Last night, I felt like watching an action movie - something with some driving in it, preferably. My choices were Le Mans and The Bourne Supremacy, both of which I'd recently picked up at Borders for short money. (I also picked up Pride and Prejudice and The Wedding Singer -was that 1998 already?- but not much action in either one, I'm guessing.) I went with Bourne, partly because the box says it has a "stunning high-speed chase sequence." It doesn't.
The movie's big chase sequence was a blurry mess. Too many jump cuts, too many repeated close shots of Jason Bourne's feet moving the pedals on some crappy Russian taxi he's stolen, too many splices-in of his one good hand slamming back a clumsy shifter. There were almost no long shots of the chase - nothing to give a sense of what was going on. And no middle shots either. Nothing to situate the cars in the background. It was all Jump-vroom-shift-blur-vroom-squeal-close up of bad guy's face-squeal-jump-blur-blur-feet-blur-feet and on and on like that for about five minutes. Really a poor effort. (The continuity errors bear this out.)
At first I thought it was deliberate, given Jason Bourne's own confusion about himself and the events around him; in some ways, it resembled the opening action sequences when I don't think the audience is supposed to know what's going on. But by the chase at the film's climax, both Bourne and the audience are supposed to know what's happening, and though he might be a bit woozy from the bullet wound, he's not as blurry as that cinematography. Nothing is.
If you want to see good car chases, get Ronin (was that really 1998 already?). Or even The Italian Job. The cars are better, and so's the filming.
Dad and I were lamenting the other day after he had recently watched a Steve McQueen fest, that all the best car and car chase films were in the 60's and early 70's. Although stylitically they all had a similar flavour, we couldn't think of any real standouts since that time.
Posted by: jo | December 19, 2006 at 09:24 AM
Or The French Connection or, my favorite, The Seven-Ups - which I love mainly because some poor shlub unaware he was in the middle of a movie chase scene happened to open his car door just in time for it to be torn off.
Posted by: adamg | December 19, 2006 at 09:26 AM
Hollywood is generally hopeles with car movies. The truly good stuff is harder to find.
Should've gone with Le Mans. Car race with a very short movie in the middle. Then go find Michel Keysers book "A French Kiss with Death" about making the movie. Then find his book "Speed Merchants" and the DVD. And when you're at the Video store look for "Dust and Glory" ( Baja) and "The Worlds Fastest Motorcycle", and order a copy of Chris SZwedo's "A Gullwing at Twilight". And don't forget the short "Rendezvous" by LeLouch or BMW's "The Hire" DVD
Posted by: Ted | December 19, 2006 at 10:04 AM
Oops That should read "World's Fastest Indian". I was thinking of the 2 part Discovery HD Channel Program ("The Worlds Fastest Motorcycle") that was recenly on ( Also good)
Posted by: Ted | December 19, 2006 at 10:19 AM
I always liked "Ronin."
Posted by: AC | December 19, 2006 at 04:00 PM
French Connection -- without a doubt the best. Then again, I am biased.
Posted by: Luke | February 08, 2007 at 08:47 PM
My favorite is: Gone in 60 seconds (1974), Flash and the Firecat is also cool.
Check out my website, all about Carmovies, if you know/have a carmovie I don't have, please contact me.
Posted by: Petje | February 12, 2007 at 03:55 AM
Are you in search of a good amplifier? Then I would suggest you check out the JL car audio 500/1 amplifier. This
amplifier is very efficient and will give little, if any, reason to worry. Here is something more about this product.
It is a class D amplifier. What does this mean? It means that it belongs to the class of highly efficient amplifiers that
are up to 90% power efficient. This is a great advantage as it means your battery will not be easily run down. It makes
the most efficient use of power when compared to other amplifier classes. And for your car, this is an invaluable
feature.
This amplifier features a 12 inch polymer-coated subwoofer and a 12 inch polymer-coated passive radiator. These two are
responsible for providing ample bass.
Posted by: amplifier of car | March 03, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Have you tried re-watching a movie? I have done so for a couple of times already because I love the unchangeable thrill and intensity of the movie. That's especially true with the classic Bond movies. I can't wait for the next James Bond film to come out. It will be released in theaters this coming November, if I'm not mistaken.
Posted by: Tyra Shortino | January 05, 2012 at 02:35 PM