Movie Review: Duplicity

Duplicity (2009) 

Directed by Tony Gilroy 

Written by Tony Gilroy 

Starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti

Release Date March 20th, 2009

Published March 20th, 2009

Say what you will about the choices Julia Roberts has made over the years, she is a welcoming screen presence. She has the radiance of a 30's and 40's heroine combined with a very modern sexuality and sensuality. Call her America's Sweetheart if you like and attach whatever wholesome qualities you want to that title, the fact is, no one really likes to ponder what draws a man to 'America's Sweetheart'. Here's a hint, it's the same thing that draws us to the girl next door.

Duplicity is the rare Roberts vehicle to acknowledge, if not fully, take advantage of exactly the qualities I am trying to be vague about. The spy thriller/romantic comedy places Roberts at odds and in bed with the always smoldering Clive Owen and the chemistry is alchemic.

Roberts is Claire, maybe her real name, maybe not. When we meet her she is being scoped by Owen's Ray. They hit it off quickly and soon she is showered and heading for the door with something belonging to him and he is unconscious on the bed. Cut to a few years later, Ray, now fully awake, is in Rome and runs across Claire. He, and now we, know she is CIA. He is MI6, British intelligence. He's a bit ticked off about the obfuscation and the robbery but mostly he just wants to see her naked again.

The two spend three days in a Rome hotel making love and a plot is launched. The two spies will get out of the covert ops biz and go private, corporate snoops. Find an industry, discover the deepest secrets and sell the results to the highest bidder. They finally settle on two companies with somewhat complicated ideas about what they are. All we know about Equikrom and Burkett & Randle is that the CEO's, played brilliantly by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson, loathe one another. They loathe one another to the point that each keeps a corporate spy team on the payroll to steal the other's R & D secrets. This is Claire and Ray's way in.

Duplicity however, is not really about the corporate types but rather about the unique and duplicitous relations between to well trained spies. Roberts and Owen are given by writer-director Tony Gilroy the opportunity to play a pair of screwball romantics who happen to be spies. There craft is deception and trying to figure when the one they love is deceiving them, for business or pleasure, is what they truly delight in.

Gilroy loves, LOVES writing witty repartee for these two characters. He loves it so much that by the end of the movie he seems to have run out and just stops. After exhausting his way through a timeshifting malaise of plotting, Gilroy comes to a certain point and simply ends the movie. It is as unsatisfying as it sounds. One character wins, the others lose and that's all folks.

What remains is a series of sexy, funny, playful scenes between Roberts and Owen that are nearly enough to make this whole mess work. Roberts matches Owen's constant smolder with the effect of tossing a gas can into a fire. These two actors truly enjoy each other's company and we enjoy them together. If only they weren't trapped in a time shifting maze of plot complications that we just don't care about.

Of course, a filmmaker likely couldn't make an entire movie about Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in bed together, but the idea is ten times moe entertaining as any two scenes in Duplicity. Roberts has always been sexy but we tried to forget that for some reason. She was caught with the label America's Sweetheart which had the effect of neutering her and rendering her more an icon of virtue than as a woman. Tony Gilroy and by extension Clive Owen certainly know Roberts is a woman and each is very interested in further examining her feminine qualities. Unfortunately, there is that whole spy thing that keeps getting in the way.

Movie Review: Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Written by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, George Nolfi

Starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Straithairn, Scott Glenn, Albert Finney, Joan Allen

Release Date August 3rd, 2007 

Published August 3rd, 2007

Though Daniel Craig has brought some of the cool back to the James Bond franchise, most I'm sure will agree that the spy franchise of this decade is not Bond but Bourne, Jason Bourne. The Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and now Bourne Ultimatum are pulse pounding, non-stop thrill rides where big time action meets grand drama and suspense to create a near masterpiece of genre fiction.

When last we left Jason Bourne he was getting revenge for the murder of his girlfriend and just beginning his determined search for his past. Now in Bourne Ultimatum, Jason is after his past again. He wants desperately to know how he became a globetrotting assassin, who he killed, why did he kill them and who told him to do it.

What this information will do for him is Jason Bourne's private business. Matt Damon and his poker face keep things close to the vest. That is fine with us in the audience because plot is not the point of the Bourne movies. Like Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy before it, The Bourne Ultimatum is about non-stop propulsive action of the most skilled and determined kind.

Director Paul Greengrass is a master of the big action scene; as he demonstrated with the jaw dropping Russian car chase scene in Bourne Supremacy. In Bourne Ultimatum, Greengrass tops himself with a fight scene set in the row houses of Tangiers that must be seen to be believed. The fight between Bourne and a man sent to kill him is so fast paced, up close and quickly cut that audience members will feel as if they need to duck some of the punches that fly.

As the first two films have been set apart by exceptional car chases, The Bourne Ultimatum too has a killer car chase. Set on the streets of New York this tightly paced, high speed ride has our hero driving a stolen police cruiser chased by CIA spooks and one determined assassin who is the last line of defense between Bourne and his past. How this scene plays out is a perfect microcosm of the complex action of this terrific film series.

As Bond has had some memorable villains, Jason Bourne can lay claim to some of the finest character actors ever in the business as his top adversaries. In Bourne Identity it was Oscar nominee Chris Cooper and Brian Cox as Bourne's former controllers turned pursuers. In Bourne Supremacy Oscar nominee Joan Allen joined the returning Cox as CIA Bourne chasers.

Now in Bourne Ultimatum add two more Oscar nominees to the list. David Straithairn plays the head of CIA black ops who hopes to keep Jason Bourne from exposing some of the illegal activities of his clandestine enclave of the CIA. Also joining team Bourne in Bourne Ultimatum is Oscar nominee Sir Albert Finney as a man with up close and personal knowlege of Jason Bourne's true identity.

With a cast like this; story depth is built into the margins; freeing director Paul Greengrass, himself a recent Oscar nominee for United 93, to focus on making the action kick as much ass as possible. He satisfies action fans with some serious ass kicking, car chases and edge of your seat suspense of the kind that sets the Bourne franchise apart from other classic franchises.

Matt Damon has been adamant that The Bourne Ultimatum will be his last Bourne film. Whether the franchise will continue without its star seems without question. What a shame that will be. Damon is Jason Bourne and it's unlikely any other actor can bring the same fierce intensity and integrity to this role that Damon has. Like Connery with the original Bond or Michael Keaton's Batman, Damon's Jason Bourne is definitive.

The Bourne series will not be the same without him. For now at least, bask in the action glory that is The Bourne Ultimatum, the perfect kickass coda for one of the best action franchises of all time.

Movie Review The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Supremacy (2004) 

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Written by Tony Gilroy

Starring Matt Damon, Brian Cox, Franke Potente, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Joan Allen 

Release Date July 23rd, 2004 

Published July 22nd, 2004 

What I have always loved about action movies, or more specifically spy movies, is the idea that while we live our everyday mundane lives, secret forces are out there creating and covering up chaos. Just think of all those times the world has been in peril or (at least the lives of normal civilians like ourselves) and we have never known it. 

We have wandered into city squares unaware that they are teeming with secret agents and surrounded by SWAT team snipers. What about all of those times you have been cut off by some nut in traffic unaware that he is fleeing for his life with the fate of the nation hanging in the balance.  The Bourne Supremacy doesn’t get caught up with saving the world but it does have a few of those moments where everyday civilians unknowingly cross paths with danger -- all of it cleverly staged and playing into a smart, action-packed plot, heavy on spycraft and low on dialogue. 

Matt Damon returns as Jason Bourne the amnesiac hero of 2002’s The Bourne Identity. As we rejoin Jason Bourne, he is hiding out in India with his on the lam girlfriend Marie (Franke Potente) whom he kidnapped and fell in love with in the first film. The couple has an idyllic life of leisure aside from Jason’s occasional flashes of memories that he can’t fully recover. Jason knows he did something horrible but can’t remember what it is.

Not surprisingly, his memory will become important as Jason is drawn back into the spy game by the arrival of an assassin (Karl Urban) who has just framed Jason for murder in Munich, Germany, and has now come to India to tie up his loose ends. Jason doesn’t know about the Munich setup; he assumes the CIA has resumed pursuit of him despite his warning of reprisal.

Joan Allen is Pamela Landy, CIA field director, who stumbles on to Bourne through the assassin’s setup in Munich. Landy was in Munich when two of her CIA squad were killed and the evidence points to Bourne. Searching for Bourne leads her to Bourne’s former boss Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) who has something big to hide. Whether it’s criminal or merely a CIA operation is one of many tantalizing mysteries. From the outset, the only character to trust is Bourne; everyone else is suspect. 

Director Paul Greengrass’s previous film was the visceral pseudo-documentary Bloody Sunday about terrorist strife in Ireland. That film employed a grainy look that dated the film to its 1980s setting. There is no need for such tricks in this film but that does not preclude Greengrass from being innovative with the film’s look. Its color palette, sun-soaked yellows in India, subtle grays and cold exteriors in Europe follow closely the film’s tone. 

The action scenes are where The Bourne Supremacy sets itself apart from other action movies. Especially good is a hand-to-hand fight scene that Greengrass shot with a handheld camera that follows the action much like Michael Mann’s camera in the boxing ring in Ali, the difference being that Mann shot that on Digital and Greengrass does this on film. 

The Bourne Supremacy also has one of the best chase scenes ever. This is on par with John Frankenheimer’s Ronin and William Friedkin’s The French Connection, with Bourne chased by Urban’s unknown assassin and a number of Russian police. Bourne is driving with one arm after being shot and while being chased he must stop the bleeding. And did I mention the car is a stick shift.

The most essential element of The Bourne Supremacy is the performance of Damon. This film, like its progenitor, turns on whether or not Damon is a believable action hero and once again Damon is a revelation. Damon brings an actor’s chops to a role that most actors throw away, hoping the special effects will carry them. He has the serious manner of Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible but with a grittier, more realistic approach.

Though I would like stronger dialogue and the plot could stand to be a little more fleshed out, there is very little to complain about. Screenwriter Tony Gilroy has an efficient writing style reminiscent of David Mamet’s Spartan but with less wit and far fewer four-letter words. It resembles Mamet in efficiency, if not wordiness, both films don't writers are not wasting time. 

The Bourne Supremacy, like The Bourne Identity, is based on a novel by the late Robert Ludlum who has many more Bourne thrillers already on bookshelves guaranteeing more of this smart, efficient spy thriller. Hopefully the next film is as kinetic and inventive as The Bourne Supremacy is; a terrific summer action movie.

Movie Review State of Play

State of Play (2009) 

Directed by Kevin MacDonald 

Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray 

Starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, Helen Mirren 

Release Date April 17th, 2002 

Published April 16th, 2002 

Some of my favorite movies of all time have featured crusading journalists. All The President's Men is, of course, the best known, but my favorite is Ron Howard's underrated The Paper. I know I am likely alone on that one but Howard's bustling newsroom filled to overflow with quirk ridden reporters and columnists makes me smile every time I watch it. Michael Keaton may be best remembered as having played Batman but for me he will always be the ink stained wretch who kept after the story even after the paper had gone to press. Randy Quaid, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Marisa Tomei round out a brilliant cast in a movie that dripped with ink.

Now comes State of Play, another crusading journalist story, this one with the kink of having notorious reporter hater Russell Crowe as of all things a reporter. It's a sensational piece of casting, working for the aforementioned kink and because Crowe is just so charming. What source wouldn't turn cartwheels to help this guy get a scoop.

Crowe is Cal McCaffrey, a 15 year veteran newsman at the Washington Globe. While the rest of the industry is on laptops and blogging, Cal is still all about the pen and the kind of shoe leather journalism that gets you information you could never get in an email or a Facebook posting.

McCaffrey is investigating an odd double homicide when his best friend, a Congressman named Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) suddenly comes to the center of all Washington headlines. Collins' top assistant and secret bedmate has been killed or maybe committed suicide and the Congressman is in hot water. He turns to Cal for some sympathy and boy does Cal owe him one.

You see, Cal has a history with his best pals' wife (Robin Wright Penn) and doesn't think the Congressman is going to let him forget about it. So, Cal quickly helps the Congressman with some crisis strategy and even crosses an ethical line by trying to convince one of the paper's online bloggers, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) to not report certain details about the Congressman's affair.

Eventually, the murder Cal is covering comes to cross paths with his pals political scandal and Cal has no choice but to join the two stories and begin looking for answers. Answers about the murder, about a potential Government and Corporate conspiracy and some very uncomfortable questions about his best friend the Congressman.

Russell Crowe joined the cast of State Of Play a week before shooting began, Ben Affleck shortly after Crowe, and yet both are terrifically well cast.. Crowe is especially good, coming to perfectly embody the role of a hardscrabble reporter. With his greasy, floppy hair and a guy that says he spends all day hunched over a keyboard, Crowe owns this character and it is through him that State of Play succeeds.

Affleck is strong as well but he's much more in the background of this story than the commercials may be. Scenes where we are focused on Affleck's Congressman are arguably the weakest of the movie but that is no comment on Affleck's performance but rather of how compelling the newsroom scenes with Crowe, Rachel McAdams and the great Helen Mirren as their crusty editor are.

We are left wanting more of those scenes and are a little letdown when Crowe is offscreen so other information can be imparted.

There are some little inconsistencies in this allegedly modern newsroom. First comes with a line from McAdams about people wanting to read their big scoop stories and 'get ink on their fingers' as if the story weren't going online well ahead of the print edition. The other minor niggling detail is, really could a scandal ridden Congressman really walk into a shady hotel or even less plausibly, A Washington D.C Newsroom, without someone hitting Twitter or Facebook within seconds with the news that said scandal ridden Congressman has just walked in.

The film and the plot have neither the time or the inclination to tackle such modern technological issues. Realistically, the film doesn't have to address these things for it to be a highly entertaining popcorn thriller but someday some movie will and that movie will be the definitive movie of the modern newspaper.

State Of Play aims to pay tribute to old school journalism and tackle the modern problems plaguing modern journalism and in the performance of Russell Crowe and in an end credits montage, elements of State of Play are indeed like a Hallmark card to a dying breed of dogged journos.

It is as a thriller where State of Play aims to find an audience and it is a good if not great one. When Crowe accidentally stumbles into some serious danger you will hold your breath waiting for him to be safe again. There are one or two of those moments in State of Play and they are tense and exciting enough and the ending just twisty enough for me to say check out State of Play.

Movie Review Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton (2007) 

Directed by Tony Gilroy 

Written by Tony Gilroy 

Starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sidney Pollack 

Release Date September 24th, 2007 

Published September 23rd, 2007 

George Clooney has long been a movie star but I have never thought of him as much of a capital A Actor. That has changed however, thanks to his terrific performance in the flawed new thriller Michael Clayton. This John Grisham-eque legal thriller allows Clooney to flex those charismatic movie star muscles and dig into a character and give a heartfelt, conflicted and oh so believable performance.

The rich and the super-rich can sometimes find themselves in situations that even their lawyers can't get them out of. That is when they are turned over to Michael Clayton. He is 'the fixer', the guy who makes problems go away. So, when the New York law firm where Michael is in business, has a partner flip out in the middle of a deposition in an extremely important case, it's up to Michael Clayton to fix it.

The partner is Howard Eames (Tom Wilkinson) a longtime manic depressive who has gone off his meds. During a deposition in a case involving a high powered farm chemical company and a group of family farmers, Howard stripped naked and began telling one of the plaintiffs how much he loved her. Running naked through the streets, Howard claimed that the stench of his misdeeds in this case forced him to strip himself of his sins. Naturally, it falls to Michael Clayton to try and fix this situation. However, when he discovers that Howard may not be entirely nuts, Michael finds his own conscience being tested.

Michael Clayton is a flawed, near masterpiece of suspense and a story of redemption for a morally questionable character. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, with a career best performance by George Clooney, Michael Clayton suffers slightly from being overlong, just over two hours, and with just a few too many of those convenient moments where characters perform unmotivated actions solely for the purpose of furthering the plot.

A few convenient moments however, cannot upend the mesmerizing performance of George Clooney on who's work alone Michael Clayton is a must see. Clooney has always been a "movie star" but in Michael Clayton he is an actor and he delivers a tough, vulnerable character at the end of his rope. Self loathing replacing his usual confidence, Clooney's Clayton isn't quite down on his luck but he's on his way. Clooney nails both Clayton's desperation and his attempt at redemption.

One of the things I found interesting but mostly unsatisfying about Michael Clayton was the odd bit of optimism in the story. The film is about an evil corporation that will do anything to anyone in order to hide their misdeeds and the crusading lawyer who goes to any length to punish them. Though people are murdered and others are threatened the film tries to have it both ways in terms of cynical corporate misdeeds and the optimistic idea of how that evil is punished. Myself, I would have preferred an equally cynical solution to such cynical action. As it is, it works well enough, especially because of the way Clooney carries it all off, but a darker more malevolent solution might have played stronger.

Another quibble I have with Michael Clayton is a little too much tell and not enough show. We are told that Michael is a fixer for rich clients in a bind. The description conjures images of backroom deals, payoffs, and shady characters. And yet, we never actually see Michael in action. We are told how good he is, how he can slither out of any situation but that's it, we are just told. What we see is Michael lamenting his place in the world but without the example of why he so laments and it's less effective.

All of that said, Michael Clayton is solidly entertaining despite its flaws. George Clooney has never been this good. His movie star-ness in check, Clooney shows the kind of talent that people have underestimated throughout his career. Tough but vulnerable, charismatic without being overwhelming, Clooney is mesmerizing in a role that should earn him an Oscar nomination. On Clooney's performance alone Michael Clayton is worth the price of admission.