Reviews

I recently bought a Clint Eastwood Gift Set on special offer, consisting of three of his action movies on DVDs, namely, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More & The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.

I remember that I had seen all the three action movies in the theater during the late 60's. In fact, I had also watched their reruns a few times on cable TV in recent years. From the standpoint of pure entertainment, I consider the first one, A Fistful of Dollars, as the best of the lot.

When I saw it for the first time - I was then a young college student, whose hobby was watching action movies -, I was completely transfixed by the mysterious character with apparently no name (even though he was addressed as Joe once by the under-taker in the movie). Everything about him was a mystery, except for his deadly proficiency with a gun.

Clint Eastwood played the laconic, steely-gazed, squint-eyed, serape-cladded, cheroot-smoking, invariably unshaven gunfighter, who was able to blast four to five baddies with bullet holes in one single sweep of his gun. He practically redefined the notion of a true hero in the wild wild west, as often exemplified by Randolph Scott (clean-cut, good-looking, & confident), Gary Cooper (stressed out, worried look), John Wayne (tough-guy, always wise-cracking) & Robert Mitchum (nonchalant, lazy style) & the others.

The plot was indescribably simple: A wandering gunfighter played out two families, the Baxters & the Rojos, against each other in a god-forsaken town, somewhere near the Mexican border, which had been torn apart by greed, pride & revenge.

The cinematography was visually stunning: wind-scoured deserts, dusty landscapes, empty streets. The director, Sergio Leone, obviously knew his craft as he intertwined them with a dazzling array of massive close-ups & panoramic long-shots. He had an incredible eye for details. The close-ups were sometimes quite chilling...dusty streets, rundown houses, town-folk with expression-less faces & shabby clothes, as well as baddies with twitching faces, dripping sweat, blood-oozing wounds as they fell.

The movie flowed at more or less break-neck speed & every scene was riveting & compelling, backed by a brilliant music score that combined trumpets, guitars, harmonica, bells & other sounds - never heard before - that often enliven the occasional slack in between scenes. During gun-fight scenes, the accompanying music score tended to be somewhat haunting & eerie.

The movie often had a style of gritty realism & expert build-up of tension, interlaced here & there with dry humor.

The climactic sequence involving an eventual but deadly confrontation between the hero & the villain (a character of real menace & sadistic cruelty, played extremely well by Gian Maria Volonte) was amazing,...definitely the best scene in the movie. The villain was inordinately obsessed with his own ability to shoot a man in the heart at any distance. That proved to be his fatal mistake as our hero had fashioned an armored steel plate as bullet proof vest.

The dialog sequences throughout the movie were witty & funny. In one scene as our hero rode past the under-taker, he growled: "Get three coffins ready!" He then confronted some baddies in town who made fun of him & his mule. He told them: "I don't think it's nice you're laughing. You see, my mule don't like people laughing. He gets the crazy idea you're laughing at him. Now if you apologize, like I know you're going to, I might convince him that you really didn't mean it." When they refused, Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! On his way back to the under taker, he corrected his miscalculation: "My mistake! Four coffins!"

I really like the characterization of our hero. At one point, he seemed amoral. In fact, he seemed downright evil & greedy, as he constantly said" "I don't work for cheap!" & his gun was ready for hire at the right price. In one of the opening scenes, as he rode past a father & son who were cruelly harassed by some town baddies, he did not bother to intervene at all. Only in the very brief & defining moment of the movie, he did demonstrate some redeeming quality by rescuing a damsel in distress (played by Marianne Koch). I saw him as he truly was.

He also looked ultra-cool & invincible because of his exceptionally swift draw during gun fights. There was one particular scene where he was caught by the villain & his baddies. He was kicked in the butt, groin & his face was beaten to a pulp. I really felt sorry for him. This graphically violent scene was apparently extended - & beautifully choreographed - for viewer's enjoyment. In a way, this also demonstrated the human frailty of the character, caught in a dicey situation where he should have stayed away in the first place.

Prior to A Fistful of Dollars, I have watched Clint Eastwood playing the character, Rowdy Yates, in the Rawhide TV series during the mid-sixties. He did not impress me at all but his performance in A Fistful of Dollars was superb. He went on to perform well in a series of other westerns, including Hang Them High, Joe Kidd, High Plains Drifter (*), The Outlaw Josey Wales (*), Pale Rider (*) & The Unforgiven (*). Of course, he also went on to play the street-smart no-nonsense character, Inspector Harry Callahan, in Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact (*) & The Dead Pool in the seventies & eighties. He was also the director of these movies marked with (*). I have also watched all of these action movies.

I just love to watch Clint Eastwood in action. Till this day, I always remember his famous tagline: Make My Day!

To conclude my review, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching this particular action movie again & again.

I understand this movie is actually a remake of an earlier movie starring James Stewart in the sixties. I did not watch the earlier movie, even though James Stewart was a favorite actor of mine, but I certainly enjoy watching this one.

The storyline is very simple: A ragtag bunch of characters on a cargo plane crash-landed somewhere in the Gobi Desert. They worked together, led (or misled?) by an eccentric character, Elliot (played menacingly by Giovanni Ribisi), who had only some experience with model air plane design, to rebuild the plane from the wreckage & then to fly back to civilization.

In a nut shell, it is essentially a movie about the triumph of the indomitable human spirit. What I like about this movie is watching the ragtag bunch of diverse characters eventually working together & using their sheer ingenuity & imagination to rebuild the plane, in spite of extremely hostile conditions - no contact with the outside world, brutal environment (scorching sun & scathing sandstorms), dwindling resources & attack by desert marauders. The dialog is very witty...sometimes funny...coupled by a spectacular crash sequence, which has been seemingly extended for viewers' enjoyment.

This movie also brought back some sweet memories of my trip across the southern end of the Gobi Desert about a decade ago. At that time, I was trying to retrace the journey of Marco Polo along the Silk Road. I rode on a camel as well as on four-wheels across some short stretches. The view of the sand dunes was magnificent & enchanting, but I could sense the harsh reality of the environment. (This movie was actually filmed on location in Namibia, Africa.) Only one aspect of the movie really puzzles me. As a Chinese, I noted that the desert marauders apparently spoke Cantonese. The crash scene happened in the Mongolian part of the Gobi Desert - people there don't speak Cantonese.

Lastly but not the least, I have also enjoyed watching Dennis Quaid, one of my favorite actors, playing the lead role of Frank Towns, the crack pilot.

Overall, the movie has been great to watch.

I have watched all the three Crocodile Dundee movies in the theatre as well as their re-runs on cable TV at home:

• Crocodile Dundee I; - Crocodile Dundee II; - Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles:

I am very impressed by the hilarious antics of Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan). I also like his charming, down-to-earth character.

What I have enjoyed most in watching the three movies is that, I have learned that one can use sheer human ingenuity & creativity to overcome obstacles, no matter how intimidating they are...some life-threatening ones, too!

Just watch how Mick Dundee (sometimes with his side-kick) out-thinking all the predators &/or bad guys in all three movies...in the treacherous hot outbacks of Australia & the mean streets of New York (When a mugger poked a small knife in front of his face, Mick took out his jungle knife & said: "That's not a knife. This is a knife!)...& mercilessly cold concrete jungle of Los Angeles.

On the whole, I have enjoyed watching again all the three movies, each with its own engaging story & romantic notion of adventure.

As a strategy consultant/success coach on life (survival) skills, I have added these three movies to my resource repertoire.

I have watched all the three Crocodile Dundee movies in the theater as well as their re-runs on cable TV at home:

• Crocodile Dundee I; - Crocodile Dundee II; - Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles:

I am very impressed by the hilarious antics of Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan). I also like his charming, down-to-earth character.

What I have enjoyed most in watching the three movies is that, I have learned that one can use sheer human ingenuity & creativity to overcome obstacles, no matter how intimidating they are...some life-threatening ones, too!

Just watch how Mick Dundee (sometimes with his side-kick) out-thinking all the predators &/or bad guys in all three movies...in the treacherous hot outbacks of Australia & the mean streets of New York (When a mugger poked a small knife in front of his face, Mick took out his jungle knife & said: "That's not a knife. This is a knife!)...& mercilessly cold concrete jungle of Los Angeles.

On the whole, I have enjoyed watching again all the three movies, each with its own engaging story & romantic notion of adventure.

As a strategy consultant/success coach on life (survival) skills, I have added these three movies to my resource repertoire.

I have watched all the three Crocodile Dundee movies in the theater as well as their re-runs on cable TV at home:

• Crocodile Dundee I; - Crocodile Dundee II; - Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles:

I am very impressed by the hilarious antics of Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan). I also like his charming, down-to-earth character.

What I have enjoyed most in watching the three movies is that, I have learned that one can use sheer human ingenuity & creativity to overcome obstacles, no matter how intimidating they are...some life-threatening ones, too!

Just watch how Mick Dundee (sometimes with his side-kick) out-thinking all the predators &/or bad guys in all three movies...in the treacherous hot outbacks of Australia & the mean streets of New York (When a mugger poked a small knife in front of his face, Mick took out his jungle knife & said: "That's not a knife. This is a knife!)...& mercilessly cold concrete jungle of Los Angeles.

On the whole, I have enjoyed watching again all the three movies, each with its own engaging story & romantic notion of adventure.

As a strategy consultant/success coach on life (survival) skills, I have added these three movies to my resource repertoire.

I love to watch action movies. Better still, I love to watch Robert de Niro in action movies (15 Minutes, Men of Honour, Godfather...). I also love to watch Jean Reno in action movies (The Professional, Mission Impossible, Wasabi...)

Imagine my surprise, when I saw both Robert de Niro & Jean Reno in the same action movie!

Ronin is a very interesting movie. Very exciting, too. It has a complex theme, a twisting plot as well as perplexing subplots, exotic settings, rising & falling actions, a critical but unknown object of pursuit, witty dialog, all compounded by a host of mysterious key characters & their vague relationships (IRA terrorist, Russian mobsters, ex-CIA & ex-KGB operatives).

What I have enjoyed most from this movie is watching Sam (Robert de Niro) assuming the role of a strategist in the snatch team. As a strategist, he is always asking clarifying questions & verifying details. I am amazed at his astute power of observation, as shown below...just to name a few scenes:

• scanning the surroundings from various angles before entering the pub & checking out possible escape routes; - sensing danger & spotting a sniper at the bridge while conducting a covert weapon buying exchange near the bridge; - sizing up each member of the snatch team, especially Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard playing the rogue electronics expert) by intentionally pushing a cup over the table edge; - reconnaissance, testing the camera & taking photographs unsuspectingly at a hotel lobby & creating a diversion...; - noticing the wrong suitcase immediately after a ambush/shoot out; - spotting a wall advertisement as a possible lead to the whereabout of the Russian mafia;

Even Vincent (Jean Reno) demonstrates it, especially when he spots, from a window in a cafe, a young girl carrying a metal suitcase, while trying to figure out with Sam the exact whereabout of Gregor, who had switched & stole the original suitcase earlier.

The Power of Observation is obviously a very important character trait of a Ronin.

I understand a Ronin is a master-less samurai. A lone-wolf. A maverick. A mercenary. Apparently, in the movie, each member of the snatch team is a Ronin.

In the movie, there is even a short history lesson about the exploits of the famous 47 Ronins & their eventual suicide ritual known as sepaku, as told by Jean Pierre (Michael Lonsdale). (Based on actual historical events, only 46 of them committed sepaku. The last one was pardoned by the Shogun.)

The most exhilarating parts of the movie are obviously the high-octane car chases & rampant shoot-outs in both Nice & Paris settings...on a quiet country road, a highway then through busy side streets & a tunnel. There is even an amazing scene, showing Sam doing his own surgery to remove a bullet from his stomach with a mirror & knife.

The most touching scenes in the movie are the dynamic comradeship & seemingly mutual respect between Sam & Vincent, despite the fact that each of them has his own agenda in the snatch team.

In the final scene, - & in fact throughout the movie' running time -, the critical but unknown object of pursuit remains a mystery.

To conclude this review, I have really enjoyed watching Ronin very much. Once again, I have also learned that human ingenuity & creativity are very important life (or survival) skills, as characterized in the movie. This is another addition to my resource repertoire.

I have never read any of Tom Clancy's works, but I have seen all the movies made from them. Patriot Games is one of them.

The storyline is quite simple: Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford), former CIA analyst, is on vacation/lecture tour in England with his family. While on the way to meet them near Buckingham Palace, he & his family are caught in a cross-fire during an assassination attempt on a member of the Royal Family, Lord Holmes (Edward Fox), by a rogue faction of the IRA led by Sean Miller (Sean Bean). In the ensuing shoot-out, Jack killed one the terrorists, who happens to be Sean's younger brother. Jack gets drawn back into the CIA after the terrorists set out a vengeful attack against his family back in USA.

In my view, the action sequences in this movie are not very exciting, when compared with any of the recent Bond &/or Bourne movies, although the entire movie is quite entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the sequence showing a real-time satellite-tracking session at CIA HQ, during which Jack & his counter-terrorism team are watching a crack SAS team conducting a black ops raid at the terrorists' hideout somewhere in Libya. The accompanying music score is realistically haunting! What excites me most about this movie is watching Jack exercising his astute power of observation & his uncanny ability to juxtapose images in a relentless attempt to track down the whereabout of the rogue faction of the IRA,...with the high-tech resources of CIA's counter-terrorism group, of course.

Using vital information secured from Paddy O'Neil (Richard Harris), an IRA supporter in the USA, Jack narrows down the search through his observation/juxtaposition of CIA's satellite images (which includes an overhead snapshot of an apparently capped woman with a pony tail) with his own recalled images: - a back-view glimpse of the pony-tailed driver in the terrorists' getaway vehicle during the foiled assassination attempt in England; - a side-view glance of the pony-tailed driver in the terrorists' getaway vehicle during an unsuccessful assassination attempt on his life outside the US Naval Academy; All these associations have been triggered while taking a break & walking pass a pony-tailed woman employee on the way to answer the call of nature at CIA Headquarters.

What a brilliant piece of detective work - observation plus juxtaposition - on the part of Jack! The Power of Observation & Juxtaposition are obviously requisite character traits of a CIA analyst.

In summing up this review, I have enjoyed very much watching Patriot Games, experientially as well as educationally. This is another wonderful addition to my resource repertoire.

I love watching action movies, even if some of them are no-brainers! My purpose of going to the movies is very simple: firstly, to be entertained within a span of about two hours, & secondly to pick out some interesting & useful ideas.

Triple X is one such action movie. The plot is very simple: An extreme sports renegade (with no fear but has a bad attitude), Xander Cage (played by Vin Diesel), is recruited by a NSA big shot, Augustus Gibbons (played by Samuel Jackson), to spy on & then foil an attempt by a nasty group of Czech criminals, known as Anarchy 99, & led by a crazy villain, Yorgi (played by Marton Csokas) who had some nutty ideas to change the world using a biological virus, called Silent Night.

The many high-octane action sequences (cars, bikes, skis, boats, helicopters,...), all the way from the opening scene & the attendant rampant explosions, plus all the state-of-the-art weaponry, including a super-duper Bond-like vehicle, in the movie are quite fun to watch. The dialog is witty, too. For example, in Prague, while Xander was about to go to bed with a sexy girl, with compliments from Yorgi of course, he remarked: "The things I'm gonna do for my country."

Among others,there is one particular dialog, between Gibbons & Cage, during the first half of the movie which strikes my personal attention.

When Gibbons offers Cage a job to work for the US government, with a view to redeem the latter's crimes, Cage turns him down flatly. That's when Gibbons tells him the story about the difference between the eyes of a lion in captivity & the eyes of a lion in the wild.

This also reminds me of an insightful dialog between Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) & Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in one of the earlier scenes of the movie, Rocky III. (In contrast to Triple XXX, Rocky III is an intelligent movie.) The movie tells the story of how Creed convinces & retrains a down-&-out Rocky to go back into the ring to fight against Clubber Lang (Mr T) who had earlier gave Rocky a thorough bashing in humiliating defeat. In that particular scene, Creed tells the story about "the eye of the tiger". Creed desperately wants Rocky to regain his focus quickly in order to win. Incidentally, this is also the title of the movie's signature tune.

These are certainly interesting learning points, especially in terms of understanding life (or survival) skills. I often share these stories with teens who are searching for directions in life.

In summing up, I have enjoyed watching Triple XXX & learned something interesting - & useful - along the way.

I recently watched the reruns of two action movies, McQ & Brannigan, both starring John Wayne, on cable TV. I had watched both of them in the theatres during the mid 70's or so.

As a young boy, I have always enjoyed watching John Wayne in so many westerns (Stage-coach, Rio Bravo, True Grit...) & in so many war movies (Green Berets, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Longest Day...).

I believe that John Wayne was almost in his late 60's/early 70's when he starred in the above two movies. I also believe that these were the only two movies in which he had played a street-wise no-nonsense cop. That's 'Dirty Harry' style! In the first movie, McQ, he was Police Detective-Lieutenant Lon McQ in Seattle. He investigated the death of his partner & along the way uncovered some corrupt elements in his police department with shady connections to the mob. The signature mobster in the movie, Manny Santiago, was played by Al Lettieri.

In the second movie, Brannigan, he was Police Detective-Lieutenant Jim Brannigan in Chicago. He was sent to London to bring back an American mobster on the run, Ben Larkin, (played by John Vernon) & along the way he got entangled with the conservative work-style of Scotland Yard.

Despite his age, John Wayne was really remarkable in both roles. Having seen him in so many westerns & war movies, it was refreshing to see him acting in contemporary settings. The hot-pursuit action sequences (car chases & shoot-outs) were really good, considering that era. In McQ, the car chase along the beach, with sea gulls fluttering away for cover, was magnificantly choreographed. In Brannigan, the car chase segment ending at the Tower Bridge was great, too. There was even a large-scale brawl at a London pub...reminiscent of John Wayne's innumerable westerns. The storyline in both movies was quite intriguing. In McQ, he even got to show off his physical prowess with an unlicensed sub-machine gun. That was cool! The dialogue in both movies was witty, too.

In Brannigan, one could see how big & tall John Wayne was, when he was in London among the crowd. He really stood out like a sore thumb. His opposite was Commander Sir Charles Swann of Scotland Yard, played by a very fine British actor, Richard Attenborough. John Wayne even got a beautiful side-kick in the movie, Detective Sergeant Jennifer Thatcher, played by Judy Geeson.

In McQ, I was very surprised to see John Wayne in an intimate scene involving a junkie informer played by a fine actress (Colleen Dewhurst) in an understated role. This was something which had never happened in any of his other movies, as far as I know! On the whole, both movies had a good mix of action, drama & comedy, coupled with witty dialogue throughout. I have enjoyed very much watching both of them again after so many years.

I recently watched the reruns of two action movies, McQ & Brannigan, both starring John Wayne, on cable TV. I had watched both of them in the theatres during the mid 70's or so.

As a young boy, I have always enjoyed watching John Wayne in so many westerns (Stage-coach, Rio Bravo, True Grit...) & in so many war movies (Green Berets, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Longest Day...).

I believe that John Wayne was almost in his late 60's/early 70's when he starred in the above two movies. I also believe that these were the only two movies in which he had played a street-wise no-nonsense cop. That's 'Dirty Harry' style! In the first movie, McQ, he was Police Detective-Lieutenant Lon McQ in Seattle. He investigated the death of his partner & along the way uncovered some corrupt elements in his police department with shady connections to the mob. The signature mobster in the movie, Manny Santiago, was played by Al Lettieri.

In the second movie, Brannigan, he was Police Detective-Lieutenant Jim Brannigan in Chicago. He was sent to London to bring back an American mobster on the run, Ben Larkin, (played by John Vernon) & along the way he got entangled with the conservative work-style of Scotland Yard.

Despite his age, John Wayne was really remarkable in both roles. Having seen him in so many westerns & war movies, it was refreshing to see him acting in contemporary settings. The hot-pursuit action sequences (car chases & shoot-outs) were really good, considering that era. In McQ, the car chase along the beach, with sea gulls fluttering away for cover, was magnificantly choreographed. In Brannigan, the car chase segment ending at the Tower Bridge was great, too. There was even a large-scale brawl at a London pub...reminiscent of John Wayne's innumerable westerns. The storyline in both movies was quite intriguing. In McQ, he even got to show off his physical prowess with an unlicensed sub-machine gun. That was cool! The dialogue in both movies was witty, too.

In Brannigan, one could see how big & tall John Wayne was, when he was in London among the crowd. He really stood out like a sore thumb. His opposite was Commander Sir Charles Swann of Scotland Yard, played by a very fine British actor, Richard Attenborough. John Wayne even got a beautiful side-kick in the movie, Detective Sergeant Jennifer Thatcher, played by Judy Geeson.

In McQ, I was very surprised to see John Wayne in an intimate scene involving a junkie informer played by a fine actress (Colleen Dewhurst) in an understated role. This was something which had never happened in any of his other movies, as far as I know! On the whole, both movies had a good mix of action, drama & comedy, coupled with witty dialogue throughout. I have enjoyed very much watching both of them again after so many years.

Since the sixties, most of the movies in which I have watched Charles Bronson, he was always the tough guy...gritty man of action...macho man (The Great Escape, Magnificent Seven, Chato's Land, Mr Majestyck, Death Wish I to IV, Family of Cops I to III, Telefon, Murphy's Law, Red Sun, 10 to Midnight, The Evil That Men Do...) except for one, The Sandpiper, in which he played a painter, opposite Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor. I have always enjoyed watching his movies.

I consider this particular one as the best of his action movies.

The storyline is pretty straight-forward, except for an unexpected twist at the end: A contract hit-man, seemingly about to retire, took on a cocky young man as protégé, who eventually turned the table on the master.

Charles Bronson, played the contract hit-man (hence, the name, The Mechanic), Arthur Bishop. He was a loner but had expensive tastes. He worked for a sinister group known only as The Organisation, which issued all the contract hits. (It so happened that all the hits were criminals.) He took on Steve McKenna (played menacingly by Jan-Michael Vincent) as his protégé. His mind was cold as ice & apparently twisted. They screwed up one hit assignment while working together, after which The Organisation, was upset & put out a contract on Bishop. Apparently, McKenna took up the contract. The rest of the movie was a battle of wits among the two hit men.

What struck me most about the movie was the quiet characterization of a contract hit during the first fifteen minutes or so. No dialog at all,...only a very sober music score. Bishop studied the habits, life-style & schedule of his target, with meticulous observation & detailed planning. Thereafter, the movie went on to show Bishop, working with McKenna, going after different targets - each with different circumstances & each executed differently...ruthlessly, of course. The hot-pursuit action sequences - there were many of them - in the movie were beautifully orchestrated,...really exciting, especially the motor-cycle chase segment.

There seemed to be one puzzling part in the movie: McKenna happened to be the son of one of Bishop's hit victims. Bishop knew McKenna's father, Big Harry (played by Keenan Wynn) since he was a kid. In fact, Big Harry was an associate of Bishop's own father, who also happened to be a founding father of The Organisation. I can only conclude this way: hit men have certainly to be cold-blooded animals. Not only that, they have to be calculatingly efficient in their work.

The last fifteen minutes of the movie were quite unexpected. I would have preferred a totally different outcome. Go & watch this movie to find out what I meant.

On the whole, I find The Mechanic, to be an intelligent action thriller, with Charles Bronson in his best action role!

If you have watched 'The Mechanic', you will certainly see a parallel between that movie & this movie. Both are fast-paced action movies about two assassins in conflict with each other.

'The Mechanic' starred Charles Bronson in the lead role of a veteran contract hit-man, Arthur Bishop. He took on a cocky but ambitious young man, Steve McKenna, played by Jan-Michael Vincent, to be his protégé. The latter turned the table on the master.

In this movie, 'Assassins', Sylvester Stallone played the lead role of a veteran contract hit-man, Robert Bath, who apparently was number one in the business. A cocky, but ambitious young hit-man, Miguel Bain, played by Antonio Banderas, came into the scene with the fatalistic idea of becoming the number one.

Intertwined in their personal conflict of hierarchy, appeared a woman computer hacker, Electra, played by Julianne Moore, as well as a mysterious employer, Nikolai Taslinkov, who seemingly was connected to all the three key characters in the movie.

For the rest of the movie, it was an exciting cat & mouse game between Bath & Bain, with Electra eventually teaming up with Bath to elude from & deal with Bain. The action sequences throughout the movie, especially the shoot-out inside a hotel in the first half & the shoot-out in an abandoned building (in Mexico) towards the end, were really good.

It was quite fun to watch Antonio Banderas playing the hot-headed, crazy guy. He was really good, as good as Sylvester Stallone, who, as typical & in most of his movies of this genre (Nighthawks, Cobra, Judge Dredd, Demolition Man...), played the cool, confident character...maybe, a little stiff in some way. Julianne Moore, a very accomplished British actress, unfortunately had an understated role, although she did her best.

On the whole, 'Assassins' has been an entertaining - never a dull moment - action movie to watch...especially when you can watch two assassins for the price of one!

It is refreshing to watch an older Robert Redford pitting his acting skills against a younger Brad Pitt in this spy thriller movie. Both of them acted very well despite the sketchy plot.

To me, the storyline is pretty straight-forward: A retiring CIA operative, Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) learned that his protégé, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), had been arrested in China as a result of a botched rescue attempt of his girl-friend. He was due to be executed shortly. Because of vested interests, CIA refused to mount a rescue. Out of friendship, Muir engineered a successful but unauthorized rescue.

The entire movie is beautifully choreographed through black & white flash-backs & pure dialog, during which Muir recalled his personal encounter & close friendship with his protégé. That relationship spanned across a time line of about twenty years, from the Vietnam War in the 70's, to the end of the cold war in Berlin during the 80's & then to the mean streets of Beirut in the 90's.

The movie moves on to show how Muir had taught Bishop all the skills (or dirty tricks?) of spycraft...how to case a restaurant, fix a radio,...to be callous, look at the big picture...to stay remote...to sell out people if that's of use...to kill.

There is no typical high-octane action sequences in this spy thriller movie, except for a heart-pounding escape scene in a China prison.

Throughout the movie, one can see how Muir had to use his wits & all the skills (or dirty tricks?) he had learned while working for the CIA to out-smart the CIA's top echelon as well as his fellow CIA operatives to mount a personally-financed rescue mission.

I really enjoyed watching his brilliant machinations as he moved from scene to scene in the movie. I just loved the part where he juxtaposed CIA satellite images to fool his bosses. He even forged the signature of the CIA Director. At the end of it, all of them apparently did not have the slightest clue as to what was happening & had happened.

On the whole, I have enjoyed watching this spy thriller. It is also comforting to know that an accomplished Singaporean actor, Adrian Pang, had a small role in the movie. He played a medic during the botched rescue attempt.

The Bourne Identity & The Bourne Supremacy As a strategy consultant, & whenever I go to the movies (or watch movies at home), I often take the opportunity to seek out possibilities of using them to teach life (survival) skills to participants in my seminars & workshops.

The two Bourne movies, namely Bourne Identity & Bourne Supremacy, are two great examples.

Both movies are loosely based on Robert Ludlum's work, which included The Rheinmann Exchange, The Osterman Weekend & the Holcroft Covenant. They have also been made into great movies.

In the first movie, with the opening scene: An unconscious young man is pulled out off the Mediterranean coast by a fishing boat one stormy night. Thinking that the young man is dead, a curious fisherman with a scalpel finds two bullets in his back & a microchip in his hip. The chip reveals a Swiss bank account. But our wet hero isn't dead but realises that he has amnesia. He then rushes to Zurich. In the bank vault, he discovers his name, Jason Bourne (played by Mark Damon). In addition, he finds a baffling pile of different passports, all with his picture, and a large chunk of cash. In the US Embassy, he bumps into Marie (played by Franka Potente), along with the fact that someone wants to kill him. Armed with a bag of money and superb martial arts skills, & with Marie by his side, he scours Paris for clues about his identity and past life...& finds himself in the middle of two assassination plots (one assassin was played by Clive Owen, as 'The Professor') masterminded by rouge elements of the CIA.

In the second movie, with the opening scene, continuing from the first movie: Jason Bourne is recovering in Goa, India with Marie. He spots a mysterious dark-glassed man with the wrong clothes while jogging. He escapes with Marie but she is shot in the ensuing chase. The next scene shows CIA operatives under deputy director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) conducting a sting operation to fish out a mole in CIA but something goes wrong. Her subsequent investigation leads to the highly-classified Treadstone project, which apparently involves Jason Bourne. She even finds evidence that Bourne is behind what happened to her botched operation. So Bourne sets out to clear his name. The remaining part of the movie shows Bourne outsmarting CIA operatives - & the assassin (played menacingly by Karl Urban as Kirill) - & tracking down the rogue elements in the CIA with shady connections to the Russian mob, who have jointly framed him in the first place.

In the two movies, Jason Bourne demonstrates his uncanny ability to observe & pay attention to what's around him - note: notice the exceptions in the details of the environment - which allows him to constantly stay ahead of his predators & at the same time, stay agile (mentally & physically) to anticipate dangers & get out of precarious situations.

For example...remember the scene in the second movie...after he had jogged at the beach, he observed a dark-glassed man whose clothing & behaviour somehow did not match the environment...

His ability to stay calm, size up dangerous situations & come up with super-quick, innovative solutions to escape from capture is well demonstrated in both movies.

For example...remember the scene in the first movie, where he jumped down several storeys with a dead body as cushion while blasting his gun at his assassins running up the staircase...the scene in the second movie, where he improvised a weapon out of rolled newspapers & an explosive escape using a magazine stuffed into a burning toaster in a quickly engineered gas-filled room...Wow! that was great! Naturally, I am also fascinated by the many unique fighting sequences (particularly the one within a tight environment in the second movie), car chases, cat & mouse games, etc. in both movies.

Additionally, what I like about both movies is the total absence of super-duper gadgets commonly found in such spy-thriller movies. Jason Bourne used only his sheer human ingenuity & creativity to outsmart his enemies.

To end my review, I must add that I have enjoyed watching both movies, experientially as well as educationally.

The Bourne Identity & The Bourne Supremacy As a strategy consultant, & whenever I go to the movies (or watch movies at home), I often take the opportunity to seek out possibilities of using them to teach life (survival) skills to participants in my seminars & workshops.

The two Bourne movies, namely Bourne Identity & Bourne Supremacy, are two great examples.

Both movies are loosely based on Robert Ludlum's work, which included The Rheinmann Exchange, The Osterman Weekend & the Holcroft Covenant. They have also been made into great movies.

In the first movie, with the opening scene: An unconscious young man is pulled out off the Mediterranean coast by a fishing boat one stormy night. Thinking that the young man is dead, a curious fisherman with a scalpel finds two bullets in his back & a microchip in his hip. The chip reveals a Swiss bank account. But our wet hero isn't dead but realises that he has amnesia. He then rushes to Zurich. In the bank vault, he discovers his name, Jason Bourne (played by Mark Damon). In addition, he finds a baffling pile of different passports, all with his picture, and a large chunk of cash. In the US Embassy, he bumps into Marie (played by Franka Potente), along with the fact that someone wants to kill him. Armed with a bag of money and superb martial arts skills, & with Marie by his side, he scours Paris for clues about his identity and past life...& finds himself in the middle of two assassination plots (one assassin was played by Clive Owen, as 'The Professor') masterminded by rouge elements of the CIA.

In the second movie, with the opening scene, continuing from the first movie: Jason Bourne is recovering in Goa, India with Marie. He spots a mysterious dark-glassed man with the wrong clothes while jogging. He escapes with Marie but she is shot in the ensuing chase. The next scene shows CIA operatives under deputy director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) conducting a sting operation to fish out a mole in CIA but something goes wrong. Her subsequent investigation leads to the highly-classified Treadstone project, which apparently involves Jason Bourne. She even finds evidence that Bourne is behind what happened to her botched operation. So Bourne sets out to clear his name. The remaining part of the movie shows Bourne outsmarting CIA operatives - & the assassin (played menacingly by Karl Urban as Kirill) - & tracking down the rogue elements in the CIA with shady connections to the Russian mob, who have jointly framed him in the first place.

In the two movies, Jason Bourne demonstrates his uncanny ability to observe & pay attention to what's around him - note: notice the exceptions in the details of the environment - which allows him to constantly stay ahead of his predators & at the same time, stay agile (mentally & physically) to anticipate dangers & get out of precarious situations.

For example...remember the scene in the second movie...after he had jogged at the beach, he observed a dark-glassed man whose clothing & behaviour somehow did not match the environment...

His ability to stay calm, size up dangerous situations & come up with super-quick, innovative solutions to escape from capture is well demonstrated in both movies.

For example...remember the scene in the first movie, where he jumped down several storeys with a dead body as cushion while blasting his gun at his assassins running up the staircase...the scene in the second movie, where he improvised a weapon out of rolled newspapers & an explosive escape using a magazine stuffed into a burning toaster in a quickly engineered gas-filled room...Wow! that was great! Naturally, I am also fascinated by the many unique fighting sequences (particularly the one within a tight environment in the second movie), car chases, cat & mouse games, etc. in both movies.

Additionally, what I like about both movies is the total absence of super-duper gadgets commonly found in such spy-thriller movies. Jason Bourne used only his sheer human ingenuity & creativity to outsmart his enemies.

To end my review, I must add that I have enjoyed watching both movies, experientially as well as educationally.

This Hong Kong made movie was actually an adaptation of the European spy movie classic, Passport to Hell: Secret Agent 3S3, released in 1965.

In that movie, the lead character, Walter Ross, CIA Agent 3S3 (a designation meaning secret agent number 3 of the 3rd Special Division) was played by Georgio (George) Ardisson.

Although in this Chinese movie, the lead role was played by Paul Chang, he apparently did not do very well as far as the action sequences & fighting scenes are concerned. He looked suave & flamboyant, but he was certainly no fighter, unlike George.

The voluptuous Zhang Zhongwen (Diana Chang), a former Miss Hongkong & considered in Chinese movie circles as Planet Earth's Most Beautiful Animal, added some spice as well as distraction to the movie.

The movie title in Chinese (Cantonese to be more specific) was somewhat of a misnomer. Its translation, literally: 'Flamboyant Big Fellow'!