Jason Bourne Movie Review

Released: July 27th 2016 (UK)

Length: 123 Minutes

Certificate: 12A

Director: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and Riz Ahmed

After almost a decade of absence (and a quick side tangent in 2012 with Legacy), the Bourne franchise has returned to cinemas. More than just an extension of a trilogy, Jason Bourne proves that the series can still offer the best of the thriller genre.

Many years after the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, David Webb, aka Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) remains in hiding, often turning to bare knuckle brawls to pay the bills. After receiving a tip from fellow hacker Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), Bourne finds himself hunted once again, this time by CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and his protégé Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander). From here it’s another series of globe-trotting ventures interspersed with the common intelligence briefings and flashbacks as Bourne works to uncover further secrets about his past. Conspiracies on the CIA and its practices are strewn throughout the narrative, making for another intriguing set of themes regarding ethics and operational procedures. Things don’t come without a few speed bumps however; the film moves incredibly quickly for a majority of its runtime, keeping the stakes high, but whenever a scene involving social media company Deep Dream comes in, it brings the momentum to a screeching halt. The scenes involving business exec Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed) attempt to add some kind of modern context to the proceedings but instead they come off as a big distraction and really don’t contribute anything to the central plotline. There’s also a moment (which I won’t spoil) at the conclusion of a thrilling action scene in Greece that’s brushed over rather quickly with little in the way of reflection. These moments stand out because the original trilogy didn’t have to burden itself with these issues and followed through with the action and drama all the way.

The characters in Jason Bourne maintain the realistic nature of previous films and do well to fit into the plot. With the character’s tortured past pushing into the forefront, Matt Damon once again portrays the rogue spy with a brilliant sense of duality; part hardened operative and part regretful individual. It’s a very believable personal struggle, particularly with Dewey’s telling line: “You’ll never find any peace”. Dewey himself is another ruthless villain for the franchise, hell bent on concealing some dirty secrets just as his predecessors did. On the other hand Heather Lee is a young yet pragmatic member of the agency who really comes into her own as things go on; Vikander captures this change seamlessly. Despite not contributing much to the overall narrative, Riz Ahmed still gives a capable performance as the business archetype and his involvement does pick up a little towards the film’s conclusion.

Paul Greengrass returns to direct Jason Bourne and his trademark shaky, pseudo-authentic style is in full effect. The action on display here is every bit as engaging as it was in the original trilogy; furious chase sequences, brutal fight scenes and intense firefights all come together to create a white-knuckled tension that few other thrillers can claim to match. The cinematography is slickly done and the stunt work has been put together intricately; both are matched by the soundtrack, another relentless assault on the senses that takes the thrills to a higher level. Flashbacks make use of a hazy filter, again emphasising the gaps in Bourne’s memory and spurring him on to find the truth whereas other scenes, such as the one in Greece, bring in differing atmospheres through their lighting. By sticking to an established formula, Jason Bourne delivers the same concise presentation that the director gave across Supremacy and Ultimatum; it certainly won’t disappoint any fans of those entries.

Jason Bourne is for the most part, a very strong comeback for one of the best action thriller franchises in cinema. The action is fantastic and the characters are very well-portrayed; it’s just too bad that a few niggling plot elements keep it from being as intensely gratifying as Ultimatum was in 2007.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

The Shallows Movie Review

Released: 12th August 2016 (UK)

Length: 86 Minutes

Certificate: 15

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Starring: Blake Lively

The Shallows may be off-putting for some at first; it’s another film in a massively crowded sub-genre. Unlike all the wacky, ridiculously over-the-top parodies though, this entry in the family goes for a more serious, contained storyline and tone, placing itself above much of its contemporaries in the process.

The film is as simple as they come; it’s just the young Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) stuck on a rock with a hulking Great White Shark circling waters. What starts off as a simple day of surfing the tides in Mexico quickly turns into a perilous game of cat and mouse; can Nancy use her own ingenuity and resourcefulness to get back to shore, 200 yards away? Aside from a few details about her family, it keeps things completely straightforward and in this case our attention never drifts from the situation Nancy finds herself in. It opens with an ominous set of GoPro footage, engaging the audience straight away by giving a few morsels while leaving the full story under wraps. There’s no denying that The Shallows takes plenty of aspects from the originator of shark films. Much like in Jaws, you don’t see the animal too often which allows the tension and suspense to build fully. This tension is consistent throughout the film, even at the points where Nancy finds a reprieve on the rocks; the changing tides add another layer of desperation to the situation.

The isolated setting drastically limits the cast of The Shallows and considering how she’s the only main actress in the cast, Blake Lively turns in a great performance all around; Nancy’s outgoing personality is expected, but once she’s trapped on that rock, Lively gets across her character’s frightful predicament incredibly well. You’ll often wince as Nancy administers improvisational first aid, run afoul of some coral reefs and watch helplessly as her options narrow with the passing hours.  

The shots on display in The Shallows are seamless, making use of some great angles both over and under water that really capture the thrill of the surf. Of course this quickly transitions into the style that has become atypical of shark films. Point of view shots are the prime suspect here; they aren’t particularly original but they build the suspense well enough. The computer effects on display reflect the film’s lowered budget, though this is to the film’s detriment. The shark looks fine from a distance, but when things get close and personal, the believability drops quite a bit; this is one case where a practical model may have worked better. On the other hand, the practical make-up effects are great; there are some nasty looking injuries that press the sheer viciousness of the shark onto the viewer. What’s interesting is how the film works the make-up into the plot, making for a twisted progression as Nancy is beaten and battered by the elements as well as the deadly fish. The music is kept to a minimum, only rising to an often sinister fever pitch as the shark closes in. If you’ve seen any other shark film over the years then The Shallows will give you exactly what you expect; the film instead falls back its central performance to make an impact.

There have been way too many shark films to count in the last forty years, but The Shallows can stand among the best of them. It’s a B-Movie that manages to weave its initial inspiration into something that just about any modern viewer can enjoy. Add to that a great central performance from Blake Lively and you have an underrated thriller to close out the summer with.

Rating 4/5 Stars

Controversy Clocking Episode 7: No Man's Sky and a hype cycle gone off the rails

After almost three years of development, No Man’s Sky launched about a week ago and its overall reception has been quite mixed; the fallout from the game’s shortcomings has been all over the place and this is undoubtedly down to the title’s hype cycle. On PS4, the game is mostly functional but incredibly basic and on PC the port has been suffering from numerous technical issues. As a game, No Man’s Sky appears to be along the lines of Minecraft at a base level; it’s a survival game that focuses on the compelling nature of exploration and in this case it certainly capitalises on the popularity of the genre. But unlike Mojang’s indie smash hit, No Man’s Sky did not build and expand through a community who played the game in early access; instead it became a victim of the infamous cycle of overzealous hype and ultimate disappointment. We’ve seen this happen with other games before, but never has a specific title been built up so much before finally releasing. To give one example of how this hype grew, take a look at this issue of the UK magazine EDGE.

No Man’s Sky was the centrepiece of the magazine in September 2014 and it all started with the front cover and its three marketing buzzwords: “Epic, infinite, indie”. From that moment you’re intrigued by the game; what does it have to offer? What makes it such a highly anticipated title? As a cover game, EDGE also did an extensive feature on it including talks with the developer, building up the excitement even more, all the while having little close analysis or scrutiny of how the final game would be. Imagine this sort of coverage multiplied across numerous gaming outlets and circulation across social media. We had a game which dazzled the imagination without any kind of restraint or temperament of expectations; this is a recipe for disappointment.

The overall issue with the fanfare was that hype for No Man’s Sky was being built up exponentially before any concrete evidence was established over what the final product would be. We knew hardly anything about it and yet it was being held up as one of the biggest games of all time. On top of this, few media outlets attempted to find answers and Hello Games (particularly game director Sean Murray) seemed rather deflective of any specific questions. Sony also contributed to this cycle, touting the game as a key acquisition and one which would be a great showcase for the PlayStation 4. In the eyes of game developers and publishers, building up the hype is desirable; they want to build that excitement as much as humanly possible in the hope that consumers will run out and buy the game upon release. It’s convenient for them, but not much for the common consumer who builds up such lofty expectations for a single title.

Disappointment is the first reaction to an overhyped title when it finally arrives but unfortunately this has also resulted in some pretty nasty behaviour. Fanboyism reaches its most toxic levels when the people behind the abuse are in denial; it happened when the PlayStation 3 was struggling in its first two years and it also happened recently with DC’s cinematic universe taking a beating from film critics. With great hype comes a set of individuals so religiously devoted, near evangelic to a piece of media that they would relentlessly attack and abuse others online. There have been tales of abusive comments on both sides of the game and even a few instances of sites being taken down via DDOS (Denial of service) attacks, most notably Jim Sterling’s for his review of the game.

By July 2016 No Man’s Sky was sitting at the top of pre-order charts in the United States with 243,835 purchases in total according to VGChartz; it would stay there for another month before eventually releasing in August. This quickly eclipsed the sales of Hello Game’s previous title Joe Danger and its expansions. Yet again this comes back to the notion that pre-ordering games is a risky proposition, even more so for a game that many of us knew hardly anything about. Optimistically, No Man’s Sky could be a turning point, the moment where the gaming community turns against the notion of hype culture and tempers its expectations in the future. Hype and excitement building are part of any major piece of media, often more so for video games but it’s also important to have a constructive discussion, question a game before it arrives and most importantly, don’t get swept up in the excitement too much.

Suicide Squad Movie Review

Released: August 5th 2016 (Worldwide)

Length: 123 Minutes

Certificate: 15

Director: David Ayer

Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jared Leto, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Karen Fukuhara and Cara Delevingne

Suicide Squad is the third main entry in DC’s cinematic universe and the first to feature mostly villains in the starring roles. The pressure is on for the film to deliver but reactionary measures have left it far from the wacky, creative ride we were all expecting.

In the aftermath of Batman v Superman, Intelligence operative Amada Waller (Viola Davis) devises a clever (or foolish) plan for a defence contingency; bringing together several unsavoury characters to form a disposable team. This group initially includes the marksman Deadshot (Will Smith), deranged Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Diablo (Jay Hernandez) and the scaly Killer Croc (Adewale  Akinnuoye-Agbaje). After a few uncooperative events the team is eventually brought together to take on an ancient threat in Midway City which is out of the government’s control. It’s a relief to see a single central plot in Suicide Squad; the first and second acts are straightforward and understandable, occasionally dipping into flashbacks as we’re introduced to the characters. While the plot is certainly easier to follow, the pacing still needs a lot of fine-tuning; it’s clear that Suicide Squad was trimmed quite a bit before general consumption. The film’s central antagonist (which I won’t spoil here) appears out of nowhere without any kind of build-up or development. The final act doesn’t really flow; instead it shuffles from one action scene to another, dropping to an unnecessary pause before the final battle. Refusing to bounce between two or three different plotlines is a welcome improvement but Suicide Squad finds trouble when it comes to keeping the audience fully invested.

There are many different characters in Suicide Squad but the film doesn’t really use this to its advantage. Will Smith turns in a pretty good performance and Viola Davis is suitably ruthless but by far the best actor here is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn who absolutely nails the crazy, happy-go-lucky villain. Sadly just about every other character is incredibly underdeveloped and never receives their moment to gel with the group. Case and point; there’s one character who is put down only one scene after he’s introduced. The leader of the group, Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) is little more than a simplistic military grunt, his personal ties to the antagonist being impossible to sympathise with. Courtney (who isn’t really too bad here), Hernandez, Adewale and the others can never capitalise on the individual personalities of their characters and their backstories are all hastily thrown at the screen before the action takes over. All being told there just isn’t enough chemistry between the characters to make them feel like a team we would root for; most of the time you see them breaking off into pairs rather than getting to know everyone equally and this really hampers the film’s goal as an ensemble production. Then there’s Jared Leto’s Joker, who pretty much crashes out of the movie before he has the chance to make his presence felt; many of his scenes were cut before release and it’s a huge shame that he didn’t get to share his crime boss styled interpretation fully.

Much like the films that came before it, Suicide Squad boasts a suite of capable special effects that mostly rely on computer imagery. The destruction of Midway City is always on display, highlighting the power of the antagonist and the action is perfectly viewable, despite being fairly pedestrian. Make-up work is also a strong point here with Joker, Harley Quinn, Diablo and Killer Croc all being very detailed (if only their on-screen chemistry was better!). The soundtrack for Suicide Squad is rather puzzling though; it features a list of lively tracks, but the film seems to mistake this choice for an instantly light-hearted tone. With the script and characters often falling well short of the comedic relief promised, it feels as if the songs were shoehorned in as a cheap method to lighten the mood. The overall style of the presentation is mixed too; a strange collection of strobe effects (probably intended to highlight the unhinged nature of the characters) mixed with a plain filter makes the look of Suicide Squad quite inconsistent at times. The colourful credit sequences that mark the beginning and end of the film are a sign of lost potential, a promise that Suicide Squad fails to fulfil, despite its eye-catching special effects.

If you were looking for some sort of redemption for DC’s rocky cinematic roadmap then Suicide Squad is not it. Despite having a more focused plot and a few decent characters, the film still ends up feeling incredibly rushed and messy as a result of some studio interference. For all the emphasis placed on big selling points (especially the new Joker and a more light-hearted tone), the film is very disappointing. Check out the film for Deadshot and Harley Quinn if you enjoy them as characters but other than that it’s not really worth watching.

Rating: 2/5 Stars