I'm down for this. I also hope they do end up doing an additional film with Damon down the road.
One thing: this is also one case where it doesn't matter how much they deviate from the books. The originals already followed a pretty different story arc and honestly I couldn't really get into the books once Lustbader took over anyway. It's hard to keep with another author's tone and it just wasn't happening.
So, time for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good: The film did a pretty good job of building on the idea of how finely honed the people in these programs are. The intial flashes of Cross do "at work" show how far the current line of operators are capable of pushing themselves. I won't spoil anything, but superhuman is pretty accurate when it comes to some of what they do. Most of the action scenes do justice to the previous films in terms of hand-to-hand and weapon-aided badassery. The soldiers are also developed in a way that makes them their own cast of operators. You can see the isolation and distrust that have become a part of their lives, though they are not the distant, cold hitters of the first three films. The movie also goes much more into the fallout from the documents that Landey released.
The Bad: Though it was interesting to add to the political angle of things with this film there was too much of it. The feel was that there is one long, never-ending conspiracy. I understand that part of this is to leave the pathway for further films, but the cloak & dagger angle had miles of cloak and not enough dagger in the end. It was also much harder to become a part of the story. With Jason Bourne you were locked into the question of first how he ended up in the ocean, then through the next two films how he had become Bourne and what happened in the time between, as well as what those running Treadstone had involved him in. There just wasn't enough development of Cross for you to feel connected to him in the same way. He certainly is his own person though and I like that this series of operatives are not quite the same hardened, sociopathic killers from the trilogy. The other people in Cross' program could have received a little more fleshing out as well, even if they were minor characters.
The Ugly: Clarity; the film was just too buttery smooth. I know a number of people complained about the shakey camera work in the trilogy but it really added to the idea of Bourne's disorientation. I think the film should have taken a cue from Syriana or Traffic in terms of cinematography to be more immersive. It wasn't really ugly, but I needed to finish out the list I started =p
It was worth the ticket but if they continue the series I hope that they draw more from the feel of the first films. They also have to up the ante because honestly I never felt there was a single situation that was beyond Cross to escape. No doubt after seeing what Bourne could do almost nothing seems impossible and contending mostly with police and security guards isn't getting it done.
I think the problem is Gilroy thought that because it was a new protagonist, we needed a good amount of time to develop his character and make him likable to the audience. What he failed to realize is that the audience for Bourne films don't care about the protagonist. Bourne was a silent uncompelling dude who made his bones not through being likable, but being able to kick ass. Even Damon said he enjoyed doing the stunts for Bourne because he doesn't have many lines, and he has to get paid for something. So I think the fact they had more scenes trying to develop Cross' character than scenes of Cross kicking ass definitely hurt this film. The fact that LARX-3 died so anti-climatically didn't help
Bourne was still developed well, but you're right, it didn't take a lot of dialogue to do that. I think the idea was to show Cross as just being a guy caught up in something bigger than himself to some extent. I enjoyed the movie, but realistically it could have been much better. I hope that they learn from this for the follow-ups.
That's the thing I hate about it. It had very serious potential, but instead it became like an amateur's re-imagining of a Bourne movie. I honestly fail to comprehend how any writer on this movie thought that LARX-3 being killed by some chick rather than Deshing it out with Cross was a good idea, even for sequel bait.
I'd say it's possible home boy from LARX is still alive somehow. Even if he isn't I have no doubt they'll still send someone after Cross. Here's hoping the second time is the charm. The action sequences were great but the movie took way too long to get rolling.
Spoiler:
We didn't need to know how the other operatives were done away with, just show them dead, we'll get the picture. We also didn't need so much time spent on letting us see how deep the conspiracy goes or getting to know all the doctors at the lab. Show Cross taking the pills, show a shot of them being made at the lab, that'll do.
On a happier note I did pick up The Departed, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and MI: Ghost Protocol for $10 a piece on Bluray at Best Buy this weekend. All on sale, plus I had some rewards points so the price was free! I was about to grab the Bourne trilogy but it wasn't on sale.
saw this earlier..
was glad only paid $5 bucks instead of $11
this film took too long in developing the Aaron Cross character and it suffered because of it.. Been a fan of Rachel Weisz for years but she looked wan and haggard throughout the entire film..
if there is a sequel and prolly won;t know until the final tally i do hope matt damon returns so him and jeremy renner can team up
overall i'd give this 5.5/10
oh and who will talk about the plotholes.. hahahahahahahahahahaha
Another big piece missing from the film was the sense of these agents always being one step ahead. Bourne had Conklin out-maneuvered at Ponte Neuf, Landey and Nicki in his sites in Berlin, and called the DDI from his own office in NY. Never once did Cross show his handlers that they were the ones being danced on strings.
Originally posted by Lestov16
How about his overly-complicated Wolf-wrestling plan, when he could have easily tied the tracker to a tree or something
He needed it to be in motion to make the people chasing him think he was making a run for it, was what I thought.
The movie in general, I thought was solid. Enjoyed it. Would buy on bluray when they bring out the inevitable box set.
Originally posted by Ascendancy
Another big piece missing from the film was the sense of these agents always being one step ahead. Bourne had Conklin out-maneuvered at Ponte Neuf, Landey and Nicki in his sites in Berlin, and called the DDI from his own office in NY. Never once did Cross show his handlers that they were the ones being danced on strings.
i think they were showing cross' dependency on the chems.. he couldn't get a step ahead until he gets more pills or get viraled off.. the next one should be good.. hopefully with cross crossing paths (no pun intended) with larx-3 agents and being a step ahead of "them"..
Originally posted by Lestov16
How about his overly-complicated Wolf-wrestling plan, when he could have easily tied the tracker to a tree or something
Originally posted by AscendancyPretty sure they could monitor vitals with it, but I'll have to watch it again.
I thought he should have just floated it down the river on a log, but who knows, maybe it needs body heat to function properly.
Also, I think the speed in which it would have been traveling would be a dead giveaway.
just watched this for the second time and noticed something that i didn't realize when i saw it in theaters. There's a part in the trailer when one of the directors says "It's Aaron Cross... We have never seen evaluations like this... he's treadstone without the inconsistency."
she wasn't even talking about Aaron Cross.
Misleading sonofbitch.