Dec 10, 2013
Tradecraft: Fast and Furious Director Justin Lin Takes On Bourne Legacy Sequel
Deadline reported last month that Justin Lin, the man who turned the lackluster and flailing The Fast and the Furious series into a stellar, unmissable international heist and car chase action franchise, is turning his attention to Jason Bourne. Er, sorry, to Aaron Cross, the Jeremy Renner character who inherited the Bourne mantle (but not name) in the disappointing 2012 spinoff The Bourne Legacy. After that one, the Bourne series could really use some of what Lin injected into the Fast and the Furious movies. He's probably also the most traditionally mainstream action guy (despite his indie roots with Better Luck Tomorrow) to land a Bourne gig to date. Will this mark some sort of weather change for the franchise? Personally I think the director of Fast Five (a way, way better action movie than it ever had any right to be) can probably craft a top-notch Bourne movie (or faux-Bourne movie anyway), but we'll have to wait until 2015 to see. A subsequent Deadline story added that the new film is slated to open on August 14, 2015, which means that in 2015 spy fans will be treated to new entries in the Bond, Bourne and Mission: Impossible franchises all in the same year! What a year that will be...
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2 comments:
I have actually never seen any of Lin's films. However, I thought Tony Gilroy did such a lousy job with 'The Bourne Ultimatum' as both a writer and director that I welcome the change. I'm a huge fan of the original Bourne Trilogy, and just sort of pretend the fourth one doesn't exist.
This does make me want to watch Lin's Fast and the Furious films. From the little I've seen, he seems to have a good eye for action and setting. If for that alone I think he might bring something interesting to the new Bourne/Cross movie.
Right. I hope that without Gilroy writing, they stop being so hung up on the same old "agent on the run from his own people" scenario and branch in new directions. Legacy was certainly a chance to do that, and such a missed opportunity! Gilroy just did the same exact thing as before, but with pills. It's like U.S. Marshals. I doubt anyone remembers that movie now, but at the time I had loved The Fugitive and was so excited to see Tommy Lee Jones' Gerrard go after a fugitive who actually deserved to be caught this time! And then... they did the EXACT SAME THING and had him chasing another innocent guy! So dumb.
But Lin does indeed have a good eye for action and setting, so he can bring a lot to the Bourne/Cross series. (Hopefully they tell a whole new story with Cross and don't try to tie this one too closely to Legacy.) I'd recommend Fast Five as the best example of what Lin can do, and you can watch it without any other knowledge of the series.
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