashes over and over. Or maybe my qualms come from all of the labored "I've-got-my-gun-pressed-to-your-temple-but-grrr-must-not-shoot-must-be-better-man!" moments of borderline constipated acting on Damon's part. Maybe I just don't buy that in this "realistic" action context, Bourne could survive falling like a ton of bricks from a skyscraper into a river.
Don't get me wrong, it was totally watchable, but not nearly as thrilling as I was anticipating.
I mean, who *hasn't* killed someone with just a book before?
Minus a few small questions, I followed the story completely, so I don't think my dislike had much to do with not seeing the first two films. And I actually liked large chunks of it...which was part of the problem: The early scenes in London outshined anything later in the film, and the NYC climax is dull dull dull. What's that you say? He doesn't remember who he is because he's been trained by a covert op by the government? Didn't we know that from the first TRAILER for the first movie?! If the big reveal is that he willingly signed up to slaughter, it plays like common knowledge...perhaps because Damon doesn't move his face um...ever.
After hearing all the tales of whooping audiences, it's entirely possible that the viewing conditions have a good deal to do with one's impressions of the film (let's put it this way-- Joan Allen dissing Strathairn's egg white omlette got the most vocal response in my screening). Or maybe I just can't get around the way Greengrass shoots his actions scenes and deploys the same damn memory flashes over and over. Or maybe my qualms come from all of the labored "I've-got-my-gun-pressed-to-your-temple-but-grrr-must-not-shoot-must-be-better-man!" moments of borderline constipated acting on Damon's part. Maybe I just don't buy that in this "realistic" action context, Bourne could survive falling like a ton of bricks from a skyscraper into a river.
Don't get me wrong, it was totally watchable, but not nearly as thrilling as I was anticipating.
I mean, who *hasn't* killed someone with just a book before?