Bourne Ultimatum – Movie Review

Bourne Ultimatum- Drinks action to the lees!

Guns,cops, assassins, car chases, bullets and fights, you have a lot to choose from Paul Greengrass‘s Bourne Ultimatum, which is the third and final piece of the ‘Bourne’ Jigsaw. The final installment is delivered with inbuilt action boosters and adrenaline pumps. It doesn’t take time to realise that we see the work of a master craftsman Paul Greengrass on the novel by Robert Ludlum. This bike demonstrates that it doesn’t need to be a bullet to travel with an incredible acceleration and the credit goes to the screenplay team constituting Tony Gilroy, Scott Z.Burns and George Nolfi. Fired from Moscow the story bullet takes us to its target location London in a jiffy, where its trajectile constitutes a number of locations from Paris to Morocco. Jason Bourne, the man on the run ties the audience to the edge of their seats and charges their goose flesh. So people, don’t even think of winking for a second, because you may miss out an easter egg filled with action.

Jason Bourne {Matt Damon}‘s wounded escape from the Moscow police announces the commencement of this action plot. The narrative is of the third person omniscient type, where the director captain sails his ship alternatively in Jason’s and CIA’s archipelagos. Jason is a cartographer on the move helping himself to map his own past which he lost track of, three years ago. But the government calls him a murderer and shifts its venomous crosswire to his head. We find through a tape which Jason sends to Pamela Landy{Joan Allen}, a chief police official of the CIA that his girlfriend had been killed in India, and Jason is coming back for a revenge ride. On the other hand another officer Nova{David Strathairn} exhibits his eagerness in moving the criminal Bourne’s photograph to the ‘Terminated’ file. Meanwhile Jason meets Ross{ Paddy Considine },a journalist of the Guardian newspaper after reading his fishy article about him and Operation Briar. Under a strict surveillance, Jason meets him amidst a busy square, but very soon Ross gifts his lifebreath to a bullet from an official assassin giving bits and pieces of evidence to Jason. With these steps Jason walks out to the house of Neal Daniel{Colin Stinton}, a stranger to find it deserted. He then plays a bullet harmony with Nova’s men who arrive as uninformed guests. Among the wolves Jason meets a cute lamb, Nicky{Julia Stiles} a policewoman,who promises to help him in his voyage. After this scene, the story bike acquires wings and takes off as a jet. To know the result of this chase, watch Bourne Ultimatum.

This movie sets new standards in screenplay writing. Although previously a lot of movies have targeted the speed factor,this one hits the bulls eye. Not even a single frame of the movie is out of its orbit. Matt Damon vividly showcases his dexterity as an action hero in this spiffy tale of satellites and searches. David Strathairn has transmogrified himself into an official villain, and stands ahead of verdict. The pace at which the scenes involving Jason and Nikki at Morocco are moving is amazing. The speed of the screenplay doubles when Jason starts his cat and mouse game with Nova. Speed is the end product of this screenplay, where the characterisation acts as the catalyst.

The denoument is the only weak area of the movie, which is nothing different from a Shakespearean comedy. To an extent, the policemen are portrayed as standing on a weaker platform and its always the protagonist who is against the establishment, gains an upper hand. David Strathairn’s character,which reminds us of a whining schoolboy, would have been shaped better. Also the hero’s voyage through various locations, dodges logic and gives us a feel of reading a travelogue. But the screenplay’s torque whithers away all these issues down and cuts the winning rope.

Dissecting the esoteric aspects, Christopher Rouce‘s flawless editing grosses him three cheers. On the other hand Robert Woodward‘s real time cinematography becomes a nip in the bud due to the highly inconsistent camera movement. John Powell’s soundtrack acts as a gasoline provider for this bike. Dan Bradley receives the man of the show for his co-ordinated stuntwork. So Bourne says ” I eye for ‘I’ being eyed!”

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Polladhavan – Movie review

Polladhavan–Commercial bikeboy!

Here comes another finished product from the Dhanush Masala industry directed by the debutant director Vetrimaaran who marches us through the story lane of a vibrant but violent lad. Inspite of the story being cliched, it manages to sustain the interest of the punters till the very end. Though the story provides no bandwidth for real performance Dhanush survives by skiing on his humor board. But even a fairy can’t float on a baroque balloon too long. So Dhanush should stand apart and step ahead of these kind of movies. 40% of the story line is nothing different from Dhanush’s previous projects such as Thiruda Thirudi, Thiruvilayadal aarambam and Devathaiyai kanden which is dictated by the same choice of actors such as Karunaas. But the ball gently crosses over all these boulders to reach the success boundary with the help of Quick screenplay and witty dialogues being hit by the master batsman Dhanush. With a limited number of ingredients Dhanush and Vetrimaran have made a perfect masala movie which is not overcooked.

The plot is concocted around an episode in the life of the youth Prabhu{Dhanush} who yearns even in dreams for a bike. But his family’s state of play baulks him from buying one for him. To his father’s{Murali} despair, Prabhu kills time with his friends{Dhanush,Santhanam and co}. And as usual he has his own love interest Hema{Dhivya} whom he courts for two years in vain. Like a shot, one ‘w’ine evening, Prabhu’s quarrell with his father intimidates the latter to give his son an amount of Rs 70000, which is spent by Prabhu for a brand new ‘Pulsar’. Prabhu’s family looks at him with apathy for his decision. But to their and our surprise Prabhu’s bike fixes his job as well as love. After this, Prabhu’s bike hikes up his life and makes luck his wife. Everything goes on well till Prabhu’s bike goes for a timeless trip with an unknown driver. This cuts Prabhu’s life and love wires and dashes him with a number of badmashes. But it takes time for Prabhu to realise that his journey to bring his bike home is not an easy task. kick starting his way to find his bike,Prabhu silences only after racing ahead of his opponents. Atlast Prabhu establishes that he is really a ‘Polladhavan’ for his enemies. But the plot is narrated in the first half by Prabhu and Ravi{Daniel Balaji} as well. But in the second half the story loses its narrative continuity. Director holds responsibility of this blunder and he is expected not to commit these errors in the future.

Dhanush has once again manifested that he is his Boss’s man. He tickles as a misguided boy, sprinkles sympathy as a tribulating lad and twinkles as an action man. The director shoots his medal of honor through his racy screenplay, realistic incidents and dialogue along with subtle humour. Kishore Kumar who plays the character ‘Selvam’ dons the role with his venomous eyes and slicy chennai slang. He carries the interest baton during the falling action of the movie. Daniel Balaji’s role appears to be a mirror image of his own ‘Amuthan’ character in Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu which is substantiated by the looted BGM from VV. Come rain or shine,Daniel Balaji continues to threaten, which is one of the biggest forties of this movie. Divya is in no way different from the trousseu except for a couple of dialogues and sexy song sequences. Karunaas and Santhanam didn’t fail to play comic crackers. On the whole, Dhanush and Vetrimaaran are the two wheels of this bike fuelled by action and comedy.

The rising action of the movie is slightly stirred by commercial elements while the falling action is spoiled by worn out action sequences. The heroine Divya fails to paint her character properly due to her lack of expressions. The technical aspects of this movie are above the mark. G.V.P‘s BGM rocks at certain places but at times we could find imitated tracks. The Engeyum song remix adds fuel to this bike, while other songs fail to do so. The song Minnalgal koothadum seems to be copied from the Akon number ‘Smack that'{Courtesy :Inspirations in Indian Film Songs website}. Apart from these GVP rides well.The last 20 minutes of the action sequence which goes between Daniel Balaji and Dhanush deserves enormous applause. So Polladhavan says “When you torment me, my eyes want to see you die and my heart thirsts for your blood!”

-Spontic

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Diwali Daiquiri

This year the Diwali daiquiri mainly constitutes Azhagiya Tamizhmagan, Polladhavan, Vel, Rameshwaram kannamoochi enada and Machakkaran. Among these ingredients,ATM is prepared by the debutant captain Bharathan with Vijay as lead, pecuniarly supported by Swargachitra Appachan productions. The Dhanush flavoured Polladhavan is made by Group Company as directed by Vetrimaaran. Vel, rustled up by Mohan Natarajan with Hari‘s aroma and Surya in the star part, falls next. Following this A. M. Rathnam‘s Rameshwaram is drawn up by Jeeva as per Selvam‘s plan. Priya.V’s brainchild Kannamoochi Enada produced by Radhika’s Radaan pictures, contributes to the drink with Sathyaraj and prithviraj as the protagonists. And finally ‘Machakkaran‘ Jeevan comes in line to spice up the drink lead by Tamilvannan and financed by Madras productions Entertainment Ltd. So this Diwali is going to be a smashing treat for movie connoisseurs. The Ajit fragrance lovers and Vikram redolence lovers may not find the drink tasty, But for them a big carnival waits on november 30th.Happy Diwali from Spontic………
-Spontic

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