Mr. & Mrs. Smith - 2005

Mr. And Mrs. Smith - 2005

Regency Entertainment, Monarchy Entertainment, 20th Century Fox

Directed by Doug Liman

Cast:

• John Smith – Brad Pitt
• Jane Smith – Angelina Jolie
• Eddie – Vince Vaughn
• Benjamin Danz – Adam Brody
• Jasmine – Kerry Washington
• Father – Keith David
• Martin Coleman – Chris Weitz
• Suzy Coleman – Rachael Huntley
• Gwen – Michelle Monaghan
• Julie – Stephanie March
• Jade – Jennifer Morrison

Story:Two attractive, young, middle class adults are talking to a marriage counselor after five (or six) years of marriage. They sound pretty normal, until you hear how they met in Bogota, Columbia, providing each other with an alibi for their actions. Unbeknownst to one another, they are both professional assassins working for competing agencies. As fate would have it, they are assigned to the same hit and interfere with one another, and each assassin is given an assignment....kill the competing assassin within 48 hours or face termination. This film gives an entire new meaning to Couples Therapy.

Review: Now I am sure there has to be at least a thousand people living middle class suburbia lives who are really high tech assassins. And with all of them out there, it stands to reason two of them might actually meet, fall in love, and continue to do what they do without ever telling the other. Not buying it? Me either, but who says a movie has to have a plot to be entertaining? Jurrasic Park pulled it off three times. I think the appeal here lies in pretty people (Bradjolina) and marriage counseling taken to the extreme. Vince Vaughn, a tremendous talent, provides the perfect foil for Brad, and adds tremendously to the film. Angelina's staff of beauties looks like something out of early Bond or In Like Flint, but they add to the artistic merit of the film (okay, they are great looking women worth looking at), and the special effects and photography is wonderful. PG-13 is about right, language is pretty restrained, so its the violence you have to watch out for. Not particularly collectible, but highly entertaining, especially if you and your spouse have been married for about five (or six) years.

The Bourne Identity - 2002

Universal Pictures, Kennedy/Marshall Company, The Hypnotic

Directed by Doug Liman

Cast:

• Jason Bourne – Matt Damon
• Marie Kreutz – Franka Potente
• Conklin – Chris Cooper
• The Professor – Clive Owen
• Ward Abbott – Brian Cox
• Wombosi - Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
• Zorn – Gabriel Mann
• Nicolette Parsons – Julia Stiles
• Eamon – Tim Dutton

Story: Robert Ludlum's character comes to the screen in the first of three thrilling action-suspense movies. A fishing trawler off the coast of Marseilles fishes a man out of the water. They believe at first he is dead, but when he moves, the captain of the trawler brings him below decks and finds the man has two bullets in his back, and a secret code device in his thigh. When the man wakes up, he has no idea who he is. For the next several days, he works with the men in the trawler, and tries but cannot remember who he is or what he was doing in the water. When they dock, the captain gives the man the device. It leads the man to Geneva to a numbered bank account, and a safety deposit box. In the box, he finds several passports, a lot of money in various international currencies, and a gun. He discovers his name is Jason Bourne, he lives in Paris, and suddenly he is being pursued by men who want to kill him. As they attack again and again, Bourne realizes he is highly trained and skilled, but for what?

Review: Matt Damon comes off well as the celebrated Jason Bourne, and Franka Potente is marvelous as Marie. While loosely based on the character created by Robert Ludlum, The film keeps you drilled to the screen as it moves quickly from one scene to the next. Brian Cox and Chris Cooper are superb character actors and a fine addition to the film as the two CIA operatives in charge of Treadstone. Julia Stiles is particularly good in the role as “Nicki”, the operative who coordinates the “assets”. Excellent performances throughout the film are what makes this story so believable, or is it the fact we, as Americans, think our government is capable of doing this? Language and violence are the reasons for the R rating, so they little ones need to be away from the screen when you are watching. For the grownups, this is an entertaining action film with lots of “wow” moments that led Hollywood to make two more.