The Bourne Legacy

First Hit:  Very disappointing and I hope that this isn’t the legacy film for this franchise.

The one thing I liked about the Bourne series is that Matt Damon, although having an amazing physical prowess, came off as a normal caring guy.

In this offering, Aaron Cross (played by Jeremy Renner) uses drugs to aid in his physical and mental enhancements. We are introduced to Cross while he is submerged in semi frozen lake in what appears to be Alaska. While on his way to some other remote place, he’s popping green and blue pills. He also takes a sample of his blood. He reaches his destination and is supposed to have his blood tested.

During this opening sequence we have flashes to some poorly created urgency about the “Operation Treadstone” or “Operation Blackbriar” being found out by congress. Somehow Eric Byer (played by Edward Norton) is in charge of some unit which seems to have some juice but we never know with whom or why.

Half the time he speaks in doublespeak urgency about how these programs are going to be found out so he decides to kill all the drug induced agents. Cross, now being hunted by the government, and running out of meds/drugs, decides to find a creator of the meds Dr. Marta Shearing (played by Rachel Weisz). He hopes to continue being drug smart and drug strong.

The film tries to give us a reason why, but I didn’t buy it. Else the film is filled with chases and killings. The only time I got interested or excited was when they brought up Jason Bourne’s name, I was hoping Damon was coming to save the film – no such luck.

Renner is good at the physical stuff but unfortunately he had a poor script and story. Weisz did her best with the role and like Renner, they good with what they had but there wasn’t much of a storyline for them to work with. Scott Glenn (as Ezra Kramer) was reinstated in this film from the earlier Bourne films in a minor role and it showed. Norton tries really hard with a bad story and I’m starting to wonder about his choice in films. Stacy Keach (as Mark Turso) was mediocre in a poorly conceived role where his character's participation is questionable. Tony and Dan Gilroy wrote a poorly conceived story and script, while Tony did a fair job of directing this mess.

Overall:  It is extremely unfortunate that this film is named “Legacy” because it left a bad taste in my mouth.

W.

First Hit: This could have been more hard hitting on the worst ever president to have lived in the White House during my lifetime. However, it did have some interesting and shining poignant moments.

With my own personal dislike of our President George W. Bush, I was hoping for something more devastating.

With that aside, W. seemed, at times, a fair representation of some of The President’s frustration of growing up the son of a powerful politico and his gullibility to listen to some of the people he surrounded himself with.

The film intersperses the years leading up to his decision to invade Iraq including snippets of his college hell raising days, his quitting numerous jobs, his less than honest and stellar military service, his meeting of Laura (played by Elizabeth Banks), and other events; most of them being seen as failures by his father.

Oliver Stone, the director, surrounds The President (played by Josh Brolin) with strong actors playing the parts of the cabinet. Richard Dreyfuss plays Dick Cheney, Scott Glenn plays Donald Rumsfeld, Toby Jones, plays Karl Rove, Thandie Newton plays Condoleezza Rice and Jeffrey Wright plays General Colin Powell. There are numerous characters in this film but the interchange between the aforementioned was the most interesting to me. Rove acted as a puppet master, Cheney was the bully, Rumsfeld was off the wall, Rice was silly and meaningless, and Powell as someone reluctant to go against the hard edge bully. Bush comes off as believing he actually knew something but because God wanted him to be President he is simply “The Decider”.

Brolin does an excellent job of capturing many of The President’s mannerisms and ways of speaking. Dreyfus “gets” Cheney and links the public views with the behind the scenes reality of him. Jones captures Rove well and as the non-assuming puppet master and intellectual. Newton plays Rice as a twit which is far different than the public Rice we’re given. Wright plays Powell with less assurance than the public Powell. Stone doesn’t go over the top like he has in other films but I would have like more understanding of how The President got his calling and how he felt he was doing God’s work.

Overall: This was a really good film although not a great film. I enjoyed watching it and it brought together many salient aspects as to why The President acts the way he does. In some ways it left me with the feeling that maybe each President needs to go through a psychological profile before he can serve the country; W. would have failed the profile.

Nights In Rodanthe

First Hit: Generally I liked this film and thought Lane and Gere worked well together.

This is a love story and a nice one. Richard Gere plays Dr. Paul Flanner who has a patient die during an operation and drives out to a bed and breakfast on the North Carolina Outer Banks to meet with the husband of the person who died on his surgical table.

The family is suing him and he is distraught because he didn't make any mistakes during the surgery, his wife has left him and his son has run off to Central America. Diane Lane plays Adrienne Willis whose husband had an affair, left her 7 months earlier, but now wants to come home.

At the beginning of the film Adrienne is shuttling her kids out of the house to spend time with their dad while she stands in as innkeeper for her friend. A storm threatens the inn and Paul is the only guest. They both are struggling with internal issues and they become each other’s teachers.

They fall in love and begin to find their path to be together and to live life more fully.

What didn’t work for me is that Gere seemed to make, not so subtle, romantic moves too early in their getting to know each other phase. However, the lesson he learns is one that many need to learn and it is about being more compassionate and her lesson is to dare to be the person she wants to be. From a chemistry point of view these two work well together. I loved Scott Glenn in his two brief scenes as the husband of the person who died while Paul was operating.

Overall: Based on the Nicholas Sparks novel this is a nice love story and fairly well acted.