Tag: Jeremy Renner

The Bourne Legacy

With wonderful grandma looking after baby Niamh, we snuck out to catch one of the last few films we’ll see before my card expires. It’s one Gillian had had her eye on since the early trailers:

The Bourne Legacy

“Jason Bourne was just the tip of the iceberg.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Remnants of the Treadstone project are being killed off… but one particularly hardy specimen survives and is a little pissed off

See if it you like: Intelligent, well-paced thrillers with a nice dose of action

Completely not based on the novel of the same name – making it a mystery why the decided to use that title - The Bourne Legacy takes a step sideways from the first three films, continuing in the world of Bourne but without the actual character. Instead we’re introduced to Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), another agent and part of the Treadstone initiative to create faster, stronger soldiers.

The switch does freshen the franchise up somewhat and the film is very much unlike the three previous instalments. However, it does help to have seen them for background’s sake if nothing else. In essence, the plot is nothing new. The CIA, or whoever, is trying to kill off a series of experimental agents and one of them gets away. The rest of the film involves them trying to hunt him down… along with the obligatory tag-along female, in this case Rachel Weisz‘s Dr Marta Shearing.

Whereas in the first films, the plot just plodded along with the occasional revelation figured out something he’d forgotten, in this instance we have a very fragmented method of storytelling, with incidents of Cross’s memory popping up as they’re relevant. It does throw the viewer a little at first, as the jumps back and forth aren’t titled and you have to realise that we’re flashing back and the projectionist hasn’t just skipped a reel.

Audiences come to a Bourne film for the action, though, and it takes a long time for this to build. The scenes are less spectacular than in the Damon films, but also harsher and more brutal. In fact, the film has a bit of a European feel to it despite most of the more action-packed sequences taking place in Manilla.

Talking of which, the motorcycle chase is a very exciting sequence though loses itself to a few bits of rushed editing which can make things hard to follow at times. Confusing angles and cuts that are too quick for you to figure out what you’re looking at. I seem to recall having the same problem with one of the more recent Bond films. Maybe it’s just me.

Overall, not a bad film and it’s nice to see the change in direction. It would have been very easy to have “another Bourne film”. Instead we have another film within the Bourne stable, which is subtly different. Variety is good.

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Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsWow. Just one film for a change. With luck we’ll catch a couple more with the kids at the weekend. Gillian can’t stand Tom Cruise (something to do with him being a) a jumped-up little **** and b) a scientologist, apparently) so I went by myself for this one.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

“I have arrived at the party!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Someone is trying to blow up the world, Tom Cruise and a couple of friends have to stop them

See it if you like: The last three films

This is the first time Brad Bird has directed a live action film – his previous record includes the excellent The Incredibles and Ratatouille. It seems like quite a departure, but one that works. Ghost Protocol isn’t the “biggest” of the MI films to date as far as the scale of the action sequences goes, but it’s probably got the best – and most Bond-esque – plot.

Cruise, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg reprise their roles from the previous film with Ving Rhames popping up for about three minutes (for which he reportedly earned twice what he did for his supporting part in M:I3). It’s a quote from Pegg’s character Benji that I’ve used above. Truly, Pegg has arrived at the party with this film. From obscure Channel 4 comedy to fully fledged supporting role in one of the most profitable current franchises alongside one of the world’s most bankable stars. Well done, sir.

There’s a nice dollop of humour in the film, most of which revolves around Benji, while the action is – as ever – focussed around Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. Jeremy Renner joins the cast as Brandt, a senior analyst and apparently a character who could be fleshed out should Cruise ever decide to leave the franchise. Token kick-ass female falls to Patton’s Jane.

As I said, the plot’s rather Bond-like with it’s twisted, psychotic villain and threat of global thermonuclear devastation. A terrorist named Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) has developed the somewhat bonkers theory that the earth undergoes some sort of “cleansing” every few hundred thousand years. Meteors, ice ages and so forth have helped this go ahead in the past. This time, though, we’re in need of a kick-start. So he’s after some nuclear launch codes to trigger global devastation and a fresh start.

Bonkers.

After things go wrong for our small band of troops at the start of the story, they are officially disavowed by their government and forced to operate completely along – under the Ghost Protocol of the title. This leads to a new set of challenges as they only have access to the kit they can scavenge – there is no longer an IMF for them to be a part of.

The set pieces are good and the characters varied enough yet well gelled. If two characters are a little similar, it’s Hunt and Brandt for the reasons mentioned above. The bad guys are suitably cold, there are plenty of close-up combat scenes and the glamour is in full evidence with huge buildings, flash concept cars and the like being fully utilised.

Sure, you have to suspend your belief a bit (not least of all as to how them manage to make Cruise appear of regular height during the entire film), but it’s well worth it. Unlike Fast Five which just made itself bigger and more silly to up the ante for it’s latest instalment, M:I-GP has gone more for plot. The explosions are more “ouch, that must have hurt” than “wow, what else is there left in the world to blow up?” making for a more enjoyable film overall.

The best thing about it is that it’s not just more of the same. A good balance, a good cast and a good film as a result.

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The Town

I’m starting to value my weekends now that I have a job, so it’s good to make the most of them. Up early doors to look after the U-14’s football (we won 1-7!) and then straight to the cinema to catch a film. Good days.

The Town

“We gotta do somethin’. I can’t tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it after we’re done, and we’re gonna hurt some people.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Bank robbery goes right, but an over-keen thief takes a hostage… who one of the other robbers falls for.

Ben Affleck‘s been busy on this one. Lead role, co-writer and director. Although he didn’t come up with the story – it’s based on a novel. The Town is a gritty crime drama seen mainly from the viewpoint of one of the conspirators with the occasional glimpse from the FBI.

Doug MacRay (Affleck) is a high school failure from Charlestown, a suburb which apparently bred more bank robbers than any other town in the world. Or America. Which is the same thing to Americans. He trialled for pro hockey, flopped and ended up following his father into a life of crime under local gang lord “The Florist” (Pete Postlethwaite).

Along with three friends, they’ve been taking apart banks ans armoured cars without hurting anyone. MacRay’s a nice guy. Aside from stealing from people and waving guns in their faces.

However, on one job co-thief Jim (Jeremy Renner) takes a bank clerk (Rebecca Hall) hostage. Released unharmed, he decides she needs “watched” to ensure she doesn’t cause any problems. MacRay takes control of this to make sure this doesn’t turn into a case of clearing up a loose end. After all, he’s the nice guy here.

Of course, he ends up doing a little more than just watching her – but then, he is such a nice guy.

Yes, there’s the theme of MacRay always trying to do the right thing. Which seems at odds with someone who robs banks armed with a semi-auto, but who says Hollywood has to make sense? After all they keep throwing money at talentless tossers like Ricky Gervais.

Anyway, barring this little issue the characters are pretty good and the film nicely paced. There’s plenty of action and the robbery, chase and other action sequences are very well filmed. I particularly liked the car chase after the armoured car robbery. It’s nice and claustrophobic with the cars trying to get round narrow streets, clipping corners.

The most interesting character, though, is hair-triggered Jim. Unpredictable, violent and you constantly feel like something is going to happen when he’s on-screen. Renner pulls the part off very well indeed. In comparison, Affleck is… well, he’s Affleck. Good enough, and I’m sure the ladies will swoon over him but it’s very much a by-the-numbers effort for him.

There’s a decent story here, a good bit of crossover of various elements, introduction of back-story about MacRay and very well done action sequences. It’s not the amazing piec of cinema that a lot of reviews are making it out to be, but it’s certainly a good bit of entertainment.

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