Reviews

With the release of "Treadstone," a Jason Bourne spin off TV show, right around the corner I thought it would be a great time to talk about one of my favorite movies of all time: "The Bourne Supremacy." I believe "The Bourne Supremacy," and the Bourne Trilogy in general, rank up there as some of the best action thrillers ever produced. Why? Not only did these films revitalize the action genre, but they are some of the most intelligent action movies to exist.

Director Paul Greengrass popularized a new way of shooting action scenes in this movie. Shaky cam. Some people have criticized this style. Myself included. This technique has ruined so many action movies. Filmmakers have copied this style to sickening results. In "Taken 3" there was literally 15 cuts in a six second period for Liam Neeson climbing a fence. It's pretty bad. But here it isn't just a series of mindless cuts or shaky footage to hide bad stunt work. There's thought behind everything.

Our main character, played by Matt Damon, is an amnesiac former assassin on the run from his own government. He's constantly making choices. He's constantly paranoid that someone might be out to kill him. The shaky camera work puts us right in his shoes. It feels like we're right there with him. But that's not the only reason I love this movie. Action movies are stupid. Now there's nothing wrong with a good old stupid action movie. I love movies like "Con Air" "The Transporter" and "Crank." It's just that so many action movies try to be serious and flat out fail. "The Bourne Supremacy" is one of the most intelligent action movies out there.

Take one of my favorite scenes. A foot chase where Jason Bourne is evading the police. Bourne needs to take a train to escape the city. In most movies the train would take off as soon as the main character jumps on board. But guess what? The train doesn't leave for another five minutes! The police are closing in! So what does he do! He tricks the police into thinking he's on a barge so he can stall for time. That's pretty smart! By adding that into the action sequence it adds a new level of intensity to the scene.

I'm so tired of the mindless shooting and fighting sequences in movies these days. Paul Greengrass himself stated in the DVD commentary that "a chase only works if it's telling a story, if it's got beats within it that unfold." I completely agree. Action sequences like dialogue sequences need good writing. Otherwise I'm just watching things moving around quickly on a screen. And that's boring.

This movie in intelligent, but it also has something a lot of action films these days does not. A heart.

Jason Bourne is not a good person. He's killed a lot of people. Yet in these movies he always tries to do the right thing. He's not a killing machine. He's not John Wick. He doesn't endlessly kill rooms full of people emotionlessly walk away. The killing isn't glorified. It's brutal. Ugly. Whenever he does kill someone, the movie always takes a moment to watch Bourne gasp for his breath. It has an impact. Now there are some movies that do this, but there are few that do what I'm about to say next. In this movie Bourne learns that on his first assignment he killed a young girl's parents and made it look like a suicide. This girl grew up believing her parents killed themselves and left her an orphan. After Bourne remembers what he did, he sets out to tell this woman the truth about her parents. He literally sits her down and looks right in her eyes and says to her, "I killed them."

Now that is something that could not be easy to do. Name another action movie hero who takes responsibility like that. James Bond? John Wick? Ethan Hunt? John Mcclane? Nope.

Not to mention right before this scene there was a brutal car chase. Bourne literally gets shot through the shoulder and almost killed. Why did he go through all that? It wasn't to save the world. It wasn't simply to escape. He went through all that simply to tell a young woman the truth. This alone puts Jason Bourne in a league of his own.

The Bourne Supremacy stands out to me as one of the greatest action thrillers ever made. Honestly the last two installments "The Bourne Legacy" and "Jason Bourne" have not been up to par. I'm still waiting for something to top it. Maybe the new TV show will? I'll just have just have to see.

Jigsaw is a movie I've been waiting a long time for. After Saw 7 or Saw: "The Final Chapter" I was seriously let down. It did a terrible job bringing the series to a close and so obviously I was unsatisfied. JIgsaw doesn't necessarily cure this because we don't get to see Dr. Gordon even though he was established as an apprentice. Outside of a view small references and JIgsaw himself, of course, this new installment is made up of completely new characters.

However, I highly enjoyed this film even if it misses what Saw truly is. The filmmakers were clearly trying to go more psychological with this one but they missed the point. The plot of Saw is intertwined with its traps and psychological elements. The best example in this is with the Saw 6 health care plot. The traps were symbolic of what William was doing and what he had to go through directly correlates with the physiological elements. Most of the traps in this film were mild and didn't correlate with the psychological elements. The majority of the Saw films have great plot lines but critics and audiences alike are too grossed out to think about anything else than the gore or what the gore means. The new Saw film just simply doesn't understand that.

This film also doesn't have the look of previous Saw films. It's higher definition and while some may like that I think it makes it lose its personality and just look like any other movie. All the fast-paced editing and spinning camera has been ripped from the movie which also bothered me. If you're going to rip away all this style, replace it with something different, which they didn't.

So why am I giving this an 7 out of 10. It's still an enjoyable Saw film. I love the mystery that surrounds the film with the question if Jigsaw has somehow come back from the dead. The idea of having to confess was also genius. All of the characters did something awful and they weren't able to admit to the fact that they did it. Laura Vandervoort character is the best example of it. She did something awful and then convinced herself it was her husband's fault.

The twist, while being a bit redundant of Saw 2, was well done. Also, the key being in the bullet was cleaver. She could have saved them both but instead, wasted the bullet in fear. The same fear when she suffocated her baby. John Kramer had clearly stated to balance the situation. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I am a bit worried about the new apprentice taking over. He just doesn't seem like he's going to be that interesting. Costas Mandylor's Mark Hoffman may not have been the most fleshed out character but he had presence. This new guy doesn't seem to have that. Only time will tell if he is good or not but I can't help but feel worried.

I hope in the next installment they bring back the original look and style. Mentioning previous films would be great as well. What happened to Dr. Gordon. Why did he become an apprentice? What happened to his family? What about Hoffman? Did he escape or is he dead? I don't think ignoring the previous films is the right direction to go on. They should use them to continue to build the story.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this film even it misses what Saw truly is. It's not as good as Saw 1,2,3 or 6 but I'd say it's definitely better than the others. As a Saw fan, I am quite pleased with this film and I hope this film does well l so there will be more Saw films to come.

Babel is a flat out bad movie. The movie's main message is that pain is universal. We all suffer and we all go through hardships no matter who were are or where we come from but outside of that it has nothing else to say. The film poorly tries to weave four stories together of people that are suffering. However, we cannot truly connect with any of these people because we are not given time to get to know them. The characters themselves are as thin as a bed sheet. There is nothing else interesting about them outside of their main conflict. The movie came off incredibly pointless.

Think of it this way. Imagine walking out onto your driveway and finding a bleeding cat dying right in front of you. Now imagine in a faraway place some unknown strangers starving to death. The bleeding cat is going to be more relevant to you even though several people starving to death is much worse. Why? Because it is something you can see and feel right in front of you. It is something you can have an impact on. The movie is more like the starving people than it is the bleeding cat.

Babel comes off as misery porn. Simple as that. We watch a woman shot through the neck and bleed out, a child die in front of his father, and a young girl almost rape a man because she could never get a sexual release. If you are going to make me watch this kind of material, you need a strong and powerful payoff. This movie has none.

Babel could have been a stronger movie if it had only focused on two stories and had given more time to develop stronger characters. This idea could work for a TV show, but not for a feature film. The only idea this film has is that pain is universal. But guess what? I didn't need Babel to tell me that.