Fans of the Jason Bourne Trilogy (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) will, in all likelihood, enjoy The Matt Damon-less The Bourne Legacy. However, I’m wondering how many new fans this movie will attract. Director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Duplicity) repeatedly references Jason Bourne in this movie. Those looking to enter the franchise and think that this is the right time because Jeremy Renner (The Town, The Hurt Locker) is cast in the lead role instead of Damon will be disappointed if they don’t do their homework ahead of time. I would have been very frustrated watching this movie without seeing the other three first. I would have wanted to understand better what was going on. In The Bourne Legacy, Gilroy doesn’t seem interested in recapping a story that has already been told. You are out of luck if you have not seen a previous Bourne movie or need to research. Gilroy feels it’s not his job to keep you informed. For those wishing to see this movie without seeing any of the predecessors or if it has been a while since you’ve seen The Bourne Ultimatum, I suggest you visit this site first. The Bourne Legacy Primer: Five Things to Know Before Seeing the Franchise’s Latest Flick – E! Online. Even if you saw The Bourne Ultimatum the night before seeing this movie, I’d recommend checking out this link. It won’t hurt to do so.
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Category Archives: Adventure
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Many critics and audiences agree that the Andrew Garfield-led (The Social Network, Never Let Me Go) reboot of Spider-Man occurred too soon after the completion of the Toby Maguire trilogy. Because it was a given that the reboot would generate hundreds of millions of dollars on name alone, many wondered how strong of an effort there would be to tell a great story. On the other hand, an uninteresting story and poor reviews from the critics that still resulted in $200 million would have devastated superhero movies. Heck, Ryan Reynolds’ disaster The Green Lantern earned a measly 27% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and still made $116 million at the box office. Fortunately, while there were many parallels to the Tobey franchise, this movie was much darker. This was my number one criterion going in. I just wanted it to be more adult-oriented. Some thought it was too dark, saying things like Spider-Man isn’t Batman, but as a guy in his mid-30s, I’d rather see any PG-13/R type superhero movie over a PG/PG-13 type one.The Grey (2012)
Hit or miss actor Liam Neeson (Taken, Unknown) strikes gold with Joe Carnahan’s (Narc, Smokin’ Aces) The Grey. This riveting survival adventure movie follows a group of oil riggers after their plane crashes in the remote northern Alaska wilderness. Ottway (Neeson) is a marksman for the company. His job is to shoot any wolf that comes near the workstation. He’s a depressed man, and his narration at the start of the film makes it seem like everybody who works at this isolated post is there because there is nothing better for them anywhere else. The bars are lively when the men aren’t at work. The small men work side by side with each other daily at this monotonous job but do not know each other at all. At least, that’s how Ottway sees it or perceives it to be.
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Thor (2011)
I don’t know enough about the Thor story coming in, so there were parts of this movie when I wasn’t as confused as I was surprised. I saw Thor after seeing Captain America (even though Thor was released a few months ago). I liked the World War II storyline of Captain America. I also liked the mythology storyline of Thor. However, I was not a fan of the back and forth between and present day. I know that many probably liked this aspect of the movie, but I was so engrossed with the movie’s first 15 minutes that I didn’t want to leave this story to enter “the realm” of the present day.
Drive (2011)
Original review – September 18, 2011 | Updated review August 12, 2013
Updated review****
This movie is a classic. I had a couple of original problems based on my initial view. The preview made it seem like it would be a completely different movie. I hadn’t prepared myself for the violence or all of the overlapping storylines that were going on. I thought I would watch Ryan Gosling drive bad guys around and avoid the police. The movie trailer is essentially the film’s first five minutes (nothing more, nothing less). I expected something different, which is why my initial review was lower than it is now.
I loved Gosling and Mulligan. I loved the way the unspoken attraction they had for one another. I loved how Gosling did everything he could, not getting attached to somebody he couldn’t just walk away from in five minutes, but how circumstances kept driving them together to the point where he would do anything to keep them happy and safe.