Kim Gentes

 The hunt for UBL. Zero junk. Lots of dark controversy.

Summary: The hunt for Usama Bin Laden is the modern epitome of our hunt for evil. This is the Hollywood dramatization of that story. It is gritty, but not overplayed. It is political, but not harshly partisan. It's a very good film that stays, like the protagonist, in the hunt of its target.

Full Review: "The Hurt Locker" is one of the most intense modern war films of our era. It's director, Katherine Bigalow, is the director of "Zero Dark Thirty".  The movie is fine-tuned to present the lighting, action, and dialog of what real special ops missions are truly about. Add to that the CIA investigation and tracking of Usama bin Laden (labeled coldly as UBL throughout) and you have a convincing, engrossing and controversial movie.

I have to admit that I saw "Argo" recently and it was hard not to think in parallels of what was being attempted with this film. But in its sheer weight, action and story "Zero Dark Thirty" is a clear winner. While the plot of the movie culminates in 30 minutes of action, as the operation is engaged and UBL is hunted to his death, the main narrative centers around the character Maya. She is the CIA analyst who spends her entire career hunting down UBL from her desk and gathering evidence from interviews of others in the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. Maya becomes the hero in this film, though critics have notably downplayed the role of individuals, saying there was a huge network of information and work that made the hunt successful.

Like most based-on-reality films, "Zero Dark Thirty" is not a precise retrace of the exact story, but is supposedly very close to events. As a movie-goer, I am less interested in each and every detail of the hunt, but want to know the general storyline. Jessica Chastain (who plays Maya) is a unrelenting CIA agent, whose portrayal, while heroic, sometimes seems unbelievable in the professional/government world.  Her dialog with superiors feels unrealistic and might have well had her fired. Whether it is accurate to the word, I am doubtful. But the details of she helps to catches the mastermind terrorist and works to have action taken on the target- this feels vivid and real. The ensuing operation to finally take down Usama bin Laden also feels believable and is certainly engaging and human.

But, I am guessing the big "talking point" of this film be none of those things. Likely the big controversy will be over detainee torture methods, and the film's point of its effectiveness, will be the loud screaming topic from the follow-on conversation for this film. Even if just for that, it is an excellent film to see. You will likely not leave without an opinion.

For parents, this movie should be reserved for children that are 16 and over. While the action is haunting and violent (targets are shot to be killed, without being offering any surrender), it is the scenes of prisoner torture that are most gruesome and degrading. Parents should heed the movie's MPAA "R" rating. 

Amazon DVD Link: http://amzn.to/X226za

Review by Kim Gentes

Bourne Again!!

Sometimes movies should stop at one sequel. They have a surprising debut with a relatively modest first episode. It grows a nice following in the rental market. Then usually episode 2 of a series is the normal payoff. Steam has built and you have a big box office run for the second installment. By the third revision, the series loses interest and people aren't willing to dump more cash into a one-trick pony (for the third time). As proof of this model, look at Matrix, Shrek (albeit a strong 3rd showing), X-men, etc etc.

Then along came Jason Bourne, Matt Damon's super-ops spy character that gets more and more believably unbelievable with each sequence. Damon is the most convincing actor to do his own stunts in the last 20 years. His choreographed fight sequences are the most interesting and surprising of all the modern age action heroes. He and Damon Caro (Fight Choreographer) have a master synthesis that makes what could be a normal fistfight become a jaw dropping, no-popcorn-eating event for all movie watchers. Taking out an assassin with a regular hard back book doesn't sound too interesting, unless you see it done by Jason Bourne! That scene alone was 100% better than every other action movie I have seen this year, except for maybe 300 (the movie), which was an amazing action feast for a whole other reason.

Anyways, Bourne Ultimatum is all about answers. You find out who Jason Bourne really is, why he was a part of all this stuff, why they are trying to kill, all the secret stuff. And, actually, it all makes sense. I mean none of it is really all that believable, but come on, this is a super spy movie-- 5% believability is all that is needed!

The movie pays off for action freaks and is engaging for people who just like a bit of a tale to unfold. There is a hint of relational drama with the beautiful Julia Styles playing a helpful agent in Morocco, but thankfully the movies stays the course and Bourne has learned that everyone he gets close to gets killed. So he stays clear.

If you can, rent the first two movies (even if you have seen them) to prime you up before going to Ultimatum on the big screen. Then the storyline will fit and you feel like you got a bit more from the movie. Without it, the action moves along so fast, you may not care that the storyline is also advancing.

For those considering ages and appropriateness, I would not recommend this to anyone under 15 years old, but the film is fairly focused just on action, so some might think I am being prudish with that. It has no sexuality and limited language offenses, so its a cleaner film than most of this intensity of violence.

Simply put- go see this film while it is still on the big screen. It isn't the most amazing thing ever, but it is easily the top 2 or 3 action films this year. Well worth the fare for entry, in my opinion.