The Bourne Legacy (2012)

2/5

The Bourne Legacy, the fourth Bourne movie, has a very confusing plot. The general outline is that a covert government agency is killing all their secret operatives after a benign-appearing YouTube video is leaked. One black ops agent (Renner) escapes death and travels to the Philippines with a scientist (Weisz) so that he can inject himself with a virus. Yes, it does sound absolutely preposterous. And to make matters worse, there are simply too many story lines and too many characters to keep track of. The director, Tony Gilroy, seems to focus on the wrong things in each scene, as if uncertain what the movie is about. He goes back and forth between time and place way too frequently without any real explanation or clear motivation. This results in an extended second half that doesn't make sense within the film's logic, where seemingly ever character (big, small, good, bad) takes enormous risks out of proportion to expected benefits.

Superficially, the movie looks very exciting. There is a lot of anger and yelling, a lot of drama and histrionics. But the action scenes aren't so much exciting as they are filled with loud action-y music. Instead of gunfights and fistfights, we get running and chasing. Instead of action, we get super-fast cuts. I estimate that the average length of each shot is around 1 second. Not to spoil the movie, but Matt Damon never appears in it, although his character is unendingly discussed peripherally. To make matters worse, it has an extremely unsatisfying ending. Do not recommend.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194173/

Duplicity (2009)

4/5

Tony Gilroy's Duplicity is an immensely fun, thoroughly intelligent con movie that far exceeded my expectations. Despite the growing pile of negative reviews, I had relatively high expectations. Why? Because I like Michael Clayton (another cerebral spy thriller written and directed by Tony Gilroy), Clive Owen (especially in Children of Men), and con movies (except bad ones like House of Games). The plot follows Clive Owen and Julia Roberts as two ex-spies working intelligence for two competing cosmetics companies, chaired by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti. Their jobs are covers to hide the fact that they are trying to steal insider information and sell it for millions. Can they trust each other to do their part, or will one of them leave the other behind and keep all the money?

The plot and its twists are a bit complicated, but fun to figure out and relatively easy to understand if you pay attention. The characters are all written with a uniqueness and clarity that make them both singular and memorable. (Giamatti's character is hilarious, reminiscent of an unholy union between Steve Ballmer and Steve Jobs). The dialogue is written with equal skill, infused with wit and elegance, and spoken with honesty and precision by the actors. While I am not a fan of Julia Roberts (nor was I back when she was younger, less wrinkled, and just as big-mouthed), I thought her acting was as good as that of the other stars. The rest of the technical aspects were more than competent, although not particularly noteworthy. All in all, Duplicity is a stellar example of classy entertainment, one that I highly recommend for anyone who is looking for a comic caper flick.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

4/5

Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Ultimatum is riveting. Not only does it have some of the most tense action scenes put to film, but it has them one after another with almost no lag time. The editing is simply stunning. Not a single wasted frame. While I despised the over-the-top shakiness in the second movie, this movie's less obtrusive, more muted camerawork was actually quite effective at making it realistic and thrilling. Probably because you could still tell what was going on. What made this movie stand out from your typical action fare was its political and thematic underpinnings. While it focuses most obviously on the dichotomy between following orders and making your own decisions, it also delves into modern American politics unapologetically. My favorite line in the movie was by Strathairn: "Don't second-guess an operation from an armchair."

I didn't really like the intro at all. It did nothing to serve the story and its lack of any explanation simply made its inclusion unnecessary. Additionally, some of my enjoyment was slightly marred by the terrible smile by Julia Stiles in the next to final frames. And for some reason Jason Bourne is superhumanly strong and incapable of being injured. But if you like action, you need to see this movie. Now. It truly is the best action movie of the year.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0440963/

Michael Clayton (2007)

4/5

Michael Clayton follows the title character as he attempts to clean up the biggest legal mess of his career when the lead defense counsel in a huge class action lawsuit stops taking his medicine and starts revealing secrets. If it sounds confusing now, wait until you see the movie. Going in knowing the basic plot, it took me more than half the running time to figure out who the characters were and who they represented. It reminded me a lot of Syriana, where even though things were happening on screen, I didn't really understand what was going on. People always talk to each other with subtleties I don't catch, skirting around the issues and hinting at ulterior motives.

But about halfway through, it all just clicked. And I was hooked. This is actually one of the rare movies where I appreciated the use of in media res. The written dialogue was amazing, and the stunning performances by the actors made the somewhat literary words seem real and natural. The music was integral to building up the suspense in a rather talk-heavy movie and went much appreciated. I thought the editing and plotline could have used a little work, as it seems that some events were added in to introduce suspense without an actual reason for their presence. There was nothing wrong with the cinematography, but nothing terrific about it either.

I missed a huge thing that Sameer brought to my attention, which really elevated the movie for me. There is one scene where Michael Clayton is holding an envelope containing a check in one hand and a memo containing evidence against his parent law firm in the other, almost weighing the two. It's a striking image and particularly moving at a later scene where he talks about selling out his friend. This is a movie I want to see again, because I know I missed a lot. I highly recommend it if you are interested in movies involving legal matters, power plays, and experts doing what they do best. Just don't expect an action suspense thriller.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0465538/