My Review of The Bourne Legacy

My review of The Bourne Legacy is colored by the fact that Jeremy Renner waved at us while we were watching their production shoot under MRT Edsa - us gawkers were all hauled inside Dunkin Donuts slack-jawed at a Hollywood production's courage at taking Manila's people-and vehicle-traffic under its (& MMDA's & Philippine National Police's) control.



It is also affected by the fact that I have not watched any other Bourne movie in its entirety save for snippets of scenes I saw while my father was watching Matt Damon in Bourne Identity on HBO.


I am also not a fan action movies.

I am not a fan of shoot`emup-kill`em-burn`em-to-the-ground macho movies or any other movies which have guns in them - except True Romance, The Wire, Wasabi and other movies (whose titles escape me now) where its action-movie-ness is not the be-all and end-all of the story. But somehow, I failed to watch The Bourne movies. Maybe I just didnt care for Bourne, until now. I heart Matt Damon in The Talented Mr Ripley though.

And these are what I like about The Bourne Legacy:

1 It's shot in the Philippines.

Yey!

And Manila to boot.

Yey! 2x

Why Manila?

Bourne Legacy director Tony Gilroy: "(Manila) is just so colorful and ugly and gritty, raw and stinky and crowded..."


Cheezmiss: Hell, YEAH!

I cant help but feel a thrill climb up my spine as Edward Norton and all these white actors in a Hollywood production spout Philippines here, the-virus-is-in-Manila there, Manila's-just-a-kitchen-where and even refer to Manila as if it was another planet (the exact quote from Rachel Weisz's character was "its on another side of the planet" but we get her character's drift).

What kind of movie-going/ pirated-DVD-watching Filipino wouldnt feel giddy when they see two major Hollywood movie characters lining up at old NAIA and being assessed by OUR Immigration Officers?

Who wouldnt be awed by Jeremy Renner running on the roofs of Manila's shanties and taking advantage of the maze of poorly constructed houses to hide and evade from the Philippine National Police?

If you're not from or havent been in Manila, you probably wont catch my drift.

The PNP chasing a Hollywood actor within the shanties of Manila! Imagine that. (Yes it is difficult to detach from something you personally seem to be a part of)

I wonder, did Ramon Bong Revilla Jr ever think of doing this? or has he done this? (Him being the only action star whose career is currently still alive)?



2 Conspiracy theories galore

Consipracy theory 1: The CIA / US Govt is the God of Big Brother.

Consipracy theory 2: You're better off dead than having the CIA / US Govt on your tail.

Conspiracy theory 3: They could also make meds to "minimize empathy" and `program behavior' through "neural design."

Conspiracy theory 4: You cannot run or hide from their vast intelligence network. They could even acquire the CCTV footage of the Canadian Forestry Department to find you or sift through tons of videos in YouTube just to firewall an information they dont want to be available to the public. Also, if they want you dead, you're as good as already gone. And you won't catch their hand in the cookie jar because they're smooth and suave like that.

Are these all based on something factual? If it is - God help us all.

The scene where the Clinical Psych and her cohort puts the gun in Weisz's hand to help her "commit suicide," echoes news stories about so-called suicides of potential `enemies of the US govt.' Scary.




3 Every character relevant to keep the story moving forward knows English

Those who havent been to the Philippines would get the impression - just from watching the movie - that the country is filled with very articulate English-speaking security guards.

And it may or may not be true.

(If this was a French production, the guards would probably be speaking fluent French the way a Japanese Airport official did in Wasabi)





4 The action scenes

Who would ever think of making a jeep spin in the middle of Edsa??????? or even have the gall, money and machinery to make this possible?

I bow at Hollywood's feet.


5 No gratuitous love scenes

The movie respects us and considers us grown up enough to not immediately expect kissing/slobbering/pumping scenes from the male and female lead.

Any potential romance between the two is suavely made relevant to the story.


6 It did its best given what was available (or not) to them

What would you do if the original Bourne - Matt Damon, the director of the original Bourne movie - Doug Liman, and another director of the previous Bourne - Paul Greengrass all said "NO, NOT ANYMORE" to the studio (the way Aaron Cross wrote the same words - almost - onto a mirror inside the room where he stayed in as an affront to the CIA when it discovered his whereabouts) either due to constant arguing and disagreement with Universal executives ?

So all you are left with is the movie's writer and a demand from the studio to make another Bourne but not the same Bourne yet it should also produce other not-Bourne but Bourne-like sequels?

If you were paid heftily to do this, you do your best to work with what you have or not have and voila! There's The Bourne Legacy.


7 The movie's story reflects our own non-awareness and addiction

So Rachel Weisz's character claims she's only doing what she's doing because she hearts "science" oblivious to the fact that she is helping terminate lives.

And Aaron Cross is there to help her be aware of this fact as well as to save her neck so she could also save his.

Cross is addicted to the exact same meds the CIA helped him to be dependent on.

Rachel Weisz's character needs Cross so she can live.

Sure this movie is about corruption in the CIA and how the entire system is in on it.

And the entire system is helping fuel all these drama.


But hey, maybe there's something in your life you need to be aware of too or you're oblivious to,

or maybe you're dependent on something and need someone to be able to get your fix the way Cross is dependent on the female doc to get his brain fix,

or maybe you think you need someone so you will live - and if not for his/her presence in your life, you'd feel you'll literally die -- No? Good.



And these are what I dont like about The Bourne Legacy:


1 It talks too much

Sure this is supposed to be an `intelligent' action movie but half of the movie explained everything we're supposed to know as if we should be taking down notes. They know we'd be bored so they had to show close tight shots of talking heads to highlight tension. That would only work if this was a powerpoint presentation in a school lecture. But this is a Hollywood movie, right? It's supposed to distract us from boredom not remind us about it.

I could only follow a quarter of what they were saying yet I stayed glued waiting for Manila to come up and/or Jeremy Renner (because he waved at us you see, and we're from Manila).

It is also as if the movie had no choice but to talk for the most part of the film because the whole 2 hrs and 5 min of it was entirely a set-up to kill off the old characters and old storyline to introduce the new ones.

Was it just me or did the movie feel as if it was entirely a lengthy first act and the real action starts on its bigger supposed to be better sequel which we have all been conditioned to wait and expect for?


2 Unreal on some parts

The scene where Rachel Weisz hides inside a shanty only to be screamed at by a horrified local thinking she's a thief doesnt make any sense.

If you find a foreigner - white and a woman to boot - inside your dilapidated home, you'd first think, "Why" but you wont scream in horror.

Your colonial mindset would instantly turn on and see her as a bringer of 1st world money perhaps? Help? Food?

"You want to buy my baby?"

"Sure."

or does she just wants company?

Kool,

"We're Filipinos, we like company. Eat with us. Drink with us. Hell, sing with us even. You need to hide from the cops? We can help you too. We care. Unlike LRX3, we have uber-empathy. We are hospitable too, way too much - even if we dont need to."


3 Other than the amazing jeep-spinning scene, the action scenes on the roads of Manila made me dizzy

I couldnt follow what was going on, too much close-up and shaky camera movement (or maybe I was too near the movie screen).


If I saw the other Bourne movies I'd probably say more, but I didnt so I could only take the movie as it is. But given that it's based on previous Bourne movies, fans of the original simply dislike The Bourne Legacy.




But I am easy to please, and Jeremy Renner waved at me, so I like it.

Angel Locsin's "Laging Game" Commercial

Now aint that kool?


Aww....


See, you can be always game without having to sacrifice logic, good common sense and even yourself. You can be game while being your self and without losing yourself, while having fun too!



Now compare this commercial with the one below.

Which one is more fun to do -- really.

Philippines' Autistic Top 5 - Updated

Define "autistic."

(Note that this post was inspired by a tweet made by Journalist Raissa Writer when she described the AntiRHBill rally headed by the Catholic Church)

@raissawriter In an apparent taunt directed at PNoy, Archbishop said Church is "not autistic"



M Scott Peck in his book People of the Lie define autism as:

"The utter failure to submit oneself to reality."

"The word comes from the Greek root `auto,' meaning "self." The person who is autistic is oblivious to certain essential dimensions of reality. Such people literally live "in a world of their own" in which the self (or the identity of the self) reigns supreme."
(p.162)

I am unsure how the Church defines "autistic" in reference to whoever it is referencing to.

But the term "autistic" as used in this post is NOT medical autism but spiritual and emotional autism that makes one unable to surrender one's self to reality and so restricts one's self to his/her/its own view of the world in order to pursue its selfish agenda.

So far, the following are the top 5 "autistic" people, individuals, life forms in the country. There are more autistics out there, but this list includes those whose autism exerts the most influence in everyone's minds and hearts.

Be aware or be square.




1 The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church wants to insert themselves in any issue that would give them mileage - politically, emotionally, `spiritually,' religiously, educationally and media-wise.

Why?

That would buy them face-time on TV, radio, the net and news print. Exposure is important. It reminds everyone they still exist, that their opinions still matter, that whatever they say still holds sway among their flock of sheep, that they could say the blackpen is blue and people would still believe it as true, that they could still influence thought and action, that their business is still running, that consumers are still buying their shit/want their shit/crave to be blessed by their shit.

(NOTE: To be fair, one of the benefits of belonging in a church is the sense of community it provides its members. But to be truthful, the sense of community can exist with or without the church's machinations. But it is the church which can't survive without a community to back it up - imagine that! & imagine this too: the church knows that as true and is afraid you'll know it too.)

Thus their insistence, their energy, their efforts, their voices, their strength poured out in building / re-building / promoting every tenet their self-important mindset could conjure - sans the truth/common sense/reality and force majeure.

Who else had the gall to declare that

`Hey, limbo doesnt really exist yall, we were just guessing that it did for 2 millenia. So now we think it doesnt so all those unbaptized dead babies we said will go to hell -- we were all just kidding. I mean, somebody's got to think up of something. It's difficult coming up with new material all the time, duh.'



You know all those Coke `Happiness', Jollibee commercials etc. advertising agencies punch out every few months or so? It has to be different each time because people need to be reminded to buy Coke and eat Jollibee right? & in a not-boring way. That's what the church does with these "new" tenets.

They have to make up something new to keep themselves visible in the public mind. There was the longer rosary beads, the dissolution of limbo and now -- guess what the new buzz word is?

RH Bill.

They're not changing any tenet here, just highlighting/promoting and tooting their own horn again.


And sans the fact that Pinoys love to have sex but some dislike having to actually take care of babies (as shown by the 'Pamparegla' paraphernalia outside Quiapo church); that sex is natural (it's what got us here in the first place) -- the church and all its pseudo-eunuchs insist they know how you should make families and that you should make babies.

That would give people reason to talk about them, hate them, notice them, believe them, root for them or not - the important thing is that you noticed they're still there. They're still relevant enough to be liked/disliked/thumbs up-ed or thumbs-down-ed.


And their autistic because they can only see their relevance, their need to be relevant and that you should think the same way they do minus what you really think or feel about what they want you to think and feel.

Their relevance only exists in their heads and has nothing to do with reality.





2 PNoyNoy



How is PNoyNoy autistic?

We could only note the blatant ones readily available in media, and these are the following:

Smiling while inspecting the site of a tragic hostage-taking and talking to media about the hostage-taking.






Allegedly not answering the phone when being called by a foreign official in the midst of a national and foreign emergency.


Blaming PGMA for everything wrong in this country.




Blaming Noli de Castro during an anniversary media party.




Inability to admit or accept blame.


Using the stage as a medium to air his personal grievances and preferences (so 15th century colonial catholic church much).





If you cannot see these as PNoy's failure to submit himself to reality, you're probably autistic yourself (yes, name-calling is easy and it works).



3 Star Cinema movies

We will restrict these to the most recent movies released last year and early this year.



This movie says, as according to Jessica Zafra:

The Sexy Mistress has lived in New York, ergo she is “liberated”, which in the Philippines is a synonym for “promiscuous”.

The Beautiful Wife is a good girl, hence she does not wear mascara and she has long, straight black hair that she wears in a ponytail.

They should engage in public bitch fights in which handbags become metaphors for the man they are fighting over.

The cheating husband endures excruciating physical torment as a substitute for castration.

The mistress goes back to New York, where all the bad girls are supposed to go, which makes you wonder who won exactly.

The reality of the actual dynamics between wives and mistresses is not shown in this movie, not even an iota of it. Sure, movies are supposed to entertain but should also be logical. Life doesnt make sense but movies actually should.





Does this need any explanation?

Could you suspend your imagination for 90 minutes or so enough to believe that Piolo P could fall for Angelica P?

To be fair, Piolo and Angelica - they're both very pretty.

They're both very sexy.

But Angelica has more balls to do comedy and make fun of herself compared to Papa P.

I dont need to say more.




This movie hails autism and advocates the fact that the lives of peripheral characters do not matter unless they serve the purpose of the 2 major stars' characters.

The reality is, no one in their healthy minds would want to serve as a prop for other people's agenda. But this movie says they can and it also proves that it is romantic and fun to do so.





4 All those Shampoo Commercials

Most Philippine shampoo commercials assume that

only females wash their hair,



all Filipino women have straight, long hair (or at least they should - to better increase the sale of shampoos),




long straight hair trumps talent,



Philippine hair has a mind of its own,

beautiful hair = kiss/sex/love/self-esteem.




5 Willie Revillame

Willie Revillame believes his own delusion, greatness

and any proof to the contrary are merely provided by those who envy his blessed financial etc. state.

Check out these posts on Willie Revillame.




But this list is not comprehensive. Psychological, spiritual, emotional autism is rampant everywhere. Have you checked your own view of reality?