This weekend, Jenn indulged me by seeing The Bourne Ultimatum despite the fact that she really wants to see Hairspray. I was very excited, and after a summer of crappy three-quels (Spider-Man, Shrek, and I’d include Pirates even though I kinda liked it), this one was poised to rock. I loved the first two and I really dig this new “real spy” genre.
And rock it did. Bourne is the baddest hero in the last two decades, ahead of Thomas Crown, Daniel Craig’s James Bond, and even Christian Bale’s Batman. There were scenes in this movie where my heart felt like it was going to explode. It was totally action-packed and relentless.
I am really tired of script writers, directors, and producers glossing over aspects of their script. For $100 million dollars, you should be able to get 1 IT guy to read your script and tell you if something is implausible. My complaint with Die Hard 4 was that the “virus” that blew up computers had no basis in reality. At least in the Matrix Trinity used a real hack so that nit-picky geeks were appeased when they screen-captured their DVDs.
There are very few things in the Bourne series that are flat out implausible. Sure, there are several “Wow, that was lucky” moments, but I never felt I had to suspend disbelief. And Bourne is just incredible. The character is a machine, and his dialogue, his actions, his brains, his skill… it’s all exciting to watch.
So, summer 2007 looks like this so far: (1) The Bourne Ultimatum, (2) Knocked Up, (3) Harry Potter.
