March 9, 2008
This was an ingenious idea for a movie and it should have been a lot better. Sadly, however, it is contrived, derivative and weak. Its plotting was teeth-grindingly obvious, so that the multiple points of view thing didn't add, build or extend the audience's appreciation of what was happening. It was stuffed with stereotypes and characters who have appeared more successfully in other people's movies - notably poor Dennis Quaid reprising Clint Eastwood's grizzled veteran bodyguard - he took a bullet last year, is he entirely reliable or is he on the verge of a breakdown?
It features some perfectly acceptable sub-Bourne-standard car chases, climaxing with one of the most incredibly unlikely sorties of a hero from a spectacularly squished vehicle - at least Jason Bourne has the decency to look badly hurt when he crawls out of wrecked cars. But, most unforgivably of all, it is oozing with a peculiarly nauseating sentimentality, focussed jointly on dear good-hearted Forest Whittaker rescuing an adorable little moppet, and on the adulation the film clearly intends us to feel for the US president - I won't reveal the plot but I'm sure you can guess. I don't know how this sort of thing goes down in the US, but I'm afraid British audiences are far too world-weary and cynical to feel any such thing, and instead of becoming misty-eyed were inclined to hoot and guffaw. What on earth was William Hurt thinking of to appear in this? I guess everyone has to pay the mortgage sometime.
It features some perfectly acceptable sub-Bourne-standard car chases, climaxing with one of the most incredibly unlikely sorties of a hero from a spectacularly squished vehicle - at least Jason Bourne has the decency to look badly hurt when he crawls out of wrecked cars. But, most unforgivably of all, it is oozing with a peculiarly nauseating sentimentality, focussed jointly on dear good-hearted Forest Whittaker rescuing an adorable little moppet, and on the adulation the film clearly intends us to feel for the US president - I won't reveal the plot but I'm sure you can guess. I don't know how this sort of thing goes down in the US, but I'm afraid British audiences are far too world-weary and cynical to feel any such thing, and instead of becoming misty-eyed were inclined to hoot and guffaw. What on earth was William Hurt thinking of to appear in this? I guess everyone has to pay the mortgage sometime.