Movie Week in Review
The Bourne Trilogy Review

About this Episode
Hello and welcome to the ninth episode of the
M -Wire movie we can review. Today we're going
to be discussing the Bourne film franchise. I
am TA -1 Mike and I guess as usual I'm joined
by Steve Megatron. Hello. Howdy. How are you?
Very well now. Very well now? What the hell is
that supposed to mean? Better than I was. That
was 20 minutes ago. Oh boy. Yeah. So what's been
going on with you this past week? Lots of work.
Not a lot of time to do network stuff. Yeah.
Which kind of sucks. Yes. And my secondary job
blows. We'll save that for headshots. Yeah, I
wasn't going to go into detail. Yeah, I don't
know. Good news for me, I guess it's good news.
I mean, I am out of debt, but the way I had to
get out of debt was I had to ask my mom, which,
whatever. But, you know, at least I'm out of
current debt. I don't know if, I know you probably
remember, I don't know if anybody listening will
remember. I remember last, after Christmas last
year, I don't know if I said it in any of the
episodes that we were doing back then or not,
but I had spent like $600 at Columbia House.
That's cleared. No more bill for that. So that's
done. You need to stop spending money, though.
I know it. I know it. It's hard to do, though.
I do have to admit. I can't play completely innocent
on that one. Yeah, I mean, it's a disease. But,
you know, at least, you know, my mom always points
out that, you know, at least I don't do drugs.
I don't smoke, I don't drink, so at least it's
not like... It's a healthy habit, a healthy bad
habit. Yeah, there you go. Healthy bad habit,
I like that. You're not doing any bodily harm,
you're just blowing money. Yes, exactly, and
getting myself into debt. We're probably going
to have to do a headshot after this because I
know we both have tons of stuff. that we have
to rant on and I still have to rant again on
the whole PayPal thing. That may end up being
the longest headshot ever. Ten, oh yeah, definitely.
The monumental number. Yes, exactly. So I think
we're going to go straight into today's topic
which I said before is the Bourne film franchise.
We'll be right back. He has the skills of a dangerous
man. I need to know what went wrong. I think
he snapped. But he has no memory. If we don't
take care of this, we will vote for her. It's
trained. Conditioned. Built to disappear. I'll
give you $10 ,000 to drive me to Paris. I get
the money, and I don't get her. That's the deal.
Now... The government's top agent. I can't remember
anything that happened before two weeks ago.
The Beezer? Yes. It's about to become their number
one target. What's the Paris? It's a name, Jason
Bourne. Let's see if the Paris police can find
him for us. And the only way he can survive.
Find out who he is. I don't recognize anyone.
I don't recognize anyone. Before they find out...
Do you have the address? I think I got it. Where
he is. Get everybody up. I want them all activated.
Do it now! What is it? Something wrong? We can't
stay here. Not safe. He's out of control. Very
clear what needs to happen. Based on the international
bestseller. I don't want to know who I am anymore.
Universal pictures. You got to get as far away
from me as you can. What are you going to do?
Dangerous. I have everything to put inside me.
Here's everything I ever learned. All of it is
born. I'm going to make it stop. The Bourne Identity
clandestine conspiracy within the Central Intelligence
Agency to track him down and arrest or kill him
for inexplicably failing to carry out an officially
un -sanctioned mission and then failing to report
back afterwards. Along the way, he teams up with
Marie, played by Frank, I don't know how to say
her last name, who assists him on the initial
part of his journey to learn about his past.
and regain his memories. The film also stars
Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, and Julia
Stiles. The film was directed by Doug Liman and
adapted through the screen by Tony Gilroy and
William Blake Herron from the novel of the same
name written by Robert Ludlum. He also produced
the film alongside Frank Marshall, although Ludlum
died in 2001. Universal Pictures released the
film to theaters in the United States on June
14, 2002. received positive and critical and
public reaction. The film was followed by a 2004
sequel, The Bourne Supremacy, and an Academy
Award -winning third part released in 2007 in
turn of The Bourne Ultimatum. Just for the first
film, right before I get into the plot, what
did you think of this film so far? I mean, just
like when you first heard about it? Actually,
the first time I heard about it, it was when
the third one was coming out in the theater.
How'd you respond to her? Well, I mean, I hadn't
seen it. It doesn't mean that I don't like it.
It just means I wasn't exposed to it. My dad
actually mentioned it. And so when I went back
to watch them all, because my dad was like, oh,
you have to see it. And I was like, oh, OK. So
I watched it. And the first part where you see
them kind of just floating in the water was just,
I don't know. It was just crazy. to find out
that he has no idea who the hell he is, and have
it end up turn out that he's some secret agent
slash assassin is just mind blowing. Oh yes,
very much so. When I... I don't know if I want
to just go into the plot now and talk about the
casting later, but we need to mention that Matt
Damon is not known. for being an action star.
This was his, I believe this was his first exposure
to being a true on quote unquote James Bond type
action film star. Oh yeah. Of course, he's most
famous for writing, acting, and creating Good
Will Hunting, which we will cover on MWIRE down
the line here, not anytime soon, but it's on
the schedule. But he and Ben Affleck won Academy
Awards for that and a whole bunch of other stuff
that he's done. I mean, I'm not saying that the
man's career is typecast to one role, but this
was something completely different than what
we had seen him in previously. And I think he
did the role really well. Oh, yes. This is something
that I would love to see more movies of. I know
that there's at least three more books of The
Bourne. series. So that would be really cool
to see three more movies, like another trilogy,
finding out what happened since the end of the
third one. Yeah, and we'll get into that once
we get to the third one's discussion. So the
plot for Born Identity, a crew of Italian fishermen
and a man, Matt Damon, floating on the Mediterranean.
With two gunshot wounds in his back while treating
the unconscious body, the ship's medical officer
finds a device with a number of a safe deposit
box embedded in the man's hip. The man wakes
up and discovers he is suffering from retrograde
amnesia. Over the next few days, on the ship,
the man finds he is fluent in several languages
and can perform uncommon tasks such as sea navigation
and tying exotic knots in the ship's ropes. But
he cannot remember anything about himself, including
his identity or why he was found in the ocean.
When the ship docks in Marseille, He sets off
for Zurich to investigate the safety deposit
box. This is, you know, I think, didn't Doug
Lyman, what else did he do? Oh crap. Didn't he
do Fast and the Furious or was it somebody else?
No, that was somebody else. Crap, I forget. He's
done other stuff. I don't remember what it was
off the top of my head, but I remember his film
style. and this opening is just an awesome introduction
to the character and it's like it's introducing
us to him but you don't know what's going on
at the same time plus it hooks you right at the
you know very beginning so you're like okay uh
i'm confused but i still want to know what the
hell is going on yeah it's like wait dead body
in the water what the hell um what did you think
of these um this uh this opening here I was really
confused as to why he was laying in there and
why he had the account numbers on his hip. But
I thought it was neat that for some of it he
remembered and other shit he's like, I really
don't have a clue about any of this stuff. Right.
Right. It definitely is a very powerful opening.
and it's also very subtle as well. At the CIA
headquarters in Langley, Deputy Director Ward
Abbott, played by Brian Koch, finds out about
a failed assassination attempt on Dictator Nikwana
Wombosti. Yeah, I know the last name. I don't
know the first name. And I'm not even going to
pronounce the actor's name because yikes. Meanwhile,
in Zurich, the amnesiac is approached by two
police officers for sleeping in a park. And when
they attempt to arrest him, he knocks them both
unconscious using an advanced hand -to -hand
combat. You know, again, these beginning scenes
here are just taking you from where he is on
the ship to where he gets to Marseilles, to Langley,
and you see Conklin, you see Abbott. And they
actually, Chris Cooper and Brian Cox, they actually
play very well off each other for true goals
that they actually do have. Oh yeah. I thought
that was a really, really cool thing. The next
morning he visits the bank using the number that
was embedded in his hip and opens the safe deposit
box to find several passports containing his
picture all under different names and nationalities,
large amounts of assorted currencies. and a handgun.
He assumes the name from the first passport,
Jason Bourne. He takes all the passports and
money but leaves the handgun. As he leaves, the
bank employee calls the CIA Black Ops Group,
Operation Treadstone, stating that Bourne has
been sighted. Again, trying to find out who he
is, and he figures out that there's a slide under
the under part of the safety deposit box. And
he finds all the money in the passports and everything
else. Now, if that was me, and I didn't know
who I was, I'd take the money, run, and go shopping.
Yeah, except for the fact that you don't know
where it came from and you might be hunted later.
Yeah, that's true. What did you think about the
bank scene so far? I like how unsure of it he
was when he walked in and how... For some reason,
he knew that that little safe was in the bottom
of the safety deposit box, the little flip board.
And he's wondering, you know, like, who the hell,
why do I have all this stuff with my picture
on it, yet I don't know my real name? It's just,
I don't know, it's just kind of crazy to see
how it's still unfolding, that he still doesn't
remember anything, yet his body remembers specific
things that he can't. pull up at the top of his
head. Oh yeah, when he took out those two police
officers, I was like, whoa! Again, this is a
role that we have not seen Matt Damon in before
this. It surprises you right off the bat. Oh
yeah. These movies, actually all three of them,
not just this one, but these movies, they keep
you on the edge of your seat. After being chased
by the police, Bourne escapes into the U .S.
consulate where he is again pursued by authorities.
Bourne escapes and finds a woman named Marie
offering her $20 ,000 to take him to an address
in Paris. In the United States, Alexander Conklin,
played by Chris Cooper, head of Treadstone assures
Deputy Director Abbott that he will destroy any
evidence connecting them to the field officer
Jason Bourne. responsible for the failed assassination
attempt on Limbozzi. He activates three, quote
unquote, assets to take down Born, Castillo,
Mannheim, and the Professor. Now, again, as we
said last week with the XXX synopsis, I understand
they're supposed to be quick, but they really
don't go into too much detail. On the conflict
scene, we open with him going in and her, Marie,
arguing with one of the consulate agents at the
counter about visas and passports and all this
other stuff. So then they tell him to stop, you
know, you with the red bag stop. So he ends up
running, he ends up going onto a rooftop ledge
and then basically throwing the bag down in.
into the snow and basically climbing down the
building is how he has to get out. What did you
think of these scenes here? Well, I know if I
had to climb down a building and being chased
by cops with guns, I'd be scared shitless and
I wouldn't know how I know what I'm doing. Yeah,
exactly. Yeah, but it was just... so awesome
just to see that and just and I mean just the
way that he did it because at first it shows
that in the scene when he's actually on the after
he's gotten off the the the trellis there and
he's actually on the actual side of the building
he looks over and sees the balcony and then he
just looks down then he just kind of he I believe
he almost jumps down from ledge to ledge So,
Bourne arrives at the address on his passport
and after studying the apartment, he hits redial.
On his phone, it's connected to the hotel Regina,
who recognized one of the aliases from the British
passport, John Michael Kane. They tell him that
Kane died two weeks before in a car crash. Whilst
they are at the apartment, Castile, played by
Nicky Nod, attacks and an intense fight ensues.
Bourne breaks Castile's leg and arm and interrogates
him, but Castile remains silent. Marie finds
wanted posters in Castile's bag with both her
and Bourne's pictures on them and becomes hysterical.
As Bourne attempts to calm her down, Castile
uses the opportunity to jump out the window to
his death. Marie goes into shock and Bourne swiftly
escorts her from the building. This scene, first
of all, I watch You know, the show House Hunters
on HGTV and I watched the international version
of it. I'm sorry. I know that they went to the
real locations for these, for three of these
films for the most part. I'm sorry, an apartment
in Paris would not be that big. No, I'm sure
a lot of it would be crowded, kind of like a
Chicago apartment. Oh, it would not be that,
that expansive at all whatsoever. But what did
you think of these scenes here, the whole apartment
scene and the fight scene? I loved the fight
scene. Yeah, that was pretty cool how he broke
his arm, broke his leg. Just crippled his ass
and left him on the ground and you know, turns
around for a split second, turns around, the
guy's out the window and smashed on the concrete.
Yep. Curse splat! But yeah, and the greatest
thing about that fight scene was you can actually
hear, I'm sure it was the sound effect, but you
can hear the bones breaking when he, when Bourne
breaks his arm and his leg. Oh yeah, it's so
gross sounding. Exactly. Soon afterwards, Jason
and Marie travel to a train station where Jason
tells Marie to stay in the car while he stores
the money in a locker. Marie disobeys and goes
to buy some liquor. Jason comes back to the car
to find Marie missing, but then sees her heading
back from across the street. He yells at her
for leaving and tries to do the right thing and
convince her to go to the police to clear her
name. Marie refuses. The police surround the
car and Jason makes one selfless last attempt
to convince her to save herself. To prove that
she will remain with him, Marie fastens her seatbelt.
They get in the high -speed car chase. and eventually
elude the police. They park the car in a public
parking garage and Jason tells Marie that they
must leave it behind because it links them to
the Paris police and makes them easier to find.
Then they get a room in a hotel where Jason dyes
Marie's hair red -red hair brown and cuts it
short in an effort to make them blend in more.
Marie surprises Jason with a kiss and Jason kisses
her back. Yeah. I didn't know what happened then.
Yeah, a love scene basically. What did you think
of the whole scene there with her going off into
the liquor store and stuff? Well it's just funny
because he's starting to try and care for her
just because he doesn't want anything bad happening
to her because he doesn't know why everybody's
chasing him and trying to help her not get chased
as well but yet she for some reason still likes
him enough to hang around him. Yes. Meanwhile,
Conglund plants a body in the morgue in an attempt
to fool Wombosi into thinking that Cain is dead,
but Wombosi recognizes that the body is not his
assailant. Using a sniper rifle, the Professor,
played by Clive Owen, assassinates Wombosi in
his home. Bourne investigates the incident and
concludes that he was an assassin prior to his
amnesia. He and Marie leave the city and travel
to the French countryside to stay at the house
of... Eamon, a friend of Marie, where Jason decides
that he wants to live a normal life and no longer
wants to be who he is or who he was. In the morning,
the professor comes to kill Jason Bourne using
a shotgun to blow up propane tank and cloud the
view of the sniping professor. After a brief
standoff in the crop field, Bourne shoots the
professor twice with the shotgun and interrogates
him briefly. reveals their mutual connection
through Operation Treadstone before he dies from
blood loss. What did you think of these scenes
here? I loved the fact that he blew up the propane
tanks. That was just pure genius on his part.
Oh, yeah. Although the role of the professor,
I believe that's Clive Owen, isn't it? Yep. But
yeah, he was probably the most alive out of the
three assassins sent to Kill is Born. Oh, yeah.
the most human out of them all, too, instead
of just like, oh, I'm a cannon fighter character,
you know? Yeah. Even though he was, too. But
it was just kind of funny how Bourne still took
them down, even though they're all supposed to
be technically equal in ability. Right. Well,
I think what makes them more human out of the
other two was because, you know, throughout this
whole process, Bourne has these headaches. It's
because he's trying to remember stuff. And then
the professor tells him that he has headaches
all the time as well. So you could almost view
that as a bonding experience between the two
of them. Yeah. I guess, if you want to put it
that way. So after that, Bourne sends Marie away
for her own safety. She doesn't want to leave
him, having fallen in love with him. He has grown
attached to her as well, but he insists he contacts
and meets with Conklin and plants a tracking
device on Conklin's vehicle to discover the location
of Operation Treadstone Safehouse in Paris. After
following the vehicle, he gains access to the
Treadstone Safehouse, where Nicky Parsons, played
by Julia Stiles, and Conklin are. Bourne holds
Conklin and Parsons at gunpoint and begins to
remember his last mission. through successive
flashbacks. He was on Wombosi's yacht, executing
his plan to make the assassination look like
one of his own crew members had shot him. He
places a gun to the back of Wombosi's head, but
before he pulls his trigger, Wombosi sees him
and Born looks around the room and sees Wombosi's
sleeping children, including one child in Wombosi's
lap, awake and looking at Born, stricken with
an attack of conscience over executing a man
in front of his children. Borne tries to leave
the boat, but is shot twice in the back by one
of Humbose's bodyguards. Before jumping overboard,
Borne loses consciousness and is discovered by
the fisherman. So here's where we play catch
-up in the film. And I like the way they did
this, though. This was something to where, okay,
the first part of the film, you're like, what
the hell is going on, like we said before. Now
we're like, oh, so that's how it happened. Still
doesn't kind of explain how he lost his memory,
though. I mean, yeah, he was shot, but... Well,
if you were shot in the back and you got knocked
unconscious and you'd been lying in a large ocean
for two weeks, you know, I don't know. I don't
know. So, Warren tells Conklin that he's leaving
Treadstone and warns him to not try to follow
him. Conklin reveals that he has a radio in his
pocket transmitting after knocking Conklin on
conscience. Warren leaves Nicky unharmed as he
has a shootout in the stairwell with several
CIA officers and escapes into the night. Abbott
decides that Treadstone should be closed down
for good and has Mannheim assassinate Conklin.
Abbott goes before an oversight committee and
explains Treadstone. is an ineffective assassin
training program and then immediately shifts
focus of the hearing to an idea for a new project
codenamed Blackbriar. Sometime later Jason finds
Marie renting out scooters to tourists in Greece
and the two reunite. What did you think of these
final scenes? I love how he finally remembered
everything that was going on because obviously
it ties up the beginning. But I also like how
Brian Cox, his character, assassinated the other
guy that he was in cohorts with. We should also
mention there is an alternate opening and alternate
ending on the DVD. The opening originally started
in Greece with Bourne's He's searching for something.
I forget. It's on the DVD here. And the alternate
ending was, again, he's actually waking up in
Greece to Abbott and they're talking about the
program and stuff like that. I like the fact
that... That they ended the movie the way they
did instead of using the alternate ending and
opening because it It's a lot better with the
actual one they they used Overall, I really enjoyed
this first film. I would probably give it a nine
out of ten I think the story was really well
involved the action was just great the car chases
the gun fights the guy jumping to his death And
all that kind of stuff there. What did you think?
I really liked the movie. I would have to say
I'd give it a nine as well. It was a great role
played by Matt Damon. Definitely opened up many
doors for him as well as for more action films
and more Bourne series, quite possibly. But it
was really cool how they portrayed his character.
with no memory, with getting most of it back
by the end of the movie, if not all, as well
as seeing the old project kind of die, or so
it may seem. Yeah, I actually rewatched it this
past week, because I hadn't seen Identity in
a long time, because I won't watch it on cable.
I just can't. It's not the same as actually watching
the actual film. Because Cable, they cut for
time, plus they cut all the cursing out and everything
else, which is fine. That's what they have to
do. But I saw this Bourne 3 -pack in Target,
and I said, okay, well, I have Ultimatum on DVD,
but I don't have the other two. And they didn't
have the other two individually, so I said, screw
it. It's only $20. I'll get it. And I completely
forgot that at the end that Abbott mentioned
Blackbriar. which will come back up in the second
and third films. We've kind of already pretty
much gone over the cast. You've got Matt Damon.
You've got the chick that played Marie. Chris
Cooper, Brian Cox, Clive Owen. Gabriel Mann,
he played Danny Zorn. He's Conklin's assistant
in the key member of Operation Treadstone's control
team. Gabriel Mann, he's also the only other
place I've really seen him. Freddie Prinze Jr.'s
best friend in Summer Catch, which is another
really good film that we'll get to eventually.
And then of course Julia Stiles as Nikki Barsons,
which I believe I would probably have to go back
and correct myself on this, but I believe that
this was the first role I had seen Julia Stiles
in since 10 Things I Hate About You, which I
believe was her debut film. I'm not really going
to go over the production even though I put it
in the script. It's very, very long. I will say
that this final part of the production here,
the inner workings of the fictitious Treadstone
Organization were inspired by Doug Lyman's father's
job in the National Security Agency under President
Ronald Reagan. A particular inspiration were
Lyman's father's memoirs regarding his involvement
in the investigation of the Iran -Contra affair.
Many aspects of the Alexander Conklin character
were based on his father's recollections of Oliver
North. Lyman admitted that he had jettisoned
much of the content of the novel beyond the central
premise in order to modernize the material to
conform it to his own beliefs regarding United
States foreign policy. However, Lyman was careful
not to cram his political views down the audience's
throat. There were initial concerns regarding
the film's possible obsolescent overall reception
and aftermath of the September 11th attacks,
but these concerns proved groundless. The reception
for it was largely positive with the film review
collection website Rotten Tomatoes giving the
film 83 % approval rating. Roger Ebert gave the
film a 3 stars out of 4, praising it for its
ability to absorb the viewer in its spy craft
and Damon's ability to be focused. and Sincere.
And it actually, actually I think all three of
these were either, all three films were either
nominated or won awards. It won for ASCAP Film
and Television Music Awards, Pop Box Office Films.
It was nominated for Best Action Adventure Thriller
Film. It won for Outstanding Achievement in a
Fight Choreographic. And then it... was nominated
for Feature Film Contemporary Films. There are
two sequels. There have been several DVD... There
have been several different DVD releases. Obviously
you have, you know, single disc for each film.
And then of course they eventually started putting
them into collections. You know, putting them
together like they would normally do. It does
have a soundtrack. The official soundtrack score
was released on June 11, 2002, contained selections
of music composed by prolific composer John Powell
and was performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony.
In addition to the score, the film also featured
the song Extreme Ways by Moby and Southern Sun
and Ready City Go by Paul Oakenfold. The soundtrack
won an A .S .C .A .P. Award. Yeah, I think we're
going to move on to the next film. Yes. Do you
have any other thoughts on this one? Great movie,
must buy and see. Yes, must buy and must see.
Alright, we'll be right back. Guys, if he sends
to a jigsaw puzzle... I told you people I was
finished. I even feel somebody behind me. I will
bring this bite to your doorstep. Take him down.
I understand. We are back and we're going to
move on to The Bourne Supremacy which is a 2004
spy mystery thriller film loosely based on the
Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. The film
was directed by Paul Greengrass written by Tony
Gilroy and Brian Helgland, I don't know how to
pronounce that name, whatever, and produced by
Doug Lyman and Frank Marshall. Universal Pictures
released the film to readers in the United States
on July 23, 2004, and it received a positive
critical and public reaction similar to its predecessor,
The Bourne Entity. The film was followed by a
2007 series entitled The Bourne Ultimatum. The
Bourne Supremacy continues the story of Jason
Bourne, an amnesiac former CIA assassin who suffers
from post -traumatic stress disorder due to his
past experiences born as portrayed by Matt Damon.
The film focuses on his attempt to learn more
of his shadowy past, as he is once more enveloped
in a conspiracy surrounding the CIA and Operation
Treadstone. The film also stars the chick that
plays Marie, Brian Cox as Ward Abbott, Joan Allen
as Pamela Landy, and Julia Stiles as Nikki Parsons.
When did you first see this one? Actually, as
soon as I rented the first one, my wife and I
decided to go back out and rent the second one.
We watched them right after. Of course, we've
owned all three now with the three pack that
you've got as well. I saw it pretty much just
right after the first one. We're going to get
right into the plot for this one. Two years after
the events in the Bourne Identity, Bourne and
his girlfriend Marie Krutz are living in Goa,
India. Bourne is beginning to recover some of
his memories, and he is troubled by disjointed
flashbacks of an assassination he carried out
in a Berlin hotel. Meanwhile, in Berlin, a CI
officer under the Deputy Director, Pamela Landy,
is trading three million for the Nezky files.
documents about the theft of 20 million from
CIA seven years earlier. During the exchange,
a Russian assassin named Kirill arrives to intercept
the selling. He plants two bombs in the basement
on the basement electrical circuit, one on the
main and the other on the sub -line with Jason
Bourne's fingerprint. The bomb on the main line
kills the power, while Kirill kills the agent
in the source and steals the files and the money.
which gives to a Russian oil magnet Yuri Gritkov.
Kirill then travels to Goa to kill Bourne, but
Bourne flees with Marie. As Bourne and Marie
are driving away, Kirill files a sniper rifle
at the car that kills Marie. The car veers off
the bridge there on into a river. Kirill leaves,
believing that he killed Bourne. After escaping
the car, submerged underwater, he tries to give
Marie mouth -to -mouth resuscitation. After several
unsuccessful attempts, he realizes that Marie
is dead and begins to cry underwater. Bourne
manages to swim away. Undetected, he then burns
all of Marie's passports and pictures except
for one picture showing both of them in an embrace.
He also clears the house they lived in, taking
all of the notes that Bourne used to dictate
his dreams. Bourne travels to Italy to learn
why he is again being targeted. What did you
think of the opening of this one? That was freaking
crazy. Again, although the other one started
slow without his memory, this one just, boom,
right away, fast -paced. It jumps right back
into the storyline, though. As good as the first
film is, that's the good thing about the second
and third one. This one, even though it picks
up two years after, at the end of this, when
we get to ultimatum a little bit later on today,
it picks up 20 minutes after the second film
ended. So that's one of the great things about
the second and third one. After Landy's team
finds the planted fingerprint and determines
that it is linked to the CIA's secret Treadstone
project, Landy flies to CIA headquarters in Langley,
Virginia to find out more information. In Virginia,
she learns that it is Bourne's fingerprint, but
CIA Chief Ward Abbott claims he does not know
Bourne's whereabouts. Landy tells Abbott that
the CIA agent who is believed to have stolen
the 20 million was named in the stolen files.
A Russian politician, Vladimir Nevsky, was going
to identify the thief, but before he could do
so, he was murdered by his wife in a Berlin hotel
who then committed suicide. Landy believes Bourne
killed the CIA officer in the... in the source
in Berlin. So Abbott and Landy set out to capture
him. After the initial first scene when it gets
to this one, I knew from the first film that
the character of Abbott was a sleaze. I pretty
much guessed that he was the one behind everything
as far as all the stuff that has been going.
I mean, just seeing this scene, you can tell
this ain't a good guy. Yeah. Well see, in most
of the movies that he acts in, he always plays
like this typical type character that's always
like, for instance in X -Men 2, he was the same
character. Right. And Super Troopers was different,
that was just... Yeah, you can't count Super
Troopers. Yeah, he wasn't... He was a good guy
in Super Troopers. Yeah, he was a good guy in
Super Troopers. But most of his other roles that
he seems to play seem to have like this hidden
agenda. mixed in with it and like he's about
to go out after everybody else, make it look
like he's the good guy, even though he really
knows the truth. Very, very much so. I completely
agree. So when Bourne arrives in Naples, Italy,
he is detained by an Italian officer and CIA
interrogator. But Bourne, without trying, incapacitates
the two men and after copying the agent's SIM
card onto his own cell phone escapes. This allows
Bourne to listen on a call from Landy. He learns
her name and her phone number and finds out that
he is suspected in a recent killing in Berlin.
He steals a car and heads to Munich. I think
that's... I think it's Munich. Munich, Munich,
whatever. I don't care. He surrogates the last
remaining Treadstone agent's Gerarda, who tells
him that the project was shut down following
Conklin's death. They have a struggle, which
Bourne emerges victorious by strangling Gerarda.
He creates a leak in the house's natural gas
valve and puts a magazine into the toaster to
create an explosion that slows down the police
and allows Jason to escape. Landy and Abbott
intercept and debrief Nicky Parsons' Treadstone
Tandler in Paris. Bourne arranges to meet Nicky,
whom he interrogates. he learns that Abbott was
the head of Treadstone, not Conklin. Upon hearing
their conversation over Nicky's transmitter,
Landy begins to believe that Bourne is being
framed. When Abbott's young associate Danny Zorn
tells Abbott that he thinks Bourne was framed,
along with having evidence to prove he was, Abbott
kills him to silence this information. Bourne
goes back to the Brecker Hotel in Berlin and
remembers more about the Nezki mission. He was
sent to kill Neske on Conklin's orders and when
Neske's wife unexpectedly showed up, he shot
both of them and made it look like a murder -suicide.
Bourne then learns that Abbott and Gretkov stole
the money and that Abbott had ordered Curiel
to kill Bourne. He also learns of the murder
of the agents by Curiel and the Plants' fingerprint.
These scenes here, this movie is very fast -paced.
once it gets to this point. Oh yeah, you have
to really be paying attention or you're going
to miss a lot of information. This is exactly
why when I go to the, which is very rare now,
but when I go to the theater to watch a movie,
this is exactly why I don't buy drinks or I don't
bring drinks with me because I don't have to
go to the bathroom and miss something, you know.
Yeah. But, you know, and again, just the sheer
viciousness of of the way Abbott killed Zorn
you know it's like what the hell is he doing
and then of course you know you realize that
that obviously as we said before he is the the
true villain here and I like how that Bourne
and Nikki's relationship is their friendship
relationship he trusts her but he doesn't really
even though she is trying to help him and we'll
get to that once we get to the third film because
Pretty much, she is the leading lady once it
gets to the third film. Out of respect for Marie's
belief in nonviolence, Bourne spares Abbott's
life after Zorn's body is discovered. Landy confronts
Abbott, who commits suicide. Landy later receives
the tape Bourne recorded, which implicates Abbott
in the conspiracy. Bourne travels to Moscow,
where he is shot. and wounded by Kirill, after
an extended car chase, Bourne forces Kirill's
car to crash into a concrete divider. In a tunnel,
Kirill is shown to be extensively injured and
incapacitated. Bourne approaches the car to finish
him off, but instead pauses for a moment. The
raw emotion edged on Bourne's normally robotic
face implies that Marie has softened him and
he no longer wants to fight anymore. He just
wants to be done with the mess thrust on him.
He walks away, from the car and critically wounded
Chiro, who presumably dies. This is later confirmed
in the next film, where Marie's brother asks
if Bourne killed him. Gretkoff is arrested by
Russian police after Lindy provides them with
evidence she got from Bourne. Bourne goes to
the apartment of Vladimir Nevsky's daughter,
so she won't have to live thinking her mother
killed her father. He admits that he killed them
both on a mission gone wrong, and apologizes.
He tells her that she deserves to know the truth.
because when the one you love is taken from you,
the knowledge that they didn't want to leave
you changes the way you remember them. The final
scene, which actually takes place during the
events of the next film, The Bourne Ultimatum,
in which it is shown jumps to New York City where
Bourne contacts Landy to ask her why the CIA
is still looking for him after Landy thanks Bourne
for supplying the tape, which the CIA has used
to settle matters concerning his frame -up. He
tells Warren that his real name is David Webb.
His birth date is April 15th, 1971, and his place
of birth is Mixia, Missouri. Warren declines.
Landy's offered to come back to the CIA offices
in person, and he fades to a crowded street scene.
What did you think of these final scenes here?
Well, I loved how they wrapped it all up and
showed what happened then. ruining his grand
scheme and his conquest of the whole, trying
to take everything else over. It shows that Landy
is just somebody doing their job and actually
isn't a cold bastard like Abbott is. We get another
cold bastard in the third film. But anyway, I
like the way this one ended. I like the way that
that he's got more closure to his life as far
as him remembering. I think the fact that just
the way that they filmed for Abbott shooting
himself was just amazing. Because they go in
there, because they already have the tape. They
go in there and he doesn't even, I don't even
think, he might have said like one or two words
to Landy but just as soon as that happens, boom,
he's dead. I like the fact that they're going,
what was it that was said here? You know, he
goes to apologize to the daughter. What this
synopsis kind of leaves out is at the end, he
is not, I mean it does fade. It does fade out
into a crowded street scene, but what they fail
to mention in this plot synopsis is that he is
actually on the roof of an opposing building
looking at her office through a sniper scope.
Because there was a scene earlier where he was
looking through the exact same thing as far as
finding her and seeing Nikki next to her, and
he goes... You know, we'll find the agent that
was in Paris and, oh, I don't know, it's going
to be difficult. It shouldn't be too difficult.
She's standing right next to you. And then she
turns around and looks at the other buildings
outside the window. So I thought that was really,
really cool that they ended on that. Love that,
how he just plays it off. Oh, yeah, very much
so. Going over the cast really quick. Of course,
we have Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Joan Allen
as Pamela Landy. Brian Cox, Julie Stiles. Let's
see, who else is? You got Gabriel Mann again
as Danny Zorn. That's really all the ones that
are really, I think, that are worth mentioning.
The reaction for this one, I actually didn't
get any of the production stuff for this because
it was too extensive. $500 ,217 reviews on internet
critic sites suggest that overall positive disposition
towards the film, though the film was criticized
for its shaky camera work, which made various
action scenes difficult to see, and often criticized
stylistic choice, which carries on with the Boral
Tomato. However, some reviewers have said that
it gives a gritty realistic feel, despite these
criticisms Rotten Tomatoes scores the film at
82%. At the 2005 Tourist World Stunt Awards,
veteran Russian stunt coordinator, Victor Ivanov
won Best Vehicle Award for his driving in the
Moscow car chase scene. That's something we have
to bring up is the Moscow car chase scene. Never.
I could be wrong, but I believe it was said as
far as this film. Moscow has never let any film
company into their city, into Russia, To clear
a street for a whole day for a car chase scene
like that Yeah, I mean that that car chase scene
was so awesome The DVD contains an alternate
ending for the film has born collapsing in the
Moscow Park after confessing to Nesky's daughter
Waking up in a hospital and being told his real
name by Landy before he escapes which I didn't
know I don't I don't think the author ending
is on the... It's not on this DVD set that I
have. I don't know. Overall, I guess there's
no other awards here. It was nominated for one,
two, three, four, fives. Nominated for eight,
oh crap, there's tons of them. Nominated for
over ten awards. It won three awards. There is
a soundtrack for it. I don't have any information.
I've just got the fact that there is one there.
Overall, this second film I would give a probably
an eight or a nine. I'd probably say a nine.
Just because of the Moscow car chase scene, just
how cool that was is not something you will ever
see a lot for actual filming in an actual place.
What did you think overall for Supremacy? Overall,
it was a really good, fast -paced movie. Like
you said, the car chase scene is really awesome.
The fact that they finally got rid of Abbott
is awesome. Landy is a pretty cool character
as well. Not cold and calculating like Abbott,
but just somebody trying to do their job properly,
as well as having a conscience about what she
does. And trying to uncover the whole Treadstone
conspiracy. Yes, yes. So overall it's a great
movie. I'd give it as well like an eight or a
nine, probably like you said a nine. The whole
series overall is really awesome. Oh yes. So
we are going to move into the final film which
is on Ultimatum. We will be right back. Jason
Bourne is at large in New York City. This holiday.
We're going mobile. Let's look sharp. Bourne
comes home to DVD. I was wondering when you'd
call. Where are you now? I'm sitting in my office.
I doubt that. If you were in your office, we'd
be having this conversation face to face. They
can't stop me. Let Bourne ultimatum. And finally
up today is The Bourne Ultimatum, a 2007 spy
film directed by Paul Greengrass, loosely based
on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name.
The film is a sequel to The Bourne Supremacy
and the third film of The Bourne series. It stars
Matt Damon reprising his role as Ludlum's signature
character, amnesiac, CIA assassin Jason Bourne.
The film continues the snog of Jason Bourne as
he escapes from authorities in Moscow, Russia.
and follows the character as he travels to Paris,
London, Madrid, Tangier, and New York City to
uncover his real identity while the CIA continues
to send assassins after him. Excuse me. The film
co -star Julia Stiles, David Strathmore, I don't
know, Scott Glenn, Patty, Edgier Ramirez, Albert
Finney, and Joan Allen. The script was written
by Tony Gilroy. and the producers were Patrick
Crowley, Frank Marshall, Paul Sandberg, and Doug
Lyman who directed the first Bourne movie, The
Bourne Identity. Getting right into the plot
here, this movie begins before the end of the
events in the Bourne supremacy as Bourne, wounded
by a gunshot from a Russian assassin, Kirill,
is evading the Moscow police. He escapes. Six
weeks later, Simon Ross, a security correspondent
for The Guardian, meets with someone in Turin
to discuss Treadstone. Bourne meets Ross at Waterloo
Station in London after having read Ross's article
in The Guardian that went into detail about Bourne,
Treadstone, and Operation Blackfriar. I didn't
really know. I mean, I got from the second film
that, you know, I completely forgot about the
fact that Abbott in the first film mentioned
Blackbriar at the end. I mean, I know that he
mentioned Treadstone, but I was truly, truly
shocked when he mentioned Blackbriar at the end
of Identity because I had remembered hearing
about that in this film. As Ross is told by Bourne
to meet him at London Waterloo Station in London,
CIA officer Noah Bosom orders Paz, an assassin,
to go after Ross, but intervention by Bourne
stops that. Thinking that Bourne is the source,
Bosom orders Paz to kill both Bourne and Ross.
In the moment of panic, Ross runs into the view
of Paz's sniper rifle and is shot dead, ensuing
chaos. Warren slips unknown notice and takes
Ross' notes and discovers that his source for
the article was Neil Daniels, the Madrid CIA
station chief. What did you think of these beginning
scenes here? Well, I like how, I thought it was
weird, I like how Warren is still, you know,
shown a little bit hurt, I mean, even though
he's not totally... Well, he did get shot in
the leg. Yeah. But, you know, he's still trucking.
Yeah. Or walking. Yeah, I know what you mean.
Obviously. But... Yeah, I mean, it's weird that
he's still being hunted, even though there's
really not a reason for him to be. Oh, yes, there
is. because the whole Ross thing, because of
this whole reporter thing. Ross has this source,
which is Neil Daniels, who is the station chief,
which has all the Blackbriar files. Yeah, that's
true. I mean, he wants to do his hands on that,
but... Well, that's why he's hunted, because
he eventually, as we'll go along down in the
synopsis here, he eventually gets all these files,
and it links everybody. It links Vosin, it links...
the CIA director, it links a whole bunch of people.
Including his own role in the whole project.
The CIA also discovers that Ross' source was
Daniels and sends a team out to raid his office.
Born arrives first and finds nothing as Daniels
has already left. He subdues the CIA team. As
they storm the office, Nikki Parsons then arrives
and she gives the all clear to Wilson and Deputy
Director Pamela Landy, giving both her and Borne
time to escape, whilst the second team meant
to arrest Borne is captured by the Spanish police.
Parsons tells Borne that Daniels is in Tangier
and the two of them take the ferry to the Moroccan
port. On arrival, Parsons logs in to find the
CIA has assigned Desh Bukhani to assassinate
Daniels. Desh is given further orders. to kill
Parsons after Daniels. Bourne attempts to stop
Desh, but Desh successfully detonates a bomb
that kills Daniels as Desh attempts to kill Parsons.
Bourne attacks and strangles him after a long
and brutal fight. Bourne has Parsons die and
cut her hair, much as he did with me, and then
he puts her on a bus to escape. This whole apartment
scene and coming face to face with Nicky again,
I thought that was really very well done. The
whole thing with them sending Dash after them,
I thought that was really cool how they did that
scene in the streets of Tangier. What did you
think of this part? It was weird. You know, still
life for some reason keeps running into Nicky
Parsons. I mean... that she wants to give him
too, so I mean, that's gonna help him out. Well,
as I, well, no, go ahead, I'll say that, go ahead.
But, yeah, it's just funny how they keep trying
to hunt him down even though he's pretty much
like the unkillable killing machine. Yeah, very
much so. But we have to point out that he doesn't
want to kill anymore. He only does it for, obviously,
self -defense reasons. I mean, he's not... He's
not one of their programmed assassins anymore.
He's not going out there just to kill somebody
for the hell of it. No. He wants to expose them
and protect himself and know who he's going to
be up against. Exactly. And as far as Parsons
goes, as I said before, Julia Stiles pretty much
stepped up in this film because they killed Marie
in the last one. She pretty much stepped up and
became the leading lady. And there are actually
scenes in this film where where she's like, you
know, do you remember anything? And, you know,
she's got this look on her face like it alludes
to, you know, before the whole Treadstone thing
or right when it began or something that they
could have possibly had a relationship before
Bourne lost his memory. So I like the way that
they're doing that as far as bringing that into
it. So he's a babe magnet as well as an assassin.
Landy and Bourne meet at the Treadstone R &D
facility. Landy begins faxing the documents to
an unknown receiver. While Bourne goes downstairs
to find his past, he meets Dr. Albert Hirsch,
who ran Treadstone's psychological conditioning
program. Bourne was their first experimental
conditioning subject. With Hirsch's help, Bourne
remembers that he volunteered for the program
and killed a man in the same room. CIA agents
break in and start shooting. Bourne escapes and
jumps into the East River as Bolson tries to
shoot him. Images of Bourne's unmoving body floating
in the river are interspersed with images of
Nicky watching a news report. Sometime later,
noting the exposure of Blackbriar and arrest
of Hirsch, and Rosen in a news flash that Ezra
Kramer is the subject of the United States Senate
hearing regarding the conduct that David Webb
alias Jason Bourne was shot and found to the
East River but his body has not been recovered
even after a three -day search at which point
Nikki smiles realizing that Bourne is still alive.
In the final moments of the film Bourne's limp
drifting body springs to life and he is shown
swimming away in the East River. This is exactly
why I love this film, the way that this ended.
And this is why I think this is the best one
out of these three. And I really, I kind of have
to go back. They send him, somehow between Born
and Landy's communication, they send the agents
to find an address there. which is a code for
something else, but Bourne is actually getting
into the office of Vosem, and I love that scene
where Bourne calls him, and he's like, so where,
you know, I'm sitting in my office, and Bourne's
like, I highly doubt that. Why would you doubt
that? Because if you were sitting in your office,
we would be having this conversation face -to
-face, click. That was so hilarious. And then
at the end, it's like, at first I was like, wait,
it's like at the very end after you jumped in
the river, I'm like, wait, is that it? You got
to be kidding me. No, they can't end it like
that. So I sat there in the theater because I
originally saw this in theaters. I sat there
in the theater, I'm like, okay, come on, come
on. And then the Moby music of Extreme Ways kicks
up and then Jason starts swimming away. What
did you think of these final scenes here? I love
the part where he dropped in the river and they're,
you know, they're talking about it and all of
a sudden at the very last thing you see him,
you know, wake up and then start swimming away.
That was like quite possibly one of the best
endings you could have had in this saga. Oh,
yes, very much so. Very, very much so. This would
be my favorite movie as well, I'd have to say,
just because all the wrapping ups, but yeah,
still leaving it open, as well as having that
Yeah, I don't understand why this film, I believe
it got some negative reviews, I'm not really
sure. I'm trying to see here, production, music,
release, where the hell are the reviews? The
Bourne Ultimatum earned $65 .3 million during
its opening weekend at the block office. a record
for a single opening in August of 441 .2 million
worldwide after December 14, 2007. As of March
2009, the film garners a 93 % certified fresh
rating, 203 positive out of 218 reviews total
at Rotten Tomatoes. higher than either predecessor.
The film had a rating of 85 out of 100 on Metacritic,
again higher than the first two films. At the
end of its theatrical release, the film grossed
a total of $227 ,471 ,070 in the U .S., making
it the highest -grossing film in the series.
Like its predecessor, Born Supremacy, the film
was criticized for its shaky camera work, as
Richard Corliss of Time Magazine and otherwise
positive review wondered why in the chat scenes
and the camera is afflicted with Parkinson's.
The film frame trembles, obscures the speaker
with the listener's shoulder and annoys views
and distracts them from content of the scene.
In the British press, the inclusion of a fictional
journalist from the real British paper, The Guardian,
the scene set in the United Kingdom, particularly
Waterloo railway station, where it commented
upon, in particular that newspapers reviewer
is the sort of thing which happens to us Guardian
journalists all the time. Yeah. Okay. Right.
That's ridiculous. Yeah. That's friggin' ridiculous.
It's made several top ten lists. The film appeared
in several critics' top ten lists as the best
films of 2007. First, number one was on Empire.
Another number was on Best Action Adventure Rotten
Tomatoes. Second, on USA Today. Second, on Philadelphia
Inquirer. Second, on Time Out New York. Ninth,
on Miami Herald. And tenth, by the Associated
Press. I believe it's won, the film won Academy
Awards and all three second highest number awards
at the ceremony behind No Country for Old Men
of its nominations in the 80th Academy Awards.
There are sequels, obviously. Prior to the release
of One Ultimatum, Matt Damon claimed he would
not be interested in returning for a fourth Bourne
film, stating of his participation in the Bourne
franchise, we have ridden that horse as far as
we can. Damon even said that in an interview
on The Daily Show, the director, Paul Greengrass,
joked that the fourth film could be titled the
Bourne redundancy. Nonetheless, the financial
and critical success of Warhol's Phantom has
led to speculation on several magazines and internet
forums that another Bourne film might be produced.
On February 22, 2008, Variety reported that the
fourth film will indeed, was indeed in the works
with both David and Greengrass on board. This
was confirmed on June 25, 2008 by producers Frank
Marshall and Pat Crowley at an interview with
IESB. Marshall said that hopefully they will
be shooting in the summer of 2010, for at least
in 2011. Our favorite anti -hero is apparently
headed to South America. On October 16, 2008,
it was announced that George Nolte would write
the script with Frank Marshall producing and
Jeffrey Weiner and Henry Morrison executive producing.
Matt Damon, Julie Stiles, Joan Allen, and Paul
Greengrass are also attached to the film. Again,
as we said before, you know, it's great that
they're doing that. I mean, I understand, you
know, doing a role for three films over, what,
2002, 2004, 2007? Over what, like eight years
or whatever? Yeah. I realize doing the same character
and not feeling you can take it any further.
I get the fact that Matt Damon felt like that.
But at the same time, stories arise. I mean,
you know, supposedly, you know, as you said,
there are two, there are three more books. So
it would be nice to have this as a, as a six
-part series, not just, not just like a, not
just like a Star Wars type thing. where you have
the first three, then you have the second three.
So, what are your final thoughts on the overall
franchise? Well, as for the first one where he's
floating in the river, again, they echo that
in the final one. It's awesome that they've taken
it as far as they have. It'd be great to see
them do another one, yet if they don't, then,
you know, so be it. Overall, it's a great series,
must own, must be, and definitely, definitely
one of my favorite action movies of all time.
Oh yes, these are very good action films. I actually
must bring up the... As I said before, I didn't
have the first two films when they first came
out on DVD, so I got that three box set. But
before I did that, when I first heard that Ultimatum
was coming out, and that Best Buy was going to
have a limited edition exclusive, it's basically
a steelbook edition, which actually has two special
bonus features that the other born Ultimatum
ones don't have. One is Big City Action, see
what it took to put together the most intense
car chase, which was the one, I believe, in New
York, where he gets in, I believe it was an Audi,
he gets in it and he has to drive it off the
parking garage roof. That was an awesome, awesome
scene right there. And then the second exclusive
bonus feature is the evolution of Nicky. Find
out more about the only character who has been
through it all with Jason Bourne. So I'm glad
I have that. Yeah, it was probably silly of me
to get this three pack, but, you know, at least
I have the other two films. And as I said before,
I couldn't find them separately. So I'm glad
I have this as well. Just to have it. So I think
that pretty much wraps up MY this week. Yep.
We're gonna go into the closing. Thank you for
joining us here on Movie Week in Review. There
are several ways to get in contact with us or
leave feedback for the show. The first is you
can visit www .geekcastradio .com and find all
the other GCR and podcasts there. Just a little
side note on that, we've been, or well, I should
say, the webmaster over there has been doing
a ton of stuff. We now have online web streaming
on the site. We also have a toolbar, which you
can get on the site as well, so that way you
don't have to actually stay on the site to stream.
There's an MP3 player in the toolbar with, I
think, all of our episodes from almost every
show that we do so far. Correct? Yeah. On the
toolbar, there's a stream of every show that
we've done. I believe it updates from the RSS
feed. There's a link on it for the forums, for
our Facebook page, as well as all the GCRN Twitter
accounts and some of the hosts, namely you, me,
PK and Court Michael, and BossKDog. But for the
most part it links to everywhere including the
GCRN. website. That's a great alternative to
either downloading through RSS, iTunes, downloading
the file directly from the DKF site or streaming
it from that specific area on the website so
you can listen and surf on the go. Yeah, I think
that's a really good addition to the network
and to the website because as I said to you before
off air, I know there are some people that don't
want to fill up their hard drive space with podcast
downloads. That's just another way to expand
the network. As we said, with the Toolbot, you
can go to ferdickandempire .com slash canvasespark
and get all your GCR and Transformer discussion
topics there. The third is you can leave the
show feedback on iTunes. Now, I must say, pretty
much All of our other shows, except for GeekCast
Radio, and this show have reviews. So, hopefully
there are people listening to MYR. Hopefully
we're not doing this just to hear ourselves talk.
So please, go leave us, even if you don't want
to write anything, just leave us star feedback.
You don't have to write anything if you don't
want to, but just leave us, you know, preferably
five star feedback that would really, that's
the best way to help the show out on iTunes.
The fourth is you can visit earth -2 .net forums
to find our threads over there under the self
-promotion section. And the fifth is the email
address, which is gcrnmwire .com. You can also
follow us on Twitter. The show name there is
GCRNMWire. Mine is TFG1Mike. And what is your
Twitter, sir? SCP21. That's right. We hope you
enjoyed this episode of MWire and wish that you
will join us next time when we will start the
reviews of the Marvel Spotlight. This is a...
two -month -long eight -week Marvel spotlight
on all the Marvel films. The next episode we're
going to be featuring the X -Men franchise. For
now, I am TFG1 Mike with Steve Megatron Phillips,
singing the moral words of Elizabeth Shue, don't
fuck with the babysitter, and thank you for listening.
Until next time.
No chapter markers for this episode.
Hosts


