Review: Jason Bourne (2016)

A couple of years ago I was hunting the aisles of CeX (a second-hand entertainment store in the UK) for bargains when my husband called me over, he’d found a box-set of the Bourne trilogy for something silly like £5. When I told him I’d never seen them I was practically dragged back home (after paying, of course) and forced to watch all 3 over the course of the weekend. Admittedly, I didn’t know what I was missing out on, I really enjoyed those movies! Not so much the Jeremy Renner addition, but come on, it’s not a Bourne movie without Matt Damon.

I wasn't looking forward to this AT ALL, my review may reflect that fact more than it should!!  I don't overly rate the Bourne films if i'm honest, I never found the stories particularly engaging and the action was always too fast paced to actually see what was going on!

That said, I’ve been looking forward to Jason Bourne (2016) since the first trailer came out. (ha! could we be any more different!) So many of this summer’s blockbusters have given away everything in the trailer, and this kept everything under wraps, it was all going to be a surprise. We panicked when we got to the cinema at the sight of the queue nearly reaching the door, but thankfully they all wanted to see Suicide Squad (poor them) so we lucked out.

I don’t know how much of the plot I want to explain here to be honest. Not for spoilers or anything, but surprises are nice, guys! Basically, Jason (Matt Damon) is in hiding in Greece playing fight club (but let’s not talk about that). Over in Iceland, Nicky (Julia Stiles) hacks into the CIA’s servers and copies all of their Black Ops files, which includes Treadstone and secret information about Jason Bourne’s past. Nicky is caught by CIA newcomer Heather (Alicia Vikander) who begins hunting Nicky and Jason down with the help of Director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones).

Let’s face it, you don’t go into a Bourne movie expecting a complicated, intricate plot, you’re there for some action and thrills, and that’s what you get. 2 hours of a brooding, buff Matt Damon kicking ass and driving like a madman. Cue the biggest use of shaky-camera action I’ve ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, it works brilliantly, but when the audience is meant to be reading a text message on someone’s phone screen, hold the damn thing still! I can’t read when you’re shaking it like Taylor Swift dangit!  I was not impressed with the shaky-camera action, I felt like I had a bad case of vertigo, I needed a lie down after to recover!  I had no idea what was going on in the fight scenes because I couldn't see one person from the other, I was glad when someone got knocked down because it provided a short pause for me to get my bearings!

I wasn’t sure what to think of Alicia Vikander’s character at first, she was amazing in her 2015 movies and came across quite wooden in this to begin with, but towards the end of the movie I realised that’s how she was meant to be. Don’t mess with Bourne, Heather!  This is where I was impressed, I really love Alicia Vikander and she didn't disappoint me here.  I had know idea where her loyalties lay throughout the whole thing, obviously that was the story but she played the poker face so well I had even less chance of working out who the heck she was supporting.  I convinced myself at one point that she was Bourne's long lost sister from Beirut!

The one thing I was waiting for was the moment in the trailers where that riot truck just plows through traffic in Las Vegas. So. Much. Yes. That was my favourite action scene, made even better by the fact that Jason Bourne was driving a black Dodge as well. I’m not a car fanatic or anything, but on my honeymoon I was designated driver, and our hire car was a black Dodge Dart (we named him Terry) and I loved that car so much.  I was expecting to be really excited by the Vegas scene and on the edge of my seat but by that point I had given into boredom and was fidgeting like I desperately needed the loo (I didn't!) and I just wanted it to be over already.

The action was great in theory but the story didn't grab my attention so I just lost interest. If I don't care about the characters then I have no reason to care when they are being beaten to a pulp by someone!

So yeah, Jason Bourne was everything I wanted it to be. A bit of mid-week fun and perfect for letting the brain switch off and just enjoy a good action flick!

I can't really justify my dislike of this, I was just plain bored.  Too much like all the others, nothing new or exciting!

Review: The Martian (2015)

When the hype kicked in before the release of The Martian, I vowed to locate a copy of the book and read it cover to cover, and then see it on the big screen. Only one of those things happened in the end. Ah, the best laid plans… To be honest, when I planned a cinema trip nearly 7 weeks after it’s release, I was surprised to see my local cinema was still playing it, I thought I’d missed it all together!  I too very nearly missed this one but luckily one of my local cinemas has over 30 screens so keeps movies on for longer than most...phew!

Before I try to write something that resembles a review however, let me first have a little cinema related rant. Yes, there was a group of kids/teens chatting or laughing at the back of the screen, to be honest, it was barely even audible. Certainly not enough to ruin the experience. What was annoying however, was the couple a few rows behind me shouting ‘Jesus Christ’ and ‘Shut Up’ every 5 minutes. They started this charade during the trailers! I wanted to turn around and explain the irony, but I knew I’d only be adding to the problem. Chill out, crazy couple!  I can sympathise with both you and the couple, my Dad barely hears anything in the cinema but I can hear every whisper and it drives me bonkers, so I wold probably be the couple haha!  Although, I do try to cause less disruption with my annoyance than the actual disruption.

Anyway, The Martian (2015) is based on a novel of the same name written by Andy Weir. After a terrible storm kicks up on Mars, the Ares III crew are forced to evacuate, but during their escape, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is hit by debris and presumed dead. During the crew’s journey home to Earth, it is discovered that Mark is still alive on Mars, and so NASA must now perform the biggest rescue mission ever known.  Did anyone else think that maybe NASA wouldn't spend Millions probably Billions of Dollars to save one person?! (my Dads response to this comment was 'Well what else were they gonna do?' which I guess is kind of logical!)

Watching Mark figure out how to survive out on Mars for as long as possible was absolutely fascinating to watch, if not a little gross at times. We all know what fertilizer is of course, but ew. I will also never take a bottle of ketchup for granted ever again. I wasn’t expecting The Martian to be so funny, either. Not that it’s a comedy or anything, but this line in particular was hilarious: “In the face of overwhelming odds, I'm left with only one option, I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this.”  My personal favourite was "I am the greatest Botanist on this planet".  The whole film had a real dry humour about it, it actually reminded me of typical British humour which felt great in a big Hollywood blockbuster!

Space movies aren’t my usual go-to movie of choice, and that’s mainly because I just don’t understand the science involved. For example, I felt like I enjoyed Interstellar, but man, I didn’t understand any of it. The Martian is different though. I got a little lost when the team at NASA were doing the calculations on how to rescue Mark, but for most of the time, I actually understood what was going on. Maybe that’s thanks to Mark himself for his crude and literal explanations of everything.

Although there were no crazy plot twists or dramatic love stories involved, I felt engaged from start to finish, although the run-time was a little long for a cinema trip for me. I need my pause breaks for long movies to get another cup of tea and a few biscuits! It was absolutely worth seeing this on the big screen though, the sets on Mars were simply stunning to look at.

I really loved this film, the humour helps to curb the sentimentality and moving from Watney surviving on his own, the rest of the Ares III crew on their ship and Houston keeps the pace of the film up really well.  In fact, when it ended I was so disappointed, I didn't want it to finish - I'm certain there is no requirement for a sequel but I will be keeping my fingers crossed!!

I should also mention the supporting cast, which contains quite a few big names and familiar faces. We don’t get to see much of them, but they keep the tension high and there’s a nice mix of series and comedic characters in there.  I loved Donald Glover, he's just cropping up everywhere at the minute, much to my delight!

The Martian will without a doubt be in my Top 10 for the year list, it was everything I hoped it would be. Now to make a start on that book!  Ditto!

Review: Interstellar (2014)

Is it possible to love a film you don’t understand? I’m ashamed to say it took the DVD release and my future Father-in-Law’s birthday to get me to finally watch Interstellar. I avoided it like the plague when it came out in the cinemas, despite how amazing it probably was on the big screen, because it was just too darn long. I can’t sit that still without copious tea breaks. Give me a pizza and a comfy sofa however, and I’ll sit still all day.  I just never got around to seeing it and when I finally had the time it had finished at the cinema!

The plot, in short, sounds like something that’s been done a hundred times already. The Earth is dying, humanity needs somewhere else to live, let’s send some astronauts off into space, yada yada. Maybe that put me off, too? This is all I knew about the film before watching it, and now, I almost think it’s a better experience if that’s all you know.

Did I mention I can’t stand Matthew McConaughey? Sorry - he just winds me up for absolutely no reason. He’s alright in Interstellar though. Okay, he’s pretty good. The cast as a whole were great I thought, and I especially loved the two robots, TARS and CASE. They have so much personality! Plus TARS is a little sassy, and you can’t go wrong with a sassy robot.  Weren't they awesome!!

Did anyone feel a bit sorry for Cooper's son, he barely got a mention throughout, the whole situation seemed to be circled around Cooper and Murph.  They hinted at the beginning of the movie that Tom's scores weren't high enough for college and that he would make a great farmer which seemed like an early justification for why Cooper has this bond with his daughter but not his son.  I felt sad for him all the way through the movie and more so at the end *SPOILER ALERT* when he didn't even ask if his Son was still alive, just his daughter.

Okay, so the science-y stuff I didn’t really understand. I’m just not clever enough to get it. I know why they’re off to space, I sort of understand the wormhole thing, I understand how Matt Damon got there although I don’t know why he’s such a grump, and I don’t understand the whole equation thing. The time-relativity thing (I need to find another word for thing) was really cool once I got my head around that.

I absolutely loved this and I was really surprised by that, I think that because I missed out on all the hype for this I just had no expectations for it so I just enjoyed it for what it was.  I did lose track of some of the science bit but that didn't ruin anything for me, I loved how the whole thing came full circle. 

The idea of time was approached in really interesting (and I'm assuming scientific) ways throughout, reminding me of Inception's approach to dreaming and the dream world.  I was terrified by the thought of how long they were staying on the planet when 1 hour equals 7 years in their 'home' time, I was on the edge of my sit willing them to hurry up.

Something I picked up on throughout the film was the music. Normally my mind switches off to that and I don’t even remember music being in films, but the score in Interstellar is so loud in places that it’s hard not to notice. I can imagine some loved it and others hated it, but in certain scenes it had me holding my breath, it was so powerful.  I thought exactly the same and also the use of complete silence was really cool, there was a huge explosion but as the astronauts wouldn't hear anything, neither did we.  It really brought home the isolation of the situation.

Just a warning, there aren’t any spoilers below but it might get you thinking about things you shouldn’t if/when you watch Interstellar for the first time. That sounds so wrong.

I think the reason I loved this film so much was the last half an hour or so, you’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it. Watching this with my fiance’s family was a great experience, because as we realised certain things, one by one we’d gasp, shout and wave our arms around like mad! Do you remember one of the first spoken lines in the entire film, when Cooper walks in to Murph’s room? She says ‘I thought you were my ghost’. That friggin line just wins it for me! I hadn't even thought of that, I now want to watch it again to catch the links between the beginning and the end!

If I can find some spare hours, I’d love to understand the science bits and then re-watch Interstellar to truly experience it for what it should be.

Many might disagree with my score for this but for me it had everything and I was glued to the screen the whole time.