"THE FUGITIVE" (1993) Review

 

"THE FUGITIVE" (1993) Review

During a period between the late 1980s and the 2000s, Hollywood released a good number of film adaptations of successful or not-so-successful television shows. This is ironic, considering the television industry tend to do the opposite. One of those film adaptations of TV shows happened to be the 1993 action thriller, "THE FUGITIVE".

Based on the ABC 1963-1967 television series that starred David Janssen, "THE FUGITIVE" told the story of prominent Chicago vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble, who is accused and convicted of murdering his wealthy wife. The movie began with Kimble arriving home from a fund-raising event and later, a surgery, to find his wife murdered. He then struggled with her killer, a one-arm man who yet to make his escape. Despite his efforts to inform the Chicago Police about the one-arm man, the latter charged Kimble with his wife's murder. Following his conviction and death sentence, Kimble found himself being transported to prison on a bus. A few of Kimble's fellow prisoners attempted an escape. In the pandemonium, two prisoners and the driver were killed; and the bus rolled down a ravine and into the path of an oncoming train. Kimble saved a guard, escaped the on-coming collision, and fled as the train derailed. Hours later, U.S. Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard and his colleagues arrived at the crash site and launched a massive manhunt that started in the Illinois countryside ended up back in Chicago. Upon his arrival in the city, Kimble started his own manhunt for his wife's one-arm killer.

I have never seen the 1963-1967 series that starred David Janssen. But I have heard and read so much about it over the years. I am aware of a few differences between the series and the movie. Whereas the latter began with Helen Kimble's death, the television series began with Kimble already on the run for six months. Sam Gerard was a U.S. Marshal in the film. Philip Gerard was a local police detective, obsessed with finding Kimble. Which made me wonder how he was able to track Kimble all over the country for four years without losing his job. The television series featured members of both Kimble and Gerard's families, whereas the movie only featured the pair's colleagues - past and present. And so on.

After years of watching movies, I came to the realization that I have never seen a perfect movie. "THE FUGITIVE" was certainly not one. As much as I like the Richard Kimble character, there were times when he came off as a little too ideal for my taste. He came dangerously close to being a Gary Stu - especially in those scenes featuring Gerard and his team's interrogations of Kimble's old medical colleagues. How can I put this? The Richard Kimble character struck me as so ideal that in the end, he did not really develop as a character. How could he? He seemed so perfect from beginning to the end. Unlike his television counterpart, the cinematic Kimble was also blessed with a happy marriage before her death. Kimble's counterpart was the U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard. Unlike Kimble, Gerard proved to be a more complex character who possessed a ruthless streak that bordered on brutality sometimes. Especially when it came to the welfare of the deputy marshals assigned to his team. He also possessed a sharp wit that blended with sarcasm. But like Kimble, Gerard also possessed an unrelenting steak that leads him to maintain focused on his goal. And like Kimble, Gerard never really developed as a character. Now many might find my last observation hard to swallow, considering that Gerard realized that Kimble was an innocent man. So what if Gerard had finally realized that Kimble was innocent? He was never the investigator for the Kimble case in the first place. Gerard's task was to simply hunt down Kimble, who was a fugitive of the law, and return him to jail. Which he did in the end. Only he learned that Kimble was an innocent man along the way. But this discovery did not change or develop his character. After all, it was up to the Chicago Police to realize Kimble was innocent. Yet, the two original police investigators had refused to acknowledge Kimble's innocence and their mistake right up to the bitter end.

Also, a part of me wondered whether Richard Kimble or his wife Helen had relatives in Chicago. My one last complaint about "THE FUGITIVE" centered around at least two action sequences. One involved the collision between the prison bus conveying Kimble and a freight train. I was amazed that so many of the occupants inside that bus managed to survive, especially Kimble who had lingered inside longer to care for a wounded prison guard. The other action sequence that left me scratching my head was Kimble's swan dive from a dam spillover. Perhaps it was plausible for him to survive such a dive. Unfortunately, I cannot see that happening . . . even to this day. I wish that screenwriters Jeb Stuart and David Twohy, along with Andrew Davies, had used another way for Kimble to evade Gerard. Something a bit more plausible.

For a movie based on an old television series from the 1960s, "THE FUGITIVE" proved to be first-rate. That is correct. I enjoyed this film very much. In fact, I more than enjoyed it. I thought Stuart, Twohy and Davies had created a very satisfying movie filled with top-notch action, a solid mystery involving the killer's identity, intelligence and deep emotion.

Although I believed the sequences featuring the prison bus/train collision and Kimble's leap from a dam spillover bordered on the implausibility, I certainly had no problems with the film's other action sequences. In fact, I especially enjoyed three in particular - the chase sequence through downtown Chicago on St. Patrick's Day, Kimble's encounter with the one-arm man aboard a Chicago El-train and especially the final sequence that featured both Kimble and Gerard's confrontation with the real culprit behind Helen Kimble's murder. Andrew Davis did a great job in directing these sequences, filling them with breathless tension.

The 1960s television series had mainly focused on Kimble evading the police and finding the one-arm man's whereabouts. I had no problems with this. Once the cinematic Kimble had made his way back to Chicago, he started off doing the same. But thanks to screenwriters Jeb Stuart and David Twohy, the film featured an additional twist that allowed the one-armed killer to be a part of a bigger conspiracy involving a pharmaceutical company and new drug called Provasic that Kimble had failed to approve, because it caused liver damage. During Kimble's search for the one-armed man and his investigation of the mystery behind his false conviction, I felt pleased that the movie also delved into his continuing grief over his wife's death via flashbacks. These brief moments reminded audiences that Kimble was more than an action man trying to prove his innocence. He was a man still grieving over the death of his wife. Another aspect of "THE FUGITIVE" was its portrayal of Tommy Lee Jones and his team of U.S. Marshals. Unlike the ABC series, which almost portrayed the Philip Gerard character as a modern version of Inspector Javert of "LES MISERABLES" in Les Misérables - relentless and obsessive in pursuit of his prey; U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard seemed to lack the obsession of his television and literary counterparts. Which I personally found refreshing. Well, Gerard is relentless in this film, but only in a cool and professional manner. And thanks to Stuart and Twohy's screenplay, along with Tommy Lee Jones' performance, Gerard conducted his assignment with a dry and sarcastic wit.

I might as well discuss the cast's performances. What can I say? There did not seemed to be a false step among any of them. The movie boasted some first-rate supporting performances from the likes of Ron Dean, Joseph Kosala, Nick Searcy, Eddie Bo Smith, Dick Cusack, David Darlow, Kirsten Nelson, Neil Flynn, Andy Romano and Richard Riehle. This movie marked the first time I saw Julianne Moore in any motion picture, and I thought she gave a sharp performance as a hospital physician nearly overwhelmed by a crisis. Both Jane Lynch and John M. Watson Sr. seemed equally sharp as two of Kimble's colleagues and closest friends. In her few scenes, Sela Ward radiated warmth and wit as Kimble's loving wife and murder victim, Helen Kimble. It seemed a pity that she was not featured in more scenes. Andreas Katsulas gave an intelligent, yet sinister performance as Fredrick Sykes aka the One-Arm Man and Helen Kimble's killer. Jeroen Krabbé portrayed another one of Kimble's friends and colleagues, Dr. Charles Nichols, who also believed in the former's innocence. Krabbé injected a "proud father" aura in his performance, as he needled the U.S. Marshals for their failure to capture Kimble and come to the realization of the latter's innocence. I found this aspect of Krabbé's performance very subtle and very entertaining. For me, one of the most entertaining aspects of "THE FUGITIVE" proved to be those who portrayed the deputy marshals who formed Gerard's team. I am referring to L. Scott Caldwell, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Wood, Johnny Lee Davenport and especially Joe Pantoliano. Not only did I enjoy the wit and humor that permeated their interactions with each other, but I also enjoyed their interactions with Tommy Lee Jones' Gerard. In fact, Jones and Pantoliano's scenes proved to be so funny that it seemed as if they had created some kind of comedy team.

I realized I had been a little critical of the Dr. Richard Kimble and U.S. Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard characters. And I stand by my criticism. But I cannot do the same about the two actors that portrayed them. I believe Harrison Ford gave one of his career best performances as the beleaguered surgeon who found himself convicted of murdering his wife. Ford did an excellent job of conveying not only Kimble's grief over his wife's death, but also his desperation to evade the police and U.S. marshals searching for him, and the character's intelligence, while he investigates the one-arm man and the latter's motive behind Helen's death. Sam Gerard seemed like a different kettle of fish in compared to Richard Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of the colorful lawman proved to be one of the film's highlights. Jones managed to infuse a great deal of energy into Gerard's determined search for Kimble, without transforming the character into a copycat of the Javert character from "Les Misérables". Jones' Gerard is a tough and no-nonsense man who would ruthlessly defend members of his team and his slightly extreme form of law enforcement. I am not surprised that Jones managed to snag both acting nominations and awards for his portrayal of Gerard. However, I am astounded that Ford was never nominated.

One can tell how good a movie after so many years had passed.  Nearly thirty years have passed since the release of "THE FUGITIVE". It might have a few flaws, but I believe it still holds up after so long. I also believe the movie proved to be just as superb as the 1960s television series it was based on. One can thank Andrew Davis for his energetic and intelligent direction, Jeb Stuart and David Twohy's excellent screenplay; and the superb cast led by Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

"THE FUGITIVE" (1993) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from the 1993 action thriller, "THE FUGITIVE". Based on the 1963-1967 ABC series and directed by Andrew Davies, the movie starred Harrison Ford and Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones:




"THE FUGITIVE" (1993) Photo Gallery

"AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.": Conflict Within

 

"AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.": CONFLICT WITHIN

I just finished a re-watch of the Season Two "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D." episode, (2.15) "One Door Closes". I really enjoyed the flashbacks featuring the experiences of Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Bobbi Morse and Robert Gonzales on the day S.H.I.E.L.D. fell in (1.17) "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER". But looking at the "S.H.I.E.L.D. agents v. real S.H.I.E.L.D." story arc from Season Two - I now realize that it was one of the major reasons why I disliked that season so much.

For me, that story arc was just stupid beyond belief. After watching Bobbi, Mack, Gonzales and Isabelle Hartley survive the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., I found myself incapable of rooting for the series' main protagonists - Phil Coulson and his team. In fact, I could not. It was not hard to be upset over the mistrust that Gonzales’ team held toward Agent Skye aka Daisy Johnson and other Inhumans without getting to know them. I found some of Gonzales’ comments about Fury a little hard to swallow as well. Fury had his faults, but he did not have a God’s complex. I also felt that Gonzales, Anne Weaver and the others from the agency’s different factions should have contacted Coulson from the beginning. But I also found Coulson’s unwillingness to really work with Gonzales and the others without being the agency’s top dog even more hard to swallow.

What exactly was wrong with Coulson working on the same committee as Gonzales and Weaver? Coulson kept claiming that the agency could only be managed by one person at the top. And since Fury had selected him to be the Agency's new director in the Season One finale, (1.22) "Beginning of the End", he felt he was that one person. Apparently, Coulson, who had worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. since he left school, had forgotten that the agency had been managed by more than one person before Howard Stark’s death in December 1991.

Stark, Peggy Carter and their former wartime commander, Chester Phillips had served as the agency’s leaders for a little over 20 years until the latter’s death around the beginning of the 1970s. For a period of 20 to 21 years, both Peggy and Howard ran S.H.I.E.L.D., with HYDRA mole Mitchell Carson almost completing the triumvirate. It was during this latter period when Coulson had joined the agency. Only from December 1991 - the time of Stark’s death - to the present day, was S.H.I.E.L.D. led by one person. Peggy Carter was the first, solely leading the agency until her retirement. Alexander Pierce became the next sole director, followed by Nick Fury. The latter appointed Coulson as the next S.H.I.E.L.D. director to succeed him, unaware of Gonzales, Weaver and a few others had formed a committee to manage their own S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. For a day or two, Mack succeeded Coulson as the new director during mid-Season Three, until the latter resumed the position. Then Coulson stepped down as Director following the defeat of HIVE in the Season Three finale, (3.22) "Ascension". Jeffrey Mace became the fourth S.H.I.E.L.D. Director until his death in the Season Four episode, (4.18) "No Regrets". Coulson resumed the position of Director for the rest of Season Four and throughout Season Five (with the exception of a few episodes during which Daisy Johnson served as acting Director), until his second death after that season's finale, (5.22) "The End". Mack permanently became the current director by the end of that episode.

During a rough period of 28 out of 71 years, S.H.I.E.L.D. had only one leader. Coulson had been with S.H.I.E.L.D. long enough to know this. But his ego and blind adherence to Fury’s words would not allow him to accept this. As for Gonzales, Weaver and other leaders of the agency’s other faction; their prejudices against enhanced beings - fueled by HYDRA using one to attack Weaver on the day of the agency’s fall - had blinded them to the possibility that not all enhanced beings were a threat.

I realized that Coulson had made his peace with Gonzales, Weaver and the S.H.I.E.L.D. committee before Season Two ended. But honestly? This whole story arc was a cock up from the beginning and completely unnecessary. And it proved to be one of the main reasons why I disliked Season Two of "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D." so much.

"Nick Fury and the Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"NICK FURY AND THE FALL OF S.H.I.E.L.D."

I feel that characters like Phil Coulson and Steve Rogers should kneel down and kiss Nicholas J. Fury’s ass for his actions in "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER". Why? Because his actions before, during and after the 2014 movie prevented terrorist groups like HYDRA and an Inhumanity community called Afterlife to create more major catastrophes following the fall of the intelligence agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). 

In the past three years, I have noticed that a lot of MCU fans like to blame Fury for HYDRA’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. Why, I do not know. HYDRA's infiltration of the agency and other organizations had begun a few years before Fury's birth in 1951. In fact, a scene in "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER" made it perfectly clear how HYDRA managed to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. The newly formed agency had recruited HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola and a few other to form a think tank under the program known as Operation Paperclip. As many know, this program allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. and other intelligence services to recruit Nazi (or HYDRA) scientists for the benefit of their countries around the start of the Cold War. The 2014 movie also made it clear who had founded S.H.I.E.L.D. around this time - U.S. Army Colonel Chester Phillips, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark. 

Not only were Phillips, Carter and Stark responsible for Operation Paperclip; which allowed Arnim Zola to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and kick start HYDRA’s infiltration of the agency; they allowed this infiltration to grow for . . . how many decades? And even following Chester Phillips' death, Howard and Peggy allowed HYDRA mole Mitchell Carson to become the Head of Defense of S.H.I.E.L.D. Another HYDRA mole who eventually became part of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a former State Department diplomat named Alexander Pierce. Following Howard’s death and Peggy’s retirement, Pierce became Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and later, the World Security Council’s Secretary. As Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce made one major mistake. He promoted Fury, whom he had first met while serving the State Department in Bogota, to the position of the agency’s new director after he joined the World Security Council.

Project Oversight was a S.H.I.E.L.D. program that involved three heavily armed, satellite-linked Helicarriers designed to proactively strike out against potential threats - usually humans- before they actually happened. I do not know who was originally responsible for the creation of this program - Pierce or Fury. Pierce wanted to use the helicarriers and Arnim Zola's algorithm to root out individuals that would oppose or threaten HYDRA's goals. Fury had supported Project Oversight, as a means to defend Earth from any future non-Human threat. He had even revealed the project to a disapproving Steve Rogers aka Captain America. But in the end, Fury had misgivings about it. By setting in motion the hijacking of a S.H.I.E.L.D. ship called the Lemurian Star, Fury had an excuse to order one of his top agents, Natasha Romanoff, to accompany Rogers and a STRIKE team to free the ship’s hostages. Natasha’s mission was to download information that proved to be very . . . very important. Moviegoers eventually learned that the files that Natasha had downloaded from the Lemurian Star revealed the history of HYDRA’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., Zola’s part in it and the real plans for Project Oversight. 

Think about it. If Fury had not developed misgivings about Project Oversight, no one would have learned the truth about it. And no one would have learned about HYDRA’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and other organizations like the KGB, the World Security Council and the U.S. Senate. Worse, Alexander Pierce would have gone ahead with Project Oversight, which would have led to the deaths of many people. And even though S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen, Fury once again stepped up to the bat and re-created the agency, with Phil Coulson as the new Director. Coulson and his team stood between the world and disaster on several occasions.

Ironically, instead of realizing that Fury's actions in "THE WINTER SOLDIER" had outed HYDRA and stopped both Project Oversight and the Centipede Project; both Steve Rogers in the 2014 movie and Phil Coulson in the current television series had went into rants by criticizing . . . or blaming Fury for failing to learn about HYDRA’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past. Steve was angry over his discovery that his childhood friend, James "Bucky" Barnes, was still alive (after being declared dead during the last year of World War II) and a brainwashed HYDRA assassin. In his anger, he lashed out at Fury and used the latter as a scapegoat. Coulson was angry over Fury using the dangerous Project T.A.H.I.T.I. to resurrect him. His anger was more justified. Unfortunately, in the midst of his anger, Coulson also blamed Fury for HYDRA's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson knew nothing of Howard Stark, Peggy Carter and Chester Phillips’ roles in the disastrous Operation Paperclip. But Steve did. He and Natasha had learned everything when they first downloaded the Lemurian Star’s file at an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base. He should have known better. 

But what I found astounding about all of this is that a good number of Marvel fans still continued to blame Nick Fury for HYDRA's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the latter's downfall. If any of them had viewed that scene between Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff and Arnim Zola's computer image in "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER", they should also know better than to blame Fury.

Peggy Carter's Post-World War II Career

PEGGY CARTER’S POST-WORLD WAR II CAREER

Recently, I did a re-watch of Season One of "AGENT CARTER". While watching Scientific Strategic Reserve (SSR) Agent Peggy Carter endure the patronizing slights from her boss and fellow agents, I found myself wondering how she ended up as a mere agent, reduced to acting as the office’s secretary/coffee girl after two years as a code breaker at Bletchley Park and four years in the SSR during World War II. 

I am certain that many of you would answer . . . duh, sexism! Like many women after World War II, Peggy had found her wartime activities dismissed by men, who were more concerned with regulating her and other women to traditional roles. This became doubly so for the likes of her post-war supervisors - Captain John Flynn and Chief Roger Dooley; and the latter's Lead Investigator/Agent, Jack Thompson. It was easier for them to treat Peggy as someone who should have held a secretarial or clerical position at the SSR, instead of an agent.

This was the conclusion I had come to after viewing both the 2013 short film, "MARVEL ONE-SHOT: AGENT CARTER"and Season One of the 2015-2016 series for the first time. It took a recent viewing of Season One for me to harbor some doubts about this story arc for Peggy. Between the creation of the SSR in 1940 and its absorption into the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.) as one of the latter’s subdivision near the end of the 1940s; Colonel Chester Phillips served as Director. If Colonel Phillips had served as Director of the SSR during the 2013 short film, along with Seasons One and Two of "AGENT CARTER", how did Peggy end up being reduced as some lowly field agent whom most of her colleagues dismissed, due to her gender? How did she get into this situation?

While working as a MI-5 agent in 1940, Peggy was loaned out to the SSR. Later that year, she managed to infiltrate HYDRA’s German headquarters at Castle Kaufmann and rescue Dr. Abraham Erskine, creator of the Super Soldier Serum. She also engaged in missions in Brooklyn, New York and the Soviet Union. In June 1943, she was assigned by Phillips to train the potential candidates - one of them, a physically undeveloped Steve Rogers - for Erskine’s serum. By the end of the war, she had more or less become Phillips’ top aide. And following the death (or disappearance) of Steve Rogers, who had been transformed into Captain America by Erskine's serum, she took command of the Howling Commandos and led the operation to mop up the last remnants of HYDRA in Europe. They managed to capture one of the last HYDRA commanders, General Werner Reinhardt, and an artifact in his possession called the obelisk. Within a year of this operation, Peggy found herself first assigned to the SSR's Brooklyn, New York office under Captain John Flynn; and later assigned to the SSR's Manhattan office, which was supervised by Roger Dooley.

So, how did Peggy get into this situation? How did she become the butt of contempt, bigotry and many jokes by her fellow agents? Dismissed as a woman who had no business in what they regarded as a "man's world"? Both Flynn and Dooley must have seen her personnel file and learned about her exemplary wartime activities. Yet, both continued to dismiss her . . . until she managed to discover a deadly liquid called "the Zodiac", while working at the SSR's Brooklyn office. Later, she managed to decrypt an encoded message for the Manhattan office, which was received from a Soviet intelligence group called the Leviathan through its agent, Sascha Demidov's typewriter. Roger Dooley's regard for Peggy increased following Thompson's glowing report of her actions during a mission in the Soviet Union. By the end of Season One's penultimate episode, Dooley, Thompson and the rest of the agents had learned to accept Peggy for the competent intelligence agent that she was. 

After a good deal of thinking, it finally occurred to me what problems I had with this scenario regarding Season One of "AGENT CARTER". One of them happened to be Colonel Chester Phillips, Director of the SSR. The other problems proved to be the series' creators, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely; and Eric Pearson, who wrote the 2013 one-shot film. According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Wiki website, Colonel Phillips was the sole director of the SSR throughout the 1940s. If so, why did he assign Peggy to serve under a pair of sexists like John Flynn and Roger Dooley? Peggy was one of Phillips' best operatives during the war and his top aide. Hell, she was by his side when he and Steve Rogers led the assault on the last base of operations commanded by HYDRA leader Johann Schmidt during the last year of World War II. It made no sense to me that Phillips would assign Peggy to serve under men who obviously had no true professional regard for her. I found this especially hard to believe, considering that by the end of the decade, Phillips had no problems regarding Peggy as a co-founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. And her service under Flynn and Dooley seemed like a step down from her activities during the war. 

When Eric Pearson wrote the one-shot film, did he not consider that Chester Phillips had continued to serve as the SSR's director after the war? Did Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, when they created "AGENT CARTER"? Could any of them consider a different scenario that did not call for Peggy serve the SSR in such a lowly fashion following the war? Peggy could have ended up leading her own field unit . . . and still face the sexism of her colleagues.

But this never happened. And knowing that Chester Phillips continued to serve as Director of the SSR throughout the 1940s, I found the troubles - especially the kind of sexism that Peggy Carter had faced as an agent working in New York City during the immediate post-war years somewhat difficult to swallow. I would have found Peggy facing sexism, while serving in a slightly higher position within the SSR's hierarchy easier to believe. Or . . . I would have found Peggy's experiences in New York City easier to swallow if Chester Phillips had been replaced as the SSR's Director following the end of World War II.

"JASON BOURNE" (2016) Review

"JASON BOURNE" (2016) Review

When I first learned that Universal Studios had a fifth movie planned for their BOURNE movie franchise, I was pleased. I figured that this new movie would continue the story where both the 2007 film, "THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" and 2012's "THE BOURNE LEGACY" left off. 

I suspect that some might be wondering to what I am referring. Let me explain. Both movies hinted, especially "THE BOURNE LEGACY" that C.I.A. Deputy Director Pamela Landy might be facing trouble for assisting Jason Bourne aka David Webb in the 2007. In fact, one of the reasons that Deputy Director Noah Vosen and Director Ezra Cramer had chosen her to help track down Bourne in the 2007 movie in the first place . . . to set her up to take a fall in case their efforts to find and kill Bourne go south. Well, it did go south . . . for them. And in the 2012 movie, Vosen accused Landy of committing treason in order to deflect his legal problems from himself and Cramer. So I figured that this fifth movie would pick up the tale. I even considered the possibility of Bourne and fellow C.I.A. fugitives Aaron Cross from the 2012 movie, working together to help Landry. Well, that did not happen. As it turned out, star Matt Damon and screenwriter/director Tony Gilroy had a falling out over the screenplay for the 2007 movie. Jeremy Renner starred in the 2012 movie and Gilroy did not participate in this new film's production.

So, what was "JASON BOURNE" about? Written by Christopher Rouse and Paul Greengrass, who served as director of this film, the 2007 movie and 2004's "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY"; the movie centered around Jason Bourne's attempts to discover more about his past with the C.I.A. and especially Treadstone. This all began when former Treadstone colleague Nicky Parsons, who has joined a hackvist group, hacks into the CIA's mainframe server in order to expose the CIA's black ops programs. Parsons finds documents that concern Bourne's recruitment into the Treadstone program and his father's role in the program. Both Bourne and Parsons meet at Syntagma Square during a violent anti-government protest in Athens, Greece; where she informs him with this new information. At the same time, Parsons' hack alerts Cyber Ops Division Head Heather Lee and CIA Director Robert Dewey. Dewey sends a black ops team and a former Blackbriar assassin nicknamed "The Asset" to kill Parsons and Bourne. More importantly, Dewey wants to shut down any loose ends regarding the C.I.A.'s black ops programs, including the latest one, "Iron Hand" (a collection of the previous ones - Treadstone, Blackbriar, Outcome and LARX). That means destroying the hackvist group to which Parsons belonged; killing Bourne; Parsons; CEO social media site Deep Dream Aaron Kalloor, with whom he had become estranged; or anyone else who might be a threat. He also wants to use Kalloor's Deep Dream site for real-time mass surveillance of the public.

Eventually I realized that "JASON BOURNE" was not going to continue the narratives of "THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" and "THE BOURNE LEGACY" and set about enjoying this latest entry in the franchise. And there was a good deal to enjoy about this movie. First of all, "JASON BOURNE" featured some top notch performances. Matt Damon gave a pretty solid performance as an older and more world weary Jason Bourne aka David Webb, who seemed to have resigned himself to an existence of wandering, participating in illegal fight rings and loneliness. Tommy Lee Jones was also excellent as Robert Dewey, the current and ruthless C.I.A. Director who feels threatened not only by outside forces like Bourne, Nicky Parsons, a hackvist group and an angry social media CEO, but especially from the likes of his ambitious colleague, Heather Lee. Julia Stiles returned with another excellent performance as Nicky Parsons, an ex-C.I.A. operative-turned-hackvist. Vincent Cassel gave a very intense performance as former Blackbriar assassin, "The Asset", who harbors a grudge against Bourne, whose exposure of the black ops program led to him being captured and tortured. The movie also featured pretty good performances from Ato Essandoh, Riz Ahmed, Scott Shepherd, Bill Camp, Vinzenz Kiefer and Gregg Henry (who portrayed Bourne's late father in flashbacks). But for me, the most interesting performance came from Alicia Vikander, who portrayed C.I.A. Cyber Ops Division head, Heather Lee. Vikander's Lee was a curious mixture of raging ambition, an introverted personality and a ruthless talent for manipulation.

The movie also featured some excellent action sequences. Yes, I realize that it signaled a return to Paul Greengrass' shaky cam style. But to be honest, different movie industries have been utilizing this style for about a decade. Personally, I wish they would get over it. But despite this, I still enjoyed this movie's action sequences. I found the Athens sequence rather exciting. Greengrass and Rouse upped the scale by allowing it to take place during an anti-government protest . . . at night. Another action sequence that impressed me occurred in London, where Bourne contacted a former Treadstone surveillance operative named Malcolm Smith for information about his father. But if I had to choose my favorite action sequence in Las Vegas, where Bourne attempted to prevent Dewey from getting rid of his increasingly troublesome former ally, CEO Aaron Kallor during a technology convention and Lee. 

Despite these cinematic virtues, I had walked away from "JASON BOURNE" feeling disappointed. What was my main problem? Quite frankly, Paul Greengrass and Christopher Rouse's screenplay. I found it contrived, unoriginal and filled with some questionable plot holes. A closer look at this movie made me realized that it strongly reminded me of the plot for "THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM". In both movies, Bourne found himself drawn into the story by an individual bent upon exposing the C.I.A.'s black ops programs. In this movie, it was former agent Nicky Parsons. In the 2007 film, it was a British journalist. Both ended up murdered within the movie's first thirty-to-forty minutes. That is correct. Poor Nicky shared the same fate as Marie Kreutz - fridged for the sake of the main character. I tolerated it once, but not this time. In both movies, the main villain decides to go after Bourne because he feared the former assassin might expose his current schemes. And once again, this movie exposed another disturbing secret regarding Bourne's past.

Speaking of the latter, this one aspect of the movie's plot really annoyed me. What was the secret in Bourne's past? Apparently his father - a C.I.A. official named Richard Webb - was the true creator of the Treadstone program. When I first heard this, I was . . . well to be honest, I simply did not care. But when I heard that Webb Senior was murdered because he tried to stop his son's recruitment into Treadstone, my apathy transformed into contempt. And when the movie revealed that it was Dewey who had ordered Webb Senior's assassination, I shook my head in disbelief. How was that possible? Were audiences really supposed to believe that Dewey was an official part of the Treadstone program? Since when? To make matters worse, Greengrass and Rouse had marked "The Asset", a former Blackbriar agent, as the one who committed the murder. I found this revelation to be ridiculously contrived and I officially washed my hands of this movie.

Yes, I realize that I found the performances and action sequences something to admire about "JASON BOURNE", thanks to director Paul Greengrass and a cast led by Matt Damon. Many fans had cheered that Damon had resumed as lead in the BOURNE film franchise. Yes, it was nice to see him again. But to be honest, I never had a problem with Jeremy Renner or the actual movie he had starred in - namely "THE BOURNE LEGACY". Hollywood legend Darryl F. Zanuck had once pointed out - the backbone of a good movie is the story. Yet, despite the virtues in "JASON BOURNE", I found its main narrative unoriginal, contrived and questionable. And in the end, the movie eventually disappointed the hell out of me.

"JASON BOURNE" (2016) Photo Gallery

Below is a gallery featuring images from "JASON BOURNE", the fifth entry in the BOURNE movie franchise. Directed by Paul Greengrass, the movie stars Matt Damon: 


"JASON BOURNE" (2016) Photo Gallery