American Made (2017)

Director: Doug Liman
Writer: Gary Spinelli
DOP: Cesar Charlone
Cast: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright

A pilot ends up working for the CIA initially as an aerial recon photographer and later as a delivery boy of weapons. He also gets mixed up in the drug business also as a deliverer using his planes for the Medellin cartel. It is a biographical adaptation of the adventures of Barry Seal, a former TWA pilot.

Film can be seen as a companion piece to Jeremy Renner starrer 'Kill the Messenger', where he played the role of a journalist who discovers that CIA is involved in a drug racket to fund the contra rebels in Nicaragua. It was a more serious film while Doug Liman goes for comedy in this one and it works very well. His last outing with Tom Cruise was 'Edge of Tomorrow' which mixed action with humour and had its lead in a  self-deprecating role. A sequel is expected to be announced with the same team.

Barry Seal was around 40 when the events shown in the film starts and they could have had Tom Cruise in an aged appearance. He looks really weird with all the plastics, just like Mammooty is these days. Domhnall Gleeson, who was great in Ex-Machina, gets a meaty role. Apart from him and Barry's wife, the only other interesting characters we meet are the brief appearances by the cartel members including Pablo Escobar. Tom Cruise is still able to carry the film through in a slightly 'Wolf of Wall Street' manner, but without breaking the fourth wall blatantly. It is a good watch overall.

Doug Liman had a brilliant start to his career with films like Swingers, Go and culminating with Bourne Identity. Then he went a bit shit with the likes of Mr & Mrs Smith. He is now back in form and his next one, Chaos Walking, looks very interesting with the likes of Charlie Kaufman involved.

Rating: 3.5/5

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Director: Doug Liman
Writers:  Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, Hiroshi Sakurazaka (Manga)
Cast:       Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson

Against his wishes, a military officer (Tom Cruise) is brought into an alien war against an extraterrestrial enemy who can reset the day and know the future. When the officer is enabled with the same power accidentally, he teams up with Special Forces warrior (Emily Blunt) to try and end the war. 

The original title for the film was 'All You Need is Kill' like the Japanese manga it is based on but they changed it to the drab title that it got released with because of the fear around the word kill. For its home media release they have used the title 'Live. Die. Repeat' which was the original tagline. It is Groundhog day meets shoot them up video games. Every time Tom Cruise's character dies he goes back to the level he started, figuring out how to make some more progress on the next try. Even though the central idea of it might not seem all that original, it is an enormously entertaining intelligent action flick. Action films these days are either sequels, prequels, reboots etc, and it was very refreshing to see a standalone action flick that will stand the test of time. Film is also very humorous with the Tom Cruise character's reluctance to go into the battle setting the tone.Emily Blunt's character is as important as Cruise one which makes for a refreshing change. The script is also good and it was in good hands with Christopher McQuarrie (Usual Suspects) among the writing team. The repetition in story part wouldn't have been this entertaining without it and editing should also be commended because it never loses steam or its audience. 

Tom Cruise films these days perform better outside Americas than inside. The trailer would have made it seem just like another typical Cruise action flick when it is anything but. The fact that Oblivion came just before this film didn't help because the trailers made them seem too similar. Despite great critical reception it collected only $100 million in US on a budget of 178 million. It went on to gross $370 million in total with the overseas markets helping it break even. It is a crying shame that a film like this only made that much when Michael Bay shit-fests generate huge profits, leaving us in this vicious cycle of studios pushing for safer franchise films. 

Doug Liman started off his career with indie classics like 'Swingers' and 'Go' after which he made 'Bourne Identity', his first major studio film. Then he kind of lost his way with shits like 'Mr and Mrs. Smith'. It seems he is now back in form with films like 'Fair Game' and now 'Edge of Tomorrow'. Christopher McQuarrie is now a frequent collaborator with Tom Cruise these days with him being involved in films like 'Valkyrie', 'Jack Reacher' and he is set to direct the next 'Mission Impossible' film. Tom Cruise is having a bit of revival since Mission Impossible-Ghost Protocol, but his next three films are supposed to be MI5, Top Gun 2 and Jack Reacher 2 which is a shame. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Swingers (1996)

Director: Doug Liman
Writer:    Jon Favreau
Cast:       Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham, Ron Livingston

Mike (Jon Favreau) is a struggling comedian living in LA after shifting from New-York. He is suffering from depression after breaking up with his girlfriend of six years, six months ago. His mates, other struggling actors, are trying to get him to stop wallowing about the past and get him out into the dating scene of the 1990s swing revival.

We don't see characters getting walked through the dating process in many films. Mike is having a struggle after not being in the game since his college days where he hooked up with his ex-girlfriend.  It is really a funny film with plenty of references thrown about other films like Goodfellas and Reservoir Dogs. They even recreate the Goodfellas 'Copacabana' single tracking shot scene and Reservoir Dogs' slow-mo walk. One would also be reminded of several 'Seinfeld' situations as well. It is a great film that captures the atmosphere of those times.

Doug Liman started his career very strongly with 'Swingers' and 'Go' before getting into all the big budget action shenanigans. Hearing good things about his latest feature 'Edge of Tomorrow'. He is certainly a very dependable director.

Rating: 4.5/5
 

The Bourne Trilogy (2002-07)

Directors: Doug Liman, Paul Greengrass
Writers:    Tony Gilroy, William Blake Heron, Scott Z. Burns, George Nolfi
Cast:         Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, Clive Owen, Karl Urban, Edgar Ramirez, David Strathairn, Paddy Considine

Loose adaptation of Robert Ludlum's action.thriller spy series based on the character Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from extreme memory loss.

I decided to watch them again after having acquired 720p files of all the three films. I think this was my fourth or fifth time watch of what is essentially the best action films franchise. The impact of it was such that the James Bond films with Daniel Craig were also forced to make a turn to have more realistic action sequences and solid stories instead of lame gadgets and CGIs. Still none of the three Craig films-Casino Royale, QoS or Skyfall comes anywhere close to the level of any of the Bourne films (I don't consider Legacy as a Bourne film). Even the product placements are miles better in the Bourne films whereas in Casino Royale it stood out like a sore thumb (Reminded me of malayalam films 'Nerariyan CBI). 

Enough with the comparison to Bond films. The first film 'The Bourne Identity' was directed by Doug Liman (Go, Swingers) who many considered as an odd choice. It is the most story/character driven out of the three and the Franka Potente character gives some emotion to the film when all other characters in the films are coldhearted. The three set-pieces come at equal intervals with the car chase using the 'MINI' through the streets of Paris set to Paul Oakenfold's 'Ready Steady Go' being the highlight. 

In the second film 'The Bourne Supremacy', Bourne is motivated by revenge and guilt as he comes back to Europe after his girlfriend is killed in India. It is directed by Paul Greengrass with his trademark shaky camera technique which suits very well for this kind of action films. That said some where put off by it. In terms of balance between the action sequences and the story this film is the best out of the three and probably my favorite as well. It was also good to hear some Malayalam in the background during the Goa bridge scene.

In the third film 'The Bourne Identiy', again directed by Greengrass, the motivation of Bourne is kind of flimsy and it acts merely as a tool to get him to do the action set-pieces. It is the most action oriented out of the three and the best logical point for the creators to end the franchise with Bourne having retraced his steps back to the training place. In between Supremacy and Ultimatum Greengrass managed to direct United 93 as well.

It was lovely to see the nods to L'avventura (Italian Boat's name in Identity) and Berlin-Alexanderpatz (Tram in Suporemacy). The closing credits are done very well with Moby's Extreme Ways. In all three I was left with the same grin that Stiles had in Ultimatum.

Trivia: Bourne never smiles in Supremacy and Ultimatum.

Rating: Trilogy: 5/5
The Bourne Identity:5/5
The Bourne Supremacy:5/5
The Bourne Ultimatum:4/5  

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Director: Doug Liman
Writer:    Simon Kinberg
Cast:      Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Adam Brody
A bored married couple is surprised to learn that they are both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other.

Its a watchable film and better than what the plot suggests if you take it as a comedy.

Rating: 2/5