Entertainment Ireland

Bourne in the army - Keith C

Viewer Rating:

No matter how the makers of this film dress it up, this is always going to be compared to the Bourne movies. Considering its the same lead man and director its inevitable especially when it has the same look and feel as the Bourne movies. Bourne plays a soldier who's squad is in Iraq shortly after the invasion to find the mythical WMDs. Of course as we all know this is a frustrating job and our man starts to question things after a number of fruitless searches without much help from his superiors. Gleeson who is dependable as ever sets up him find some answers that he shouldn't be looking for and the move cracks along at a fair old pace. This an intelligent movie but also wins over those just along for the bullets and explosions with a decent mix. There's enough suspense to make a good thriller and plenty there to satisfy the war movi buff. In other words it ticks a lot of boxes. Damon plays the part well with an impression that this is what Jason Bourne might have been like if he had stayed on the straight and narrow. Although I would have liked to seen a little more background to his charcter it does add to his mystery a bit. I thouroughly enjoyed this movie and would probably have given it five stars if I hadn't have gotten to thinking afterwards. Damons character is a squad leader who just heads totally off mission very quickly without any consequences. Surely if the movie were to be kept in line with its gritty enough reality then there should be a sense of paranoia when our hero is acting against everything he should have been trained to accept. Its completely absent which for me took the sheen off it. Still a really good movie and defintely worth a watch. One of the better movies of the year but in hindsight,not the masterpiece it could hqave been.

Review published on the 19 July 2010 13:46

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