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 Bourne Identity

This was all just a big misunderstanding.

See, the agency is not aware of Jason Bourne's memory loss, so obviously they have to assume that he has gone rouge, after failing his task and all. But poor Jason doesn't remember who he is and all he knows is that he has six passports and a pile of money stacked away and everyone is out to get him. And then, to cover their tracks, his bosses blame him when the original task is finished after all while at the same time hunting Bourne down. Such is the outline.

Not the first time I am watching this film but I am immediately irritated. My problem? How did Jason Bourne get into Switzerland from whatever port he came to land? By regular train and without a passport? You do not get into Switzerland without a passport. For that matter, how does he get out of the country with his employers practically on his heels from the get go?

So, everything Jason Bourne does, he does by instinct. Except ditch Marie. She is a liability from the start, obviously. He should have ditched her before they even made out. His instincts should have told him so. Does he have a conscience? Because of his amnesia? By all accounts he should be ruthless and efficient, no?

Or, better yet, Marie should walk away much sooner than she does. She is on the verge of leaving for half the film anyway. But of course, Bourne needs a ball and chain to hinder him from doing what needs to be done effectively. Otherwise, this would be a different kind of film. Maybe a better film.

On the whole, I liked this better the first time around.

6/10

The Campaign

The Campaign is about an election for Congress in the 14th district of North Carolina, where Congressman Cam Brady has been running unopposed for the last 8 years.

Unfortunately, he can't keep it in his pants and loses voter trust when he dials the wrong number and instead of calling his mistress he leaves a message on the answering machine of a family, who overhear it while they are saying grace. In his following appearances, he tightens the sling around his neck by saying things like, "When the family plugged the phone into their answering machine they became consenting adults."

In Washington D.C., where money does the talking, the campaign financing Motch brothers (get it?) decide that Brady is no longer a viable candidate and make sure that this time around he will have an opponent. The only viable option, however, is helpless Marty Huggins, a sweet but hapless family man that could never make his daddy proud. The Motch brothers provide him with a campaign manager who introduces himself with the words, "I'm here to make you not suck" and starts grooming Marty, his house, his family, even replaces his dogs and feeds him lines.

When Marty does surprisingly well in the first debate, Brady understands that he could indeed be a threat and the gloves are off. Both race towards a baby there for the sole purpose of being kissed. As Marty is about to kiss the infant, Brady initiates a fight and swings to hit his opponent, who ducks in time and, well, Congressman Brady punches a baby. Down go his poll numbers.

Then the campaign ads and rhetoric get fiercer and - as Marty sports a mustache - Brady accuses him of sympathizing with the Al Qaeda, likening him to another man with mustache: Saddam Hussein. Marty's reply to this is, "I am not beholden to Cam Brady's accusations. I am only beholden to one man and that is the greatest American that has ever lived: Jesus Christ, who happened to have a mustache."

After a mushy, eye-opening moment with his son, Brady decides to bury the hatchet with Marty Huggins and swings by his house, where he is treated to a number of drinks. Afterwards, he gets in the car and Marty, who has learned a lot from his campaign manager, calls the police to report a drunk driver. The video from the police car shows Brady running away from the cop, stealing the police car and running over a cow. Again, not good for the numbers.

When during another campaign, Marty accuses him of communism by citing from a manifesto Brady wrote as a 2nd grader running for class president, titled "Rainbowland", things again get out of hand and the two candidates get in a fist fight. This time, as Marty ducks, Congressman Brady punches Uggie, the dog from The Artist. After this incident and the worsening poll numbers, Brady's family up and leaves and the next Huggins campaign video shows Marty with Brady's son, showing that he is a father to Cam jr. that Brady can never be.

Brady's revenge to this is having sex with Huggins' wife Mitzi and using the sex tape in his next campaign ad. This prompts his long time campaign manager to leave and somehow gets Brady a two-point bump in the polls. After the ad airs, when Marty and Brady are at the same hunting even, Marty gets out of the car and shoots Brady in the thigh, calling it a "hunting accident", which improves his poll numbers.

In his all important meeting with the Motch brothers, Marty is informed that the 14th district is to be sold to China, with cheap laborers coming in along with factories. This they call "insourcing" and they want Marty's support and urge him to use the term in the remainder of his campaign as often as possible. Marty, realizing that he is on a slippery slope, refuses and walks out of the meeting.

This prompts the Motch brothers to throw their support back into Brady's camp and Marty's campaign manager changes sides. Also, Ms. Brady is paid to return to the campaign. A "new and improved Cam Brady" again takes over the polls. On election day, Marty presents his final campaign ad, in which he promises honesty and confesses to pretty much every bad deed he has ever done.

As voting comes to a close, we see that the voting machines were made by the Motch brothers and Marty, who according to exit polls was up by about 2000 votes loses to Brady. The two candidates have a last, honest talk before Brady makes his supposed victory speech in which he decides he would also like to tell the truth and, finally, withdraws from the race, making Marty Huggins the new Congressman for North Carolina's 14th district. In the end, he heads a committee taking down the Motch brothers.

Zach Galifianakis is his usual awesome self and Will Ferrell appears here in one of his better roles.

6/10