Robert Ludlum may have passed on, but his work is definitely alive in the cinema. His taut Jason Bourne series has been adapted into two movies (so far), "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremacy," which are action-packed but also brimming with flaws.
"The Bourne Identity" opens with an amnesiac (Matt Damon) being hauled onto a fishing boat, with two bullets in his back. Once he's recovered, he goes in search of his identity -- and finds links to a sinister organization that is out to kill him. And as he goes on the run, Jason Bourne must uncover who he is and why he is a fighting machine.
"The Ring" is a merciless thriller, threateningly beautiful to look at and eerie to behold. Director Verbinski and screenwriter Ehren Kruger. Every scene and every shot of "The Ring," the smart American remake of the popular 1998 Japanese horror film "Ringu," contains a nearly suffocating feeling of dread. It weighs down heavily on the characters' lives and the viewer's head, refusing to let up. Directed by Gore Verbinski (2001's "The Mexican") with a sharp eye for visual detail and a keen sense of generating suspense, the film is a creepy and considerably unsettling experience that works its way deeply under your skin. The frightening prologue is a real attention-grabber. During a sleepover, two teenage girls, Katie (Amber Tamblyn) and Becca (Rachael Bella), discuss a legend involving a... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Martin Henderson - Brian Cox DVD Release Date: Released the 08 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Good enough to suggest long-term franchise potential, The Bourne Supremacy is a thriller fans will appreciate for its well-crafted suspense, and for its triumph of competence over logic (or lack thereof). Picking up where The Bourne Identity left off, the action begins when CIA assassin and partial amnesiac Jason Bourne (a role reprised with efficient intensity by Matt Damon) is framed for a murder in Berlin, setting off a chain reaction of pursuits involving CIA handlers (led by Joan Allen and the duplicitous Brian Cox, with Julia Stiles returning from the previous film) and a shadowy Russian oil magnate. The fast-paced action hurtles from India to Berlin, Moscow, and Italy, and as he did with the critically acclaimed Bloody Sunday, director Paul Greengrass puts you... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Matt Damon - Franka Potente - Brian Cox - Julia Stiles - Joan Allen Director(s): Paul Greengrass DVD Release Date: Released the 07 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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With its disturbing images and a few good shocks, The Ring is the kind of frightfest you'll watch to set a chilling mood or spook your susceptible friends, but when you try to sort it out, this well-mounted American remake (of the 1998 Japanese hit Ringu, based on Koji Suzuki's popular novel) becomes a batch of incoherent parts. The negligible plot follows a Seattle reporter (Naomi Watts) as she investigates the death of her niece, the victim of a mysterious videotape that, according to urban legend, causes the viewer's death seven days later. (Fear Dot Com borrowed the same idea while avoiding this film's lofty pretensions.) The countdown structure follows the reporter, her son, and her estranged boyfriend into deepening layers of terror--all quite effective until... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Naomi Watts - Martin Henderson - Brian Cox Director(s): Gore Verbinski DVD Release Date: Released the 04 March 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Disturbing images and a few good shocks don't stop The Ring from being a hash of half-baked ideas. It's the kind of frightfest you'll watch to set a chilling mood or spook your susceptible friends, but when you try to sort it out, this well-mounted American remake (of the 1998 Japanese hit Ringu, based on Koji Suzuki's popular novel) collapses into a heap of incoherent parts. The negligible plot follows a Seattle reporter (Naomi Watts) as she investigates the death of her niece, the victim of a mysterious videotape that, according to vague urban legend, causes the viewer's death seven days later. (Fear Dot Com borrowed the same idea while avoiding this film's lofty pretensions.) The reporter, her son, and her estranged boyfriend view the tape, and the film's countdown... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Naomi Watts - Martin Henderson - Brian Cox Director(s): Gore Verbinski DVD Release Date: Released the 04 March 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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