Short Review: Go find the trailer of the film and play it over and over for two hours. Essentially, this is what the director has done.


The movie is almost exactly one-half good, one-half bad. The meat (or should I say beefcake) of the movie is Pothead Brad Pitt and Angelina “No, I’m not crazy, trust me, I’m sane now, honest!” Jolie as an unhappily married couple who are actually fantastic international spies who end up having to kill one another…or something like that, Jolie kept distracting me and I lost a couple of the plot points. Once the two join forces and they blow up their home the film is actually over. Unfortunately, moderately talented director Doug Liman (the man responsible for having the world pretend the puggish Matt Damon is a tough guy in the sleepy Bourne movies) is too limited to understand this wholly obvious point. The film drags on for another hour after this point.

Here’s a clue for Hollywood directors and writers, have a bad guy. Have a breathing, talking, visible bad guy. In this film, Pothead Brad and Human Lipgloss Ad Angelina are the good and bad guys and their respective agencies are their backdrops. Once the two come together the central conflict and the reason for watching the film evaporates. They are left battling faceless minions of an unknown evil for the remainder of the film. This is why the film goes from a mindless but enjoyable Hollywood flick to brainless and horrid shoot-em up.

The first half of the film is very tongue-in-cheek and well written for having the depth of a Bally’s Ad. This part of the movie is pure fluff but relatively harmless in its own little post-modern way. Pothead Brad Pitt is a charismatic actor and Angelina’s surgeons and make-up artists should be proud. Brad offers some endearing quirky moments and Angelina provides her “turn my head to the left and look out of the corner of eyes at the camera while offering a come hither look” look. Perpetual second-banana Vince Vaughn injects his unique brand of buddy character acting that makes me wonder which beer commercial he’s escaped from. Overall, this is just a plain ol’ stupid Hollywood movie, but a passable one.

The second half is a cartoon based on the first half of the film. Pothead and Lipgloss spend their time being chased by their former compatriots in tedious battles. In the final big battle the two models shoot roughly 6,893,886 ½ bad guys while not messing up their hair. This portion is so mindless and slapped together, Pothead is stabbed in the leg by Lipgloss and he doesn’t even yelp. He pulls the offending knife from his thigh and continues to slaughter bad guys. To make things worse for those of us who can’t help but pay attention, Pothead keeps forgetting to limp for the rest of the film.

Here is my advice, watch until their house gets blown up. That is the movie. The rest is just filler.


Related Reviews:
Films with Pothead or Lipgloss
Meet Joe Black (1996)
Troy (2004)
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow (2004)


Other Critic's Reviews:
FilmCritic.com
Movie Gazette

Labels: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, film, movie review, spy, Vince Vaughn

Matt Damon (The Good Shepherd) returns as Jason Bourne, an assassin, estranged from the government agency that created him. Once again, the government is trying to kill Bourne, and once again he does battle with a number of faceless assassins, all the time helping a kinda pretty damsel in distress who has been sucked into his little drama. The whole series is tedious stuff and Damon is simply a lame lead for an action film. Its casting like this that makes it possible for guys in their fifties and sixties (Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis) to continue to make action movies. Instead of priming a new generation of masculine actors, Hollywood seems content with pushing softies like Damon. We have to look the elderly actors to remind us of how men used to act before this generation of testes-free heroes took the stage. C'mon, Damon looks like he should be playing touch football with his old college pals down at the park rather than kicking the crap out of a bad guy and standing up for what's right.

Back to the film. If you've seen the previous movies, you've basically seen this one already. If you haven't seen the previous movies, there's still nothing new to warrant your attention. You've seen all of this before in one shape or another in other films. Even if you come to this movie wanting nothing more than to see some thrilling chases or gunfights you'll leave disappointed. Director Paul Greengrass (United 93) has delivered a wholly uninspired and ultimately needless addition to this franchise.




Related Review:
Matt Damon movies
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)


Other Critic's Review:
Reel.com
Celluloid Heroes

Labels: chase film, David Strathairn, film, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Matt Damon, movie review, spy

Labels: chase film, David Strathairn, film, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Matt Damon, movie review, spy

In a time when the industry feels comfortable to casually infuse political messages in films where politics has no place, it is refreshing that this movie about the capture of real life FBI Agent turned traitor Robert Hanssen doesn't come with an agenda. Chris Cooper is outstanding as Hanssen. Hanssen was a devout Catholic and family man while also a despicable turncoat. Cooper does a fantastic job balancing this double life and bringing the conflicted man to screen.

Opposite Cooper, Ryan Phillippe portrays a young clerk who is instrumental in bringing the Russian spy down. Phillippe gives a performance that will be familiar to anyone who has seen him act before. Phillippe may be a one trick pony, his sole trick being looking young and out of his depth, does work here however.

The film as a whole isn't one that will set the cinematic world on fire but it is a solid piece of drama. Given that the audience knows the resolution of the piece, the script by Adam Mazer, William Rotko and Billy Ray manages some good moments of suspense. I'd recommend picking this one up when what you want to watch isn't available. It's a good standby.

Labels: Chris Cooper, FBI, film, Laura Linney, movie review, Ryan Phillippe, spy

Labels: Chris Cooper, FBI, Laura Linney, movie trailer, Ryan Phillippe, spy