Trailer: Incorporated

Here is the trailer for Syfy's upcoming futuristic industrial espionage series Incorporated, from producers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The series, which we first heard about two years ago, takes place in 2074 when governments have fallen and corporations have taken control. A deep cover operative penetrates one such corporation to bring down the system from the inside. Incorporated premieres November 30.

New Jason Bourne Poster

Universal has released a new international poster for Jason Bourne, Matt Damon's eagerly anticipated return to the titular Robert Ludlum character. Frankly, it's a pretty boring poster, if you ask me. (Especially compared with the simple, but exciting, teaser.) It looks like someone Photoshopped Damon's head onto a Taken poster... or lazily rehashed the worst James Bond campaign, from Die Another Day. That said, the movie itself (which also heralds the return to the franchise of director Paul Greengrass) looks characteristically fantastic! And it's nice to see Oscar winner Alicia Vikander getting a more prominent spot in the film's advertising than she did for her last spy movie, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Jason Bourne opens July 29 in the United States.

New Poster: Jason Bourne

Here's the second teaser poster for Jason Bourne, the fourth movie starring Matt Damon as Robert Ludlum's amnesiac superspy, and the third directed by Paul Greengrass. Jason Bourne opens July 27, 2016 (two days earlier than previously announced). Watch the latest trailer here. View the first poster (same slogan, full body) here.

Trailer: Jason Bourne

We got our first glimpse in nine years at Matt Damon in action as Jason Bourne during the Super Bowl spot for the eponymous new movie. Today, Universal has released the full trailer, and it looks pretty spectacular! Damon re-teams with his Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum and Green Zone director Paul Greengrass, and the results are exactly what you'd expect of that team. Jason Bourne (which bodly abandons the traditional Robert Ludlum title structure) opens July 29.  Alicia Vikander (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), Vincent Cassel (Agents Secrets), Tommy Lee Jones (Criminal) and Julia Stiles (reprising her role from previous Bourne movies) co-star.



Read my review of Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Ultimatum here.

Read my review of Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy here.

Read my review of the 1988 miniseries of The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Supremacy here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Ultimatum here. 

Trailer: Matt Damon's Jason Bourne Returns in... Jason Bourne

In a bit of a shocker, the new Paul Greengrass/Matt Damon Bourne movie will not follow the standard Robert Ludlum title convention of "The Bourne ______." Instead, it will simply be called... Jason Bourne. While it makes sense to make the title so personal now that Damon's former amnesiac has remembered all of his past at the end of 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, I'm not really a fan of the "hero's name" school of title that gave us Jack Ryan, Jack Reacher and John Carter. (I still think we're incredibly lucky that the first 007 picture didn't turn out to be called James Bond of the Secret Service! Imagine if the producers had ended up beholden to that formula?) But not only does Jason Bourne strike a personal chord (though shouldn't it really be David Webb if that's what they're going for, since that turned out to be the character's real name?), but it also sends a clear message that this movie really is about Jason Bourne, the hero we want to see, played by Matt Damon, and not about some random stand-in like Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross! (Don't get me wrong; despite not particularly liking The Bourne Legacy, I'd still like to see an Aaron Cross follow-up, just not misrepresented as a Bourne movie.) So here is our first look at the man himself, Jason Bourne, back in action, in, as expected, this Super Bowl spot.



Jason Bourne is scheduled to open on July 29. Alicia Vikander (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), Vincent Cassel (Agents Secrets), Ato Essandoh (Elementary), Tommy Lee Jones (Yuri Nosenko, KGB) and Julia Stiles (reprising her role from previous Bourne movies) also star.

Read my review of Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Ultimatum here.

Read my review of Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy here.

Read my review of the 1988 miniseries of The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Supremacy here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Ultimatum here. 

New Bourne Title, Trailer Expected February 7 During Super Bowl

According to Dark Horizons, Bourne continuation novelist Eric Van Lustbader (who took over after Robert Ludlum's death even though the original author had very neatly tied up his trilogy about the amnesiac assassin) posted on his Facebook page that the first trailer for the new Jason Bourne movie, re-teaming Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Supremacy), will air during the Super Bowl on February 7. There's no sign of any such post on his page now, so this shouldn't be taken as gospel. But it does seem likely that he let the cat out of the bag early and tried to stuff it back in. With the trailer will come the reveal of the film's title, which hasn't yet been announced. Tony Gilroy's Damon-less (and Bourne-less) spinoff movie The Bourne Legacy utilized a title (but not plot) from one of Van Lustbader's continuation novels, so if Van Lustbader is teasing the new one it seems logical to assume that the new movie will as well. (It would be hard not to. Van Lustbader has written about a billion Bourne novels by now, compared with Ludlum's three, so he's already put just about every espionage-related word that one can after the name "Bourne!" His latest, due out this summer, is called The Bourne Enigma.) Whatever it's called, the next Damon/Greengrass Bourne movie is probably my own most anticipated spy movie of 2016, and I can't wait to get a glimpse of what they've got in store! Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel and series veteran Julia Stiles co-star.

First Picture of Bourne Back in Action

Bourne series producer Frank Marshall Tweeted the first photo of Matt Damon back in action as Jason Bourne from the set today. Damon, 44, slips back into the role of Robert Ludlum's formerly amnesiac superspy Jason Bourne for the first time since 2007. (Jeremy Renner kept the series warm for him with a disappointing spinoff in 2012.) And, clearly, he's gotten himself super ripped for the occasion. The new, still untitled Damon Bourne movie, re-teaming the star with his Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass, was previously slated for release next July, but Deadline reports that it is now unscheduled. Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel and series veteran Julia Stiles co-star.

Tradecraft: Vincent Cassel to Menace Jason Bourne, Plus Details on the Sequel's Story

Variety reports that French star Vincent Cassel (Agents Secrets, Ocean's 12) has signed on to play an assassin on the trail of Matt Damon's Jason Bourne in Paul Greengrass's new, still untitled Bourne sequel. Presumably, this is the same role that Viggo Mortensen was previously rumored for. It sure would be great if he turned out to be a version of the primary antagonist from Robert Ludlum's books, Carlos, but that seems unlikely. The casting (so far uniformly excellent) certainly seems to indicate that everything is falling into the usual, formulaic places for the film series. Cassel will be the latest in a line of tough assassins to go after Bourne, following in the footsteps of Clive Owen, Karl Urban and Edgar Ramirez. The previously announced Tommy Lee Jones, similarly, fits right in with the numerous tough guys emeritus to play bureaucrats from the CIA who have chased Bourne before (including Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, David Straithairn and Joan Allen).

However, Damon recently indicated to Buzzfeed (via Dark Horizons) that it's not just business as usual. His Bourne hasn't been seen since 2007 (Jeremy Renner played a different graduate of the same elite government assassin program in 2012's The Bourne Legacy), and it turns out there's a reason for that, in the actor's mind. "We always looked at those movies as really about the Bush presidency," he said, "and so we kind of had to wait for the world to change. What does the character have to say?" It was Edward Snowden's whistleblowing and the renewed debate about security versus privacy that gave Damon and director Greengrass (no stranger to whistleblowers, having coauthored the notorious MI5 tell-all Spy Catcher with Peter Wright in the Eighties) the answer they were looking for. Buzzfeed points out that it may have actually been Senator John McCain who gave them the notion, when he said in 2013 that Snowden was seen by young Americans as "some sort of Jason Bourne." So... not going back to the books, then?

Damon said, "Without giving too much of it away, it’s Bourne through an austerity-riddled Europe and in a post-Snowden world. It seems like enough has changed, you know? There are all these kinds of arguments about spying and civil liberties and the nature of democracy." The locations also reflect very contemporary issues. The new movie starts off in Greece in the midst of its economic turmoils, and ends in Las Vegas. And, if previous reports are true, along the way Jason Bourne will be visiting the Canary Islands, with five weeks of production scheduled in Tenerife, the largest island. The film commences shooting this month.

Alicia Vikander (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) and Julia Stiles (reprising her role from previous Bourne movies) also star. Greengrass, who helmed The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum as well as the underrated Green Zone with Damon, will direct from a script he wrote with Christopher Rouse (who edited Greengrass's two previous Bourne movies) after concocting the story with Damon. Damon and Greengrass are also producing, alongside franchise newcomer Gregory Goodman (X-Men: First Class) and Bourne veterans Frank Marshall and Jeffrey Weiner, of Captivate Entertainment, rights-holders of the Robert Ludlum library. The film is slated to open on July 29, 2016.

Read my review of Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Ultimatum here.

Read my review of Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy here.

Read my review of the 1988 miniseries of The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Supremacy here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Ultimatum here. 

Tradecraft: Julia Stiles Returns to Bourne

The next Bourne movie, featuring the long awaited return of Matt Damon to the role of Jason Bourne, Paul Greengrass to the director's chair, and Jason Bourne himself (absent from The Bourne Legacy) to the series whose titles bear his name, is finally casting up. Deadline confirms that Julia Stiles will reprise her role from the first three movies as CIA agent Nicky Parsons. I've often suggested that Nicky would make a good stand-in for Marie (regrettably killed off in the movies) should the filmmakers ever decide to actually adapt Robert Ludlum's terrific novel The Bourne Supremacy, of which they only used the title for the second movie, not the plot. She is, as far as we know, the only other woman that the Bourne of the films cares about enough that her kidnapping might stir him to action. But that's just my own fantasizing; the trade provides no details on what Damon, Greengrass and co-writer Christopher Rouse (Greengrass's frequent editor) have in store for her character. Last month we heard that The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s Alicia Vikander is also up for a role, but that hasn't yet been confirmed.

Additionally, The Wrap's Jeff Sneider tweeted last week that Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) has been offered a "bad guy role" in the film. Should he accept, that would be pretty damn cool! The Bourne movies haven't really had traditional "villains" (Clive Owen, Karl Urban and Edgar Ramirez, respectively, played antagonists with almost no lines in the first three films), but CIA officials tracking Bourne (played by the likes of Chris Cooper, Joan Allen, Brian Cox and Edward Norton) could also qualify as "bad guys" in these films. It will be interesting to see what kind of role they have in store for Mortensen. I'd love to see Bourne go up against a more clearly defined enemy. (Again, Ludlum's Bourne Supremacy provides such a character. As do his other two Bourne novels in the form of Carlos the Jackal. It would be very cool to see Mortensen play some sort of Carlos analogue, and to see the films explore that fascinating side of the Bourne story!) When David Cronenberg was attached to direct Ludlum's The Matarese Circle for MGM way back when (how freaking great would that have been?), I had hoped that he would cast his frequent collaborator Mortensen as the Russian agent opposite Denzel Washington's American spy. Instead, Tom Cruise became attached in that part. But I'd still love to see Mortensen end up in some sort of Ludlum role, so I hope he accepts. The still untitled next Bourne movie, Damon's first in nine years, is slated to open July 29, 2016.

From U.N.C.L.E. to Bourne? Alicia Vikander Sought for New Matt Damon Bourne Film

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. star Alicia Vikander (The Fifth Estate) may soon be defecting to another spy franchise. Deadline reports that the in-demand Swede is being sought for the female lead in Paul Greengrass's new Bourne film, the one that sees Matt Damon return to the fold in the title role. Greengrass and Damon are currently writing the script with Christopher Rouse (who edited Greengrass's two previous Bourne movies, as well as Green Zone), and Universal is eyeing a July 29, 2016 release date. Damon and Greengrass are also producing, alongside franchise newcomer Gregory Goodman (X-Men: First Class) and Bourne veteran Frank Marshall. But Vikander, who stars in eight films this year and is already generating Oscar buzz for her terrific turn in the A.I. hit Ex Machina, is apparently wanted by everyone. According to the trade, she's also in talks for Assassin's Creed, opposite Michael Fassbender, and The Circle, opposite Tom Hanks. Right now it's looking like she'll have to walk away from the latter, but her Bourne involvement is not yet confirmed.

Tradecraft: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck Developing Industrial Espionage Series

Deadline reports that Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan are teaming up for a new futuristic spy series. But Matt Damon (Green Zone, The Informant!) and Ben Affleck (Argo, The Sum of All Fears) are only behind the scenes on this one. The pair are developing "a futuristic espionage thriller" called Incorporated with CBS TV Studios for Syfy. "Set in a world where corporations have seemingly unlimited power, Incorporated will tell the story of one man’s efforts to beat the system." David and Alex Pastor will write the pilot; Ted Humphrey (The Unit) will serve as showrunner and executive produce along with Damon, Affleck and Jennifer Todd.

Tradecraft: Matt Damon to Reprise His Bourne Identity After All?

Matt Damon has long maintained that he would only return to the role of Jason Boune if Paul Greengrass returned to direct. And Greengrass has been saying for just as long that he would never return to direct, a self-sustaining loop which seemed to preclude ever seeing another Bourne movie starring Damon. Eventually even Universal gave up on hoping to extend their blockbuster spy franchise with its original star, and hired Jeremy Renner to star in a weird placeholder spin-off movie, The Bourne Legacy, directed by series scribe Tony Gilroy. Since Gilroy and Greengrass had famously fallen out during production on The Bourne Ultimatum, and Damon sided with Greengrass, Gilroy's increased involvement in the spin-off seemed to dash further any hopes of a Damon return. Even so, however, The Bourne Legacy was carefully scripted so as not to alter Bourne's universe in any way. That decision effectively neutered the spin-off, but left the door wide open for a Damon return, however unlikely that seemed. Spy fans, of course, learned three decades ago to never say never, and now it looks like just such a return is finally in the cards!

Deadline's Mike Fleming broke the story earlier today that the studio "has begun making deals with Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass to reunite" for another Bourne movie! While this is hugely exciting news, it's important to note that no one at Universal nor reps for either key player has yet gone on the record. Still, Fleming seems confident that a deal is underway. And a little later, The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit corroborated Fleming's story with his own sources. And Kit brought another piece of the puzzle to the table; he reports that Greengrass will not only direct, but also script the next Bourne movie. While he hasn't had a writing credit on either of his previous Bourne films (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum), the director is no stranger to writing or to the spy genre. As a journalist back in the Eighties, he co-wrote one of the most notorious espionage tell-alls of all time, Peter Wright's Spy Catcher. And as a screenwriter he penned the critically acclaimed 9/11 drama United 93, the equally acclaimed Irish Troubles picture Bloody Sunday, and numerous TV projects. Now he'll take a crack at a story conundrum he once said was insurmountable: where do you take the Jason Bourne character now that he's regained his memory? I have a tip for Greengrass on that one. Do what Gilroy annoyingly (and loudly) refused to do, and return to Robert Ludlum's novels. There are several movies' worth of great plots in those books that remain untapped by Hollywood. (The first film really only used the book's premise and opening, while the second two were basically adaptations in name only.) Sure, the previous films have changed a lot of stuff from the books, and killed off a couple of crucial characters, but they haven't done anything that Greengrass couldn't work around. I'd also love to see Damon's Bourne in the Hong Kong and Macau locations of Ludlum's second novel, since we've really only seen him in action in Europe so far. (And briefly in New York, India and North Africa.)

So where do these latest developments leave Renner's Aaron Cross character from The Bourne Legacy? Only months ago it was announced that Fast and Furious director Justin Lin would be helming a second Cross "Bourne" movie. (And I'm still quite keen to see him do it; I think his action sensibility is just what's needed to course correct from the first spin-offs missteps.) Andrew Baldwin was slated to script. But now Lin is attached to direct the second season of True Detective for HBO, and Fleming reports that Universal is eager to slot the Damon/Greengrass reunion about the "real" Jason Bourne in the July 16, 2016 berth previously allotted for Aaron Cross. That doesn't mean, however, that the studio is giving up on Renner's character. Rather, reports Fleming, "Universal intends to continue that series and to broaden its franchise base" along the lines of the interconnected franchises in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's a smart move, in my opinion, and a win/win scenario for spy fans. One that means we may well continue to see new movies set in the Bourne Universe, focusing on different agents, for a long time to come. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll even see Gilroy's dream of having the two spies cross paths come true. But, given these new developments and old rivalries, probably not with Gilroy himself involved. Personally, I welcome the return of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. It's true that The Bourne Ultimatum was a satisfying send-off for the character, but Greengrass and Damon managed to top it in terms of tour de force action setpieces with their very next collaboration, Green Zone. So I enthusiastically look forward to seeing whatever they come up with next for Bourne.

Is Universal Talking to Matt Damon About More Bourne?

Twitchfilm (via AICN) reports that Universal "is in simultaneous negotiations with both Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass for both to return to the Bourne franchise." Variety, however, did their own follow-up on the Twitch story, and reports that "sources with the studio are denying the story saying there is nothing going on between the studio and Damon and Greengrass." So what's true? Who's right? Neither site cites an actual Uni spokesperson, just "sources." Furthermore, Variety has a long history of being a studio mouthpiece, good for this sort of denial when information leaks out before a studio is ready for that to happen, while sites like Twitch pride themselves on getting inside scoops before the trades... but with a predictably shaky track record. So what's really happening? I'm afraid that I have no "sources" of my own inside Universal, but I'm going to give Twitch the benefit of the doubt here. Because Universal would be insane if they weren't always in some sort of negotiation, however informal, with Damon and Greengrass. Damon is the heart of their billion dollar franchise. Damon-less spin-off The Bourne Legacy, starring Jeremy Renner, didn't live up to the Damon trilogy either critically or at the box office. (Though it wasn't a flop by any means, either.) And the spin-off deliberately left the door open for Damon to return to the series (as the title character) in the future. Damon, for his part, has said many times in the past that he wouldn't do that without Greengrass, who helmed The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, as well as Damon's Green Zone. (Green Zone was a flop, but might actually be the best Bourne movie to date despite not actually being a Bourne movie. Fans of the franchise should definitely seek it out.) So it only makes sense that the studio attempt to woo Damon (and Greengrass with him) back into the fold. I'd be willing to bet there are talks going on at some level, however informal.

The question is, what would such talks mean for the future of Jeremy Renner's character, former Outcome agent Aaron Cross? It was recently announced that Anthony Peckham had been hired to pen a follow-up to The Bourne Legacy again focusing on Cross. Frankly, the Damon negotiations don't need to have any effect on that. It would be entirely possible for the studio to simply spin off the Cross character into his own franchise, and call the next one The Cross Continuation or something more serious but suitably Ludlumy in nature. At the same time, they could proceed concurrently with more Bourne titles starring Matt Damon as the actual Jason Bourne. Win/win. Or, it's equally possible that they could manufacture a crossover, featuring both characters (agents of more or less the same top secret government program, whether it's called Treadstone or Outcome) in one film. AICN speculates that Peckham might be the lynch pin behind such an attempt, as he worked with Damon on Invictus. Doing press for The Bourne Legacy, that film's director Tony Gilroy said that such a crossover was his hope. Damon (who has a longstanding feud with Gilroy), however, seemed to dash such hopes last fall when, without having seen Legacy, he said, "from what I understand, it kind of relives [Ultimatum] from a different perspective. What that means, because they use our actors and characters, is that whatever they said [in Legacy] is true and so we'd have to acknowledge it in any Bourne movie that we'd do. And that makes it really tough. I don't think we can do the Dallas it-was-all-a-dream scenario." Perhaps by now he's seen the spin-off and realized that while Legacy does use the same characters, it goes out of its way (to the movie's detriment) not to seriously impact the events of the Damon films! So perhaps with Gilroy apparently not involved in this one, Damon would be amenable to working with Renner? (Surely Ben Affleck, who's worked with both of them, could take a brief break from his Batman training to put the two actors in a room together to hash it out?)

Together or apart, I'd certainly be in line to see more adventures of both characters. (I was disappointed by Legacy as a whole, but liked Renner in it.) But, like most audience members, I think, what I really want is more Bourne, and that means more Damon. I hope the studio does whatever it takes to bring Damon and Greengrass back on board. And while I'm hoping so much, I might as well reiterate what I always say in these Bourne film updates: I also hope they take the opportunity to go back to the Robert Ludlum novels, which Gilroy pretty much abandoned after the first act of the first film. There's all sorts of good material there for future films! (Read my review of The Bourne Supremacy here to get an idea of what I'm talking about.)

And one last Bourne-related hope: I hope someone writes a really good warts-and-all behind the scenes history of the Bourne film franchise one day. From the notorious troubles on the set of Doug Liman's The Bourne Identity to Greengrass and Damon's feud with Gilroy to Gilroy's displeasure with the aborted Treadstone TV series to Damon's displeasure with The Bourne Legacy, there would be loads of juicy material! But the great story in such a book would be how the franchise managed to flourish despite all that friction. It would be a story of overcoming enormous difficulties rather than succumbing to them, setting it apart from other Hollywood tell-alls of that nature.

Tradecraft: Jason Bourne Joins James Bond and OSS 117

Deadline reports that Matt Damon has joined the cast of The Monuments Men, possibly making that movie the greatest spy star team-up of all time. (Why wasn't Sean Connery in Bullseye!... or Roger Moore in The Man Who Would Be King?) With Daniel Craig and Jean Dujardin already cast, that means this WWII-set reverse caper movie will unite James Bond, Jason Bourne and OSS 117 on one screen! George Clooney also brings a lot of spy gravitas to the proceedings, though sadly he's not known as one iconic role. (Too bad he had to pass on Napoleon Solo.) Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban round out the stellar cast, with Clooney directing and producing with his partner and co-writer Grant Heslov. The fact-based adventure follows a team of art historians and museum curators as they race to recover priceless artwork plundered by the Nazis at the end of WWII.

Matt Damon's Still Grumpy About Bourne

I love Matt Damon in the Bourne movies. But boy is he grumpy! He seems to be emulating Sean Connery's post-Bond attitude about 007, though after just three movies as opposed to Connery's eventual six (in the official line-up), I'm not sure he's earned it. He first got grumpy right after The Bourne Ultimatum, saying on the press tour for that film that "we have ridden that horse as far as we can" and adding that he felt like "a bit of a prostitute" for going as far as he did with Bourne (along with the Ocean's sequels). Later, promoting Invictus, the actor declared that he flat-out wouldn't return to the role without director Paul Greengrass at the helm. (Greengrass had already passed on a fourth film.) He's stuck with that ultimatum, but now taken to badmouthing the direction the franchise has gone in without him while he's at it. (Damon and Greengrass had a very public feud with Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter who contributed to all three Damon films and went on to write and direct this summer's spin-off The Bourne Legacy.) Even though Gilroy was hopeful earlier this summer that Damon would return to the series to face down or team up with Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross (and went out of his way in interviews to praise and placate Damon), the original Bourne star does not seem eager. Last month he rather dismissively told Movieline that he hasn't seen The Bourne Legacy, but, "from what I understand, it kind of relives [Ultimatum] from a different perspective. What that means, because they use our actors and characters, is that whatever they said [in Legacy] is true and so we'd have to acknowledge it in any Bourne movie that we'd do. And that makes it really tough." According to the website, he then laughed and added,"I don't think we can do the Dallas it-was-all-a-dream scenario. I don't think the audience would go for that after they paid money to see a movie," before finally acknowledging that, "I'd really love to do another one because I love the character."

Of course, if Damon ever gets around to watching Gilroy's film, what he'll learn is that Gilroy bent over backwards not to impact the events of the Damon/Greengrass movies, much to the detriment of Legacy, which ultimately offers zero forward momentum in the series. It would be a shame if the producers went to such lengths to leave the door open for the return of Damon and Greengrass only to have them refuse forever, but as of now that seems to be Damon's stance. He went on to tell the interviewer that it would be "a real struggle" to continue the adventures of his character, since Bourne's motivation in the first three films was to find his identity, which he finally did. "Where do you go next?"

Well, personally, I'd offer him the answer that I always bring up in these stories: go back to the books! There are two and a half whole entire Ludlum plots that the movies haven't touched, since neither Supremacy nor Ultimatum remotely resembled the novels. There are also huge chunks of the first book yet to be explored, including its primary antagonist, the international assassin Carlos the Jackal. While the real-life Carlos was finally captured in the 1990s, it would be easy enough to create a fictional present-day analogue, wouldn't it? I think it would be amazing if the films returned to the much more detailed plot of that first novel, and revealed that there was a whole other layer to Bourne's missing memories than he's yet discovered, and that what he thinks are answers may only lead to more questions. With a little finesse, I think they could pull that off. Ludlum's Supremacy might be easier to tackle, however, since the story more or less stands alone and takes place primarily in the Far East, which is new territory for Damon's mostly Europe-bound Bourne. (It's a slight problem that the films killed off Marie, who plays a major role in that book, but with a little creativity surely the filmmakers could substitute Julia Stiles' character, Nicky?) The primary mover away from the books was Tony Gilroy, who publicly disparaged them. Therefore, it's very easy for me to side with Damon and Greengrass (not that I know the ins and outs of the dispute) over him as curators of the series' future. But Damon really needs to stop being such a grump about it all the time!

Tradecraft: Who Will Accept The Bourne Legacy? 

This isn't really news, but I guess any traction on a new Bourne film is worth reporting. According to Deadline, pretty much every good-looking actor between the ages of 21 and 35 is being considered as the lead in the next Bourne movie. You probably assumed that already, right?  Of course you did.  Remember, as we've heard many times before, this new lead actor won't actually be playing the same character Matt Damon played; he'll be playing another character, making this film a spinoff rather than a sequel.  Which seems really stupid to me, but I guess I should wait and see where writer/director Tony Gilroy goes with this; he has a good track record.  But can you imagine if EON had said that George Lazenby would be playing 009 or 0011 instead of 007 after Sean Connery left the franchise, in hopes that Connery would come back later? History might have played out more or less the same with Connery returning once more, but the best film in the series would have been ruined! The point is, you don't need to change the character to change the actor. Just give us another Jason Bourne (by which I mean the David Webb Jason Bourne) instead of another character who's clearly treading water while the studio prays for Damon to return. Anyway. Deadline's Mike Fleming offers a laundry list of hot young actors on Universal's wish list here. I'm not going to repeat the whole list because you can probably guess them all anyway, and it doesn't mean anything till someone's actually cast. Two interesting (non-Gemini) contenders on opposite ends of the age spectrum with previous movie spy experience include Alex Pettyfer and Michael Fassbender. I admit, there's something amusing about the idea of Alex Rider stepping into Robert Ludlum's world... but not that amusing.

Gilroy: Damon Won't Return For The Bourne Legacy

New Bourne director (and returning screenwriter) Tony Gilroy has told Hollywood Elsewhere (via Dark Horizons) that Matt Damon will not be back for the next Bourne movie, and indeed that his character (known best by the moniker of Jason Bourne, even if that's not his real name) won't appear.  He set the matter straight on some other things, too, and basically confirmed what I've speculated here before.  The title will be The Bourne Legacy, but the film will bear no resemblance to Eric van Lustbader's continuation novel of that name, just as The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum bore no resemblance to the plots of Robert Ludlum's novels of those titles.  "It's a completely original screenplay," Gilroy told the website, adding, "This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one's replacing Matt Damon. There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter... this is a stand-alone project."  He goes on to further clarify that Jason Bourne is still "very much alive," though he won't be a character in this film.  "What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I'm building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy."  Head over to Hollywood Elsewhere to read everything Gilroy had to say. 

Personally, I've got to say I'm a tad disappointed.  I had really hoped that Damon would see reason and return to the role that solidified his stardom, but he appears to be ingrateful.  Gilroy stipulates that this story will leave the door open for Damon's Bourne to return again in the future, so perhaps he'll still get a Never Say Never Again moment down the line.  Failing Damon's return, I would have preferred to see the role simply recast, Bond-style (not rebooted or remade), with the supporting players all returning and no one commenting on Bourne's "new face" or anything silly like that.  Instead, we get a sequel without the titular character, and it will be interesting to see how audiences respond to that.  I guess the title The Bourne Legacy is very much appropriate, though, to what Gilroy is proposing...

Tradecraft: De Niro Still Intent On Good Shepherd Follow-Ups

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Robert De Niro still hopes to direct two follow-ups (sequels may be the wrong word) to his 2006 Matt Damon CIA epic The Good Shepherd, despite that film's failure to set the box office alight.  The trade reports that the actor discussed these projects at a master class that was part of an Italian film festival earlier this week:

Asked about his taste for directing more films in the future, the 66-year-old De Niro said he'd likely only direct "two or three" more films in his lifetime, including one or two sequels to The Good Shepherd, an intellectual spy thriller set during the early years of the Cold War. De Niro said he envisioned a second film starting in 1961, when "The Good Shepherd" ends and spanning until the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. A third installment, he said, would start after the fall of the Berlin Wall and go forward to the present time.

He basically reiterates what we already knew, but it's good to hear that he's still thinking about it, and not dissuaded by the first film's underperformance. Personally, I am all for this.  The Good Shepherd was definitely flawed (in its theatrical form anyway; I'm still waiting to see the much longer cut that writer Eric Roth talked about and hoping Universal one day releases it on DVD), but still fascinating entertainment for spy buffs. Two more such films set during equally rich periods of the Agency's history would be most welcome. Fingers crossed that De Niro gets his wish!

Read my initial review of The Good Shepherd here.

Read my re-appraisal of The Good Shepherd on DVD here.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Green Zone

Green Zone, so far my candidate for best spy movie of the year and my favorite movie–period–yet this year, will come out on DVD and Blu-ray from Universal Home Video on June 29, according to DVD Active.  The generous special features will include a commentary with star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass, deleted scenes, featurettes ("Inside the Green Zone", "Matt Damon: Ready for Action"), and a that stupid digital copy of the film that all the studios are still so crazy about. The Blu-ray release will include all that plus additional BD-Live and U-Control features, whatever that means.  Hopefully more people will discover this amazing action movie on DVD than saw it in the theaters.  As I said in my review, fans of Greengrass's Bourne movies are likely to love it; the thrust-the-viewer-in-the-thick-of-it action scenes are just as good as those in the awesome Bourne Ultimatum (and far, far superior to Mark Forster's attempt to replicate the style in the lacklustre Quantum of Solace). And, just to be clear, Green Zone is a propulsive spy action movie, not a grim antiwar drama or a political diatribe, as some would suggest. I've been listening to John Powell's equally propulsive score for it non-stop for weeks now in my car; I love it.

Read my full review of Green Zone here.
Read my full review of The Bourne Ultimatum here.
Pre-order Green Zone on DVD here.
Pre-order Green Zone on Blu-ray here.
Order the Green Zone soundtrack CD here.

Movie Review: Green Zone (2010)

Now pay attention, Marc Forster: this is how it's done!  Paul Greengrass is the undisputed master of the "put you in the middle of it" modern style of action filmmaking.  Working with the same second unit director (Bourne alum Dan Bradley) as Marc Forster did on Quantum of Solace, he manages to situate you perfectly while making you feel like you're right in the thick of things.  This is what Forster failed to do.  I was never situated in the action scenes in Quantum (particularly the opening car chase); I generally had no idea what was going on. Which may well have been the desired effect (as Forster has claimed), but it was frankly the wrong effect for an effective action movie.  First and foremost, the viewer needs an established sense of spatiality in order to follow and enjoy the mayhem.  Greengrass understands this.  He may leave the viewer disoriented at times (and thrillingly so), but the viewer knows why he's disoriented.  Granted, the director had time to hone this craft.  The Bourne Supremacy was a not entirely successful test case before the style gelled in The Bourne Ultimatum.  I'm happy to report that it gels again in Green Zone.

Green Zone is at once a war movie and a spy movie.  Matt Damon plays U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, assigned to locate WMD in the early days of the American occupation of Baghdad (circa 2003).  He's frustrated that his unit keeps coming up empty at site after site, and becomes convinced that it's not his unit that's faulty (as the brass seem to believe); it's the intelligence they're operating on that's faulty.  He manages to get himself seconded to the CIA, under local station chief Martin Brown (Brenden Gleeson), who agrees with Miller that the intel is bad.  I'm not sure how realistic it is that an active Army officer could temporarily transfer into the CIA, but in the case of the film this conceit allows Miller to charge around Baghdad on his own and in civilian duds, Bourne-style, in his relentless search for the truth–and for the source of the intel, an elusive asset codenamed "Magellan." 

From the opening moments of Baghdad under siege (which truly convey shock and awe in spectacular cinematic style) to the breathless final nighttime foot chase (also involving cars, Humvees and a helicopter) through the city's streets, Green Zone delivers nonstop thrills.  I know that's a cliche, but in this case it's absolutely true.  Like in The Bourne Ultimatum, the action almost never lets up.  Every setpiece is astonishing, from a tense sniper standoff to a close-quarters firefight in an upscale home to a breakneck hunt for a Saddamist general lying low.  The firefight leads to the discovery of a notebook that might be the clue to the whereabouts of one of the major players in that infamous deck of cards signifying Iraq's Most Wanted–and a lead on the intelligence Miller's after.  But no sooner do Miller and his squad recover the notebook than a Special Forces team (led by an unrecognizable but excellent Jason Isaacs, looking a little like Bono) show up and attempt to wrest it away–along with their prisoners. 

Miller is under siege on all sides, not only from the enemy, but apparently also caught up in the midst of a power struggle between different factions of his own forces as well.  And for once in this kind of story, the CIA are the good guys, which is a refreshing change of pace, especially for Greengrass and Damon, since the same Agency pursued Jason Bourne through their last few film collaborations.  The other side of the equation is personified by DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) man Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear at his smarmiest), the sort of high-level manipulator with no concern for his agents and soldiers in the field found in a dozen John Le Carré novels.  Somewhere in the middle is the Judith Miller-ish Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan), who wants to find the truth, but is a little too easily accepting of information she receives from government sources, which may not be it. 

Let me address the political issue surrounding this movie right now: there is some sort of misguided, unfounded online backlash against the film, perhaps because of star Damon's own outspoken views.  That is completely in error, and may be partially keeping audiences from seeing the finest action thriller in years.  (Obviously the Iraq War content itself is also a huge factor there; the subject matter remains box office poison.)  This is not a political film.  It is an action movie with an intriguing political backdrop, but not by any measure a polemic.  Granted, it is easy to take the high ground with the benefit of hindsight.  We know now that there were no WMD in Iraq.  But the movie doesn't beat a dead horse; it simply uses that particular moment in recent history as the ideal setting for an exciting spy story.  Action and (truely harrowing) thrills are at the forefront in Green Zone; not politics. 

Personally, I feel like excitement is something that's been missing from modern war films for quite a while.  Yes, I am aware that combat is horrific and takes a terrible psychological and physical toll on those brave men and women who undertake it.  But so is spying.  In both cases, the grim reality doesn't mean that the fiction cannot be thrilling.  I remember vividly the edge-of-my-seat excitement and utter dread that I felt watching The Longest Day as a child (and that was almost three decades after the film was made!); I remember feeling like I was actually there.  I got that same visceral thrill from Green Zone.  Paul Greengrass puts the audience right in the middle of the action, and we feel all the excitement and all of the terror.  The aforementioned sniper scene is probably the most intense combat action seen on the big screen since the opening moments of Saving Private Ryan. 

The moment-to-moment suspense is palpable, and Greengrass turns it up to the highest degrees that the audience can endure and still be entertained.  (And boy is it entertaining!) The movie only fails to generate suspense when you stop and think about the big picture.  Since we all know that no WMD were ever discovered, there is no suspense in that department.  Luckily, Greengrass keeps things moving fast enough action-wise that we don't think about that too often, and the moment-to-moment suspense of the situations Miller is put in (greatly aided by the excellent, propulsive score by Bourne alum John Powell) are enough to keep us glued to our seats, absolutely breathless.

Green Zone is the best action movie since The Bourne Ultimatum and quite possibly the best spy movie since Casino Royale.  I don't begrudge Universal marketing it as "Bourne in Iraq;" honestly, that's fair.  There may not be a moment quite as jaw-dropping as the one in The Bourne Ultimatum where the camera follows Bourne's leap through an upper-story window in Tangier, but that's only because Green Zone exists in a slightly more grounded level of reality than Jason Bourne.  Overall, though, it delivers the same level of thrills.  If you enjoyed the Bourne movies, you'll enjoy this.  (And you will probably be saddened anew that Greengrass has apparently sworn off directing another Bourne, as he makes his mastery of this style so clear once more.)  I left the movie with the same feeling I have after I've just ridden a really great roller coaster: I wanna do it again!