Oh man. I watched The Bourne Supremacy last week, and it's still on my mind. Man, it was good, way WAY better than I expected. I remember liking the first movie alright, but I read and reread the book throughout middle and high school and beyond, and knew the story well enough that I was distracted from the movie by the adaptation, does that make sense? Robert Ludlum did write Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum books before he died, but if I've ever read Supremacy I can't really remember doing so, and I know I never made it to Ultimatum. So going into the movie, I figured it was just the mediocre second chapter in a franchise, and I was looking to watch a loud action movie basically.
Which it was, definitely. But what was shocking about Bourne Supremacy the movie was how well it was told--literally, I was shocked. I'm not the most, or even the much, sophisticated movie-watcher in the world, and I kind of like it that way. I like not knowing enough about movies, so as to be genuinely transported by them, which I was during Bourne Supremacy. The story was, well, whatever--there wasn't that much story really, just a continuation of the original superspy-killing-machine-with-amnesia plot.
But the telling! The entire story takes place on the hoof, with someone (usually Bourne) speeding or running or limping somewhere, being chased by the governments of a few nations and worse. But more than that, it's how the director chose to show the story that made the movie so enjoyable. He moves the camera around at such a blistering speed, that you never have an opportunity to feel "placed" as an observer--it has the effect of keeping you as semi-confused and off-balance as the film's protagonist. How easy is it for a schlub sitting on his sofa in Charlotte with Oreo crumbs on his chest to identify with an amnesiac master assassin in Berlin? I'm not really interested in violence or spies or all that, but there I was in the middle of the day with my heart in my throat. I love it!
I don't know or understand much about cinematography, but I've been struggling lately in my comics with how to stage panels, how much to show, how to make the panels more interesting, change camera angles and perspectives, bring a reader into things instead of just merely reading. Watching the last big scene of the movie, the big car chase in Moscow, I was on the edge of my seat, and only afterwards realized that the reason was that I was in all the shots, I was being moved and jerked around just like the subjects of the shots. Whoever edited this scene below must have biceps in their eyeballs; I cannot imagine how long it must have taken to edit this movie. BUT: pretty sure this scene is spoilery--it is after all the big climax. So don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie, or if you ever intend to.
Oh! I almost forgot, I put these three sketchbook spreads up in my Flickr set devoted to that sort of thing--I think I'm about 2/3 of the way to having that whole sketchbook up online, which is cool (maybe). I think so, anyway. Shutup.
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Oh man. I watched The Bourne Supremacy last week, and it's still on my mind. Man, it was good, way WAY better than I expected. I remember liking the first movie alright, but I read and reread the book throughout middle and high school and beyond, and knew the story well enough that I was distracted from the movie by the adaptation, does that make sense? Robert Ludlum did write Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum books before he died, but if I've ever read Supremacy I can't really remember doing so, and I know I never made it to Ultimatum. So going into the movie, I figured it was just the mediocre second chapter in a franchise, and I was looking to watch a loud action movie basically.
Which it was, definitely. But what was shocking about Bourne Supremacy the movie was how well it was told--literally, I was shocked. I'm not the most, or even the much, sophisticated movie-watcher in the world, and I kind of like it that way. I like not knowing enough about movies, so as to be genuinely transported by them, which I was during Bourne Supremacy. The story was, well, whatever--there wasn't that much story really, just a continuation of the original superspy-killing-machine-with-amnesia plot.
But the telling! The entire story takes place on the hoof, with someone (usually Bourne) speeding or running or limping somewhere, being chased by the governments of a few nations and worse. But more than that, it's how the director chose to show the story that made the movie so enjoyable. He moves the camera around at such a blistering speed, that you never have an opportunity to feel "placed" as an observer--it has the effect of keeping you as semi-confused and off-balance as the film's protagonist. How easy is it for a schlub sitting on his sofa in Charlotte with Oreo crumbs on his chest to identify with an amnesiac master assassin in Berlin? I'm not really interested in violence or spies or all that, but there I was in the middle of the day with my heart in my throat. I love it!
I don't know or understand much about cinematography, but I've been struggling lately in my comics with how to stage panels, how much to show, how to make the panels more interesting, change camera angles and perspectives, bring a reader into things instead of just merely reading. Watching the last big scene of the movie, the big car chase in Moscow, I was on the edge of my seat, and only afterwards realized that the reason was that I was in all the shots, I was being moved and jerked around just like the subjects of the shots. Whoever edited this scene below must have biceps in their eyeballs; I cannot imagine how long it must have taken to edit this movie. BUT: pretty sure this scene is spoilery--it is after all the big climax. So don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie, or if you ever intend to.
Oh! I almost forgot, I put these three sketchbook spreads up in my Flickr set devoted to that sort of thing--I think I'm about 2/3 of the way to having that whole sketchbook up online, which is cool (maybe). I think so, anyway. Shutup.
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