Am I the only person in the United Kingdom that didn’t like this (apparently not)? ‘Summer popcorn movie’ seems to be a critical compliment these days, but to me all it means is ‘big, dumb action flick’ (and I’m not all that keen on popcorn anyway).
Here are some choice reviews:
Greengrass uncorks some truly jaw-dropping action sequences and chases that had me on the edge of my seat. Relentlessly enjoyable. The Bourne franchise delivers a lot more entertainment bangs for your buck than any other action picture. - THE GUARDIAN
One of the year's finest pieces of moviemaking - THE OBSERVER
The action-thriller success story of the 21st century - THE INDEPENDENT
Unmitigated flapdoodle from the get-go - CHIP SMITH
The major problem I had with it is that I just didn’t feel emotionally engaged with it on any identifiable level. Some CIA bigwigs attempt to silence one of their own, who is by all accounts, a trained and dispassionate killing machine. Huh - let them kill each other – see if I care.
Admittedly, the opening sequence in which Bourne guides a Guardian journalist through Waterloo Station whilst being surveyed by a plethora of CCTV cameras is original and genuinely exciting, partially because someone other than a bunch of CIA operatives is involved. However, from that point on, we get the usual fist fights, incomprehensible car chases, and perfunctory nods to a coherent narrative. Not that it particularly matters of course, this being a ‘summer popcorn movie’.
It also transpires that Bourne has suddenly become indestructible, yet another pseudo-Bond who simply will not die. He emerges with hardly a scratch when he reverses a car off the top of a building, at which point a minor character states, ‘He’s just driven off a building’, just in case Paul Greengrass’ ‘kinetic’ (© every single British broadsheet) directing leaves you scratching your head asking, ‘What the arse just happened there?’
Honestly – what a load of flapdoodle.
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4 comments:
I thought it did what it said on the tin though I think it's suffered from being overhyped. That said, I did like the underplaying of a possible romance between Jason and Nikki.
As Sarah Churchwell says in the Guardian, Julia Stiles is only essentially given three scenes - for underplayed, I'd be tempted to say 'underwritten'!
Even so, it's getting great reviews, but I'd like it a whole more if it had a heart as well as a brain.
Haven't seen it yet. Seems to be doing no wrong everywhere, except here, so liking the review. 1st two impressive but there's only so much shaky camera and humourless hero I can take. Will advance with caution...
Hi Danny, thanks for popping by.
I have to admit that all the shaky camera work got on my nerves toward the end - it was getting to the point when you couldn't really discern what was going on, which is a failure of direction in my book. Maybe I listened to the hype a little too much!
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