by Susie
About as far from BECOMING JANE as possible, I think. We went to the Bourne Ultimatum. And I liked it a lot.
I wish I'd gone back and reviewed the first two before I went; I was a bit confused at the beginning. But then, I often am in spy movies. And there's a fair amount of that jittery/quick change camera work that gives a good sense of the chaos and tension of chase scenes, but kind of makes my head hurt.
Still, it was very good. I was tense the whole time, and it flew by. The Julia Stiles character was kind of superfluous, but Joan Allen was great, and Matt Damon only gets more attractive as he gets older and sharper. Good fun. GREAT chase scenes.
Susie
3 comments:
I haven't made it to many movies this summer, but I saw both "Becoming Jane" and "The Bourne Ultimatum" this weekend. I enjoyed both (comments on "Becoming Jane" on the post below). "The Bourne Utimatum" had wonderful acting (a fabulous cast!) and amazing pacing and action sequences (I loved the early sequence in Heathrow for having so much tension with no car chases or usual action sequence props). I think I could have done with one less action sequence and a bit less plot. I glanced at the book store and was surprised at how much they changed the story.
Okay, I saw the "Ultimatum," too this weekend and it would have been a good movie if the camera man hadn't been jazzed on caffeine or something. The shots were so tight and the camera work so unsteady that I came out with a headache and very cranky. Almost ruined the movie for me.
Interestingly, I read the online "user reviews" and about a third of them mentioned they found the camera work annoying, disturbing, or downright sickening-- literally. Headaches to nausea and everything in between. People had to close their eyes to keep from getting motion sick.
Interesting. Some people react to visual confusion in a strong and visceral way.
My question is why filmmakers would choose such a risky approach. If you know you're going to sicken or visually alieneate 1/3 of your audience, why choose that sort of cinematography? With so much money at stake, I can't believe they don't know more about the visual effect on the viewer than that. Or do they just not care?
If there's a Bourne 4. . . I won't be there.
Try sitting up close to the screen for this movie. Yikes! The theater was almost full by the time we got in there and had to sit MUCH closer than I'm comfortable.
There's going to be a 4 and I'll bet anything Julia Stiles character comes into much heavier play.
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