The Bourne Legacy

For the longest time I thought that in The Bourne Legacy Jeremy Renner simply replaced Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Not so. This film covers the second generation of special operatives and/or trained assassins.

If I got all this straight, during the Treadstone Project they were called Assets, for the Blackfriar Project they were Outcomes and then there is also a new project (but very hush-hush) called LARX and the operatives are called, well, LARX.

What is covered here is the story of what happened after (or while) the New York Jason Bourne fiasco took place. The ultimate asset (Bourne) and LARX #3 are merely the bookends to the story, however. Here we concentrate on Outcome Aaron Cross. This is the Jeremy Renner role.

Behind the scenes of Blackfriar (up to a point) and LARX (hush!) is Edward Norton, who runs a detail and yells at people around him, one of which is played by Stacy Keach. So, we have established that Stacy Keach is still alive and still working. Has he been in anything else lately?

And yes, this is all a adrenaline rush again. But if you (and I) thought that The Bourne Ultimatum had an impressive cast, well, this one here is even more impressive (see above and add Oscar Isaac as one of the Outcomes, Rachel Weisz as the Damsel in Distress and Zeljko Ivanek as a scientist that goes coo-coo; also they put Corey Stoll in the background and threw him a few lines).

The big chase here is car/motorbike, initially, and then moves to motorbike/motorbike.

A tiny step down from the previous two but still a nail biter.

6/10

The Bourne Ultimatum

At long last, Jason Bourne remembers how he became what he is. Random memories come flooding in on him at the most inopportune times. The conclusion is devastating.

But first, some irritation. We ended part two in New York with a phone call between Bourne and Pamela Lindy. This scene also happens in part three of the saga, but not before going back to Moscow, then London, Madrid and Algiers. Also, there is a short visit in Paris. The payoff this time, however, is that everything will finally make sense.

Contrary to the first two Bourne films, here we not only get a car chase (in New York, no less!) but also a chase on foot an one involving a motorcycle, both in Algiers, when Bourne is running from and then after an assassin (or "asset" as they are called in this universe).

The cast of these films just keeps getting better. This one features not only Joan Allen and Julia Stiles, whom we have both encountered before, but Scott Glenn, Albert Finney, Paddy Considine, Daniel Brühl, David Strathairn (always a welcome sight) and Édgar Ramírez (who, if I am not mistaken, has all of one line despite being on screen a considerable amount of time).

Now, what could the next one possibly have in store for us?

8/10

Non-Stop

This was exciting!

An US air marshal with a whole list of personal issues is getting texts from an unknown fellow passenger requesting a money transfer or every 20 min. someone will get killed. And that is what happens, because everything is made out to frame the air marshal, here played by Liam Neeson (finally not the "I will find you and I will kill you!" guy).

What follows is a guy trying to save himself and the passengers while everyone around him suspects that he is responsible for all of this. His only loyal aid is the woman that sits next to him on the plane, while everyone else is eyeing him suspiciously.

Of course, passengers start taking things into their own hands, trying to overwhelm the air marshal. One person on board is law enforcement himself, working for NYPD, and rallying the troops around him.

In the end, of course, the Liam Neeson character will be redeemed and become the celebrated hero that saved all but a few lives (the ones killed in 20 min. intervals).

Pure entertainment.

7/10

The Bourne Supremacy

Onward with the Jason Bourne story.

This is two years after part one ended. Jason and Marie have put some distance between themselves and whoever is out to kill him or both of them and are now in Goa, India. However, the vengeful arm of the agency or anyone they are connected with reaches there, too. The assassin sent to do away with Bourne and opting to do away with Marie instead turns out to be Russian. We later learn he is Secret Service in Moscow.

Meanwhile, in Berlin, two agents are killed while on a mission and at the crime scene a partial print that matches Jason Bourne's is discovered. This happened under the eye of one Pamela Landy, a woman surprisingly far in the dark for someone that high up on the corporate ladder and calling shots. So, still everyone is after Bourne and Bourne is after everyone that is after him.

Some - but far from all - of the loose ends from part one are tied up. Need to leave some for part three, no. The inevitable car chase this time takes place in Moscow. No glass panes smashed far as I could see.

The point of irritation in this one...no matter how big or small the place, assassins just happen to run into their targets and vice versa. Seriously, Jason Bourne is randomly spotted in Moscow by his nemesis.This is a town of about 11,5 million citizens. Even if you are in the same approximate area the chances of you running into each other would be slim, at best.

Still, not bad for a film wedged in between two others storywise.

7/10

The Towering Inferno

This is the 1970's disaster movie in all its glory.

There is a FIRE in the HIGHEST BUILDING ON EARTH on the night of its first big party way, way up on its top floor. It may all be the fault of the owner's son-in-law, who was responsible for the electric wiring and cut corners because he was expected to work as cheaply as possible. Wouldn't want to upset wife's daddy, since he's got the big bucks and all.

While the attendees of the party are kept in the dark for a bit, because the building is so state of the art and the fire is way down on the 81st floor (initially), surely there is nothing to worry about. Wouldn't want to cause a panic when nothing much may be happening.

Among the ones not blissfully ignorant to the unfolding disaster are the architect and the commander of the fire department, heroically portrayed by professional heroes Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Also on their side is the security chief, played by O.J. Simpson back in the day when he could still get a job in films.

The fire expands and expands looking magnificent and, yes, people will die, because in the 1970's everything was out to get you.

Of all the disaster movies of the decade, this is the one with all the stars in it. I kind of love it.

7/10

Barefoot

Believe me when I tell you that this remake has nothing on the original. Somehow they managed to suck all the charm out of a lovely story.

The original film is German and bears the same name (Barfuß). It was written and directed by Til Schweiger, who also plays the lead. Yes, you know him from Inglourious Basterds. The barefoot mental patient is played by Johanna Wokalek. The film - as it came out in 2005 - was fine the way it was and did not need an Americanization.

Rather than go into the details of the remake, let me just tell you about my biggest disappointment: Evan Rachel Wood or, rather the character she portrayed here. She plays Daisy as a ditsy blonde, hopping from one embarrassment to the next for - I'm guessing - cheap laughs. The character (of a different name) did get her fair share of laughs in the German film without trying so hard. Whereas then she was mentally ill, here she is just plain stupid, at times even crass - a far cry from the quiet sweetness and innocence that Johanna Wokalek brought to the same role.

This is the kind of film that makes me wish that American audiences finally got over their arrogance about foreign films and learned how to read subtitles. Their lives would be so much richer for it.

Oh so disappointing.

3/10