Tomas Alfredson, who directed the wonderful Swedish vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, adapts John le Carre’s classic spy novel into a slow burn thriller. His film is as laconic as his central character, played with great reserve by Gary Oldman. From its Cold War setting to its visual style, the film at times conjures up memories of Hitchcock’s latter day thrillers.

George Smiley (Oldman, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL) was a top spy for MI6 before being forced into retirement after a botched mission left fellow agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong, STARDUST) shot in the street. The incident also took down his boss Control (John Hurt, THE ELEPHANT MAN), who has long believed that there is a Russian mole in the highest ranks of the “Circus.” When top official Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) gets a tip about the mole, he calls in Smiley to work outside the agency in order to root out the double agent.

Based on the children’s rhyme Control had code named the men he suspected. “Tinker” is Percy Alleline (Toby Jones, THE PAINTED VEIL), a man so determined in bringing in the big defector that he goes above his superiors’ heads in order to get funds for his own secret division. “Tailor” is Bill Haydon (Colin Firth, A SINGLE MAN), a respected agent who is known around the office as a ladies man. “Soldier” is Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds, MUNICH), a veteran agent who sees spy work as the front lines of a new war. “Poorman” is Toby Esterhase (David Dencik, a bureaucratic kiss-ass who was rescued from a Soviet block country by Control. “Beggarman” is Smiley.

Smiley requests a small team to help. Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch, WAR HORSE) is his man on the inside of the Circus who can secure him files. He’s young and called upon to do the most risky jobs. But he has his secrets too. Mendel (Roger Lloyd-Pack, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE) is now retired, raising bees, when he called back into duty to do the clean-up work. Later Smiley will receive key information from Ricky Tarr (Tom Hardy, INCEPTION), a young agent who is believed to be a defector.

What Smiley uncovers is more about mind games than politics. Karla is the top Russian agent who Smiley met once. They’ve been twisting the insides of each other’s minds ever since. Alliances and friendships inside MI6 will be tested. Even Smiley isn’t above manipulating a fellow agent to get what he needs. It’s less about getting government secrets, but one upping your opponent. The only problem is we don’t quite know who is playing for whose team.

Alfredson is very patient in letting the details play out. There are no action-packed moments like a Bourne film. This is the kind of spy story where it works on the mind and rewards those that pay attention. Watch for a wonderful ode to REAR WINDOW in the scene where Ricky Tarr is staking out a Russian agent. The ingenious layering of the sequence where Peter has to sneak a log book out of the Circus is filled with tension because of the methodical pacing.

It is so hard to believe that Oldman has never been nominated for an Academy Award. His performance here is subtle and powerful. Watch his reaction when he learns that Control suspected him as a double agent. The look of sadness and disappointment speaks pages of dialogue in a mere look. Oldman gives Smiley the classic stiff British upper lip quality, but his joy at showing up those that kicked him out creeps through. He makes Smiley the consummate professional who has been worn down by a very demanding job.

The pacing might be an issue for some, but the story rewards those that stick with it. I found myself getting wrapped up in the way the agents on all sides used what they knew about each other to wage psychological warfare. It reminds us that national secrets are in the hands of mere men.

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Before director John Madden went on to direct the Oscar-winning SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, he directed mysteries for British TV. One of those series was PRIME SUSPECT, which starred Helen Mirren. Now the director and actress reunite to remake the Cold War-set Israeli thriller HA-HOV.

The story cuts between 1966 and 1997. In the 1960s, Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain, THE TREE OF LIFE), Stephan Gold (Marton Csokas, LORD OF THE RINGS) and David Peretz (Sam Worthington, AVATAR) are Mossad agents assigned the task of entering East Germany, kidnapping the Nazi war criminal Dr. Dieter “Butcher of Birkenau” Vogel (Jesper Christensen, QUANTUM OF SOLACE) and smuggling him to Israel in order for him to stand trial. The mission doesn’t go as planned and it has ramifications that last the rest of the agents’ lives. In 1997, Rachel (Mirren) has a daughter who has written a book about their exploits and she might get called back into duty for something she thought was over. Stephan (Tom Wilkinson, MICHAEL CLAYTON) is a high-ranking government official who can’t let secrets leak out. David (Ciaran Hinds, MUNICH) is a shell of his former self, obsessed with what happened in East Germany.

The 1966 sequences make up most of the film and play like a John Le Carre novel. Madden creates great tension, especially with setting. When Dr. Vogel is found, he is posing has Dr. Bernhardt, a gynecologist. Rachel must visit him as a patient in order to confirm his identity. You begin to squirm when she is in the stirrups. With a syringe in hand, one wonders if his questions about Rachel’s mother have a dual meaning. When Vogel is finally captured, he is held in a cramped rundown apartment with the agents. As he begins a psychological assault on them during his feedings, he creates conflicts. The oppression is very tangible.

The early scenes in 1997 set up an ominous tone where we know these agents have regrets about the mission. Sex and secrets play a great deal into this feeling. Over time guilt and self-preservation drive their actions. Lies told long enough have a way of becoming ingrained in one’s identity. This is a very good thriller, but it also serves as a moral drama. What is right seems obvious, but it’s not that simple.

In the final segment set in 1997, Mirren takes center stage again. She shows that her skills as an agent have not diminished much in 30 years. Some moments in this portion are a bit forced and tidy. A more ambiguous ending might have been more chilling.

But Mirren is too good to be dismissed. She brings emotional depth to her scenes as a woman who wants to do the right thing but is torn at what that really is. I loved the contempt she brings to dealing with Stephan. She also looks pretty badass with that scar on her face. Her character in 1966 is portrayed with passion and vulnerability by 2011’s major new standout Chastain. Her work here, THE TREE OF LIFE and THE HELP make her an Oscar contender for sure. Her scenes with Christensen’s nicely creepy Dr. Vogel are the film’s best.

THE DEBT presents a lot of ideas. What is a hero? Does reality match legend? Is the truth harder to tell the longer you lie or does the weight of guilt make it necessary? What are you willing to give up to protect a lie or the even harder choice — tell the truth?

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Narratively the original HOODWINKED was a mess, but there were moments of general inspiration within cliché and tired routines. The sequel is just cliché and tired routines. The original was done independently on the cheap and looked it, but this one feels cheaper because it has no purpose other than to cash in on the surprise success of the original.

Unlike the mysterious RASHOMON-like plot of the first film, this picture is pretty straight forward. It’s perfectly structured as a “good” screenplay is supposed to be structured, but leaves no surprises along the way. Red (Hayden Panettiere, TV’s HEROES) is off training with the Sisters of the Hood, while Wolf (Patrick Warburton, TV’s SEINFELD) is manning the spy agency they now work for. After Red’s Granny (Glenn Close, FATAL ATTRACTION) is kidnapped by Verushka the witch (Joan Cusack, WORKING GIRL), Red is called back to investigate.

The plot moves along standard detective movie clichés from asking an informant and a gangster questions at the night club to the tradition of guess who really the bad guys are. Red is given a female empowerment storyline, which is tied into a working together theme involving Wolf. The entire idea of all the characters working for the spy agency waters down them all. The witty puns and riffs on fairy tales are replaced by punchlines that are just “throw out pop culture references” or gags that are so telegraphed that they cease to be funny. The singing goat suffers a great deal not from getting run over, but from really bad timing.

Warburton is still good as Wolf, but he is given far less to work with. Edwards’ Twitchy is more manic than the last film, which makes him far less appealing. Too much of a good thing syndrome. Anne Hathaway voiced Red in the original and Panettiere doesn’t bring the same pluck that the “now too big for cheap animation” Oscar nominee brought to the role. Nice additions are SNL’s Bill Hader and Amy Poehler as Hansel and Gretel. Their over-the-top German accents are funny in and of themselves.

The fact that the film was taken away from its original directors Corey Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech and handed over to Mike Disa might be part of the problem. Instead of being a passion project it became a work for hire project. And you can’t even blame Disa, because I’m sure he was working under tight constraints. This was a film that The Weinstein Company lost faith in somewhere during production and it shows on the screen. The film has a fitting title.

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Bruce Willis plays a retired black ops agent who develops a crush on the telephone operator (played by Mary-Louise Parker) that manages his government pension. It’s a cute little set up for a romantic spy thriller. He devises an excuse to be in her hometown so they can meet. The only problem is that there are people out to kill him and they come along for the trip. I really liked this part of the film. Now that we got that out of the way, we’ll talk about the rest of the film.

Willis plays Frank Moses, who is labeled R.E.D., which stands for Retired: Extremely Dangerous. He knows things that others, like gun smuggler Alexander Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss, JAWS), don’t want getting out. He has connections with the government, which sends young agents like William Cooper (Karl Urban, LORD OF THE RINGS) with their high tech ways after the old codger. The new guys don’t stand a chance.

Like any bored retired person, Frank decides to bring the old band back together. These musicians don’t play axes they wield them. Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich, DANGEROUS LIAISON) is now a survivalist living in a bunker in the swamp, paranoid that everyone around him is a spy trying to kill him. Victoria (Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN) has taken up flower arrangement as a hobby. You can tell she’s just itching to shoot somebody. Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox, 25TH HOUR) is a Russian double agent whose lover shot him in the stomach and left him for dead. Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman, INVICTUS) is the classy black agent.

Director Robert Schwentke (FLIGHTPLAN) reminds us with every action sequence that this was based on a comic book. They are cartoonish. The sweet set-up between Willis and Parker could have been a classic like CHARADE, but once the assassins descend on Frank’s house the film goes into overkill. Is this the gunfight supposed to be a condemnation of the 911 system in America? Men in dressed in black with machineguns stand in a suburban street firing at a house until it is literally falling apart for an extended period of time and the cops never show up? Maybe Frank’s neighbors like to keep to themselves.

Each one these action sequences where the old farts are like Terminators just diminishes the believability of the entire story one notch more. The only enjoyment for a while is Parker’s Sarah completely frightened by the man she mistakenly flirted with over the phone. This could have made for a great dynamic over the course of the film, but it’s abandoned for the less plausible turn of her wanting to play spy games with the older kids.

With all this gunplay you’d think this would raise the pulse a bit, but the worst offense is that it’s all so boring. The heroes are gods toying with mortals. A sequence where they invade CIA headquarters is laughably over-the-top. In the BOURNE films, we love the superior skilled Jason getting in and out of impossible situations by outwitting his adversaries at every step, because his skills are in his mind. Frank and the team bring bazookas. That takes all the fun out of it.

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John Lasseter’s follow-up to his ode to car culture is the least like any other Pixar film. The spy spoof is an unabashed genre flick. WALL*E was sci-fi, but had a compelling love story at its core. Where the original CARS had an aww-shucks charm in its tale of finding pleasure in the simple side of life, this part two sets that aside for international intrigue, mistaken identities and fish out of water tomfoolery. It’s of course done at the high performance quality level that Pixar has set since 1995.

The new adventure puts well meaning, but unsophisticated, Mater the tow truck (Larry the Cable Guy, WITLESS PROTECTION) at the center of the story. He is eagerly awaiting his best friend Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson, THE ROYAL TENEBAUMS) to return to Radiator Springs after the racing season is finished. Lightning has turned down an invitation to compete in the first World Grand Prix in order to spend some time with his friends. But when the arrogant Italian Formula One car Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro, THE BIG LEBOWSKI) insults Lightning on TV, Mater calls in and pretty much leaves Lightning with no other option than to compete.

On the tour, the uninhibited rust bucket finds ways to embarrass Lightning with his cultural ignorance and buffoonery. As a result, he is mistaken as a spy deep under cover as a “typical American.” The super-spy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine, HANNA AND HER SISTERS) and the rookie agent Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer, MATCH POINT) enlist Mater to uncover a plot by an organization of lemon automobiles to sabotage the World Grand Prix, which is exclusively using the new biofuel of Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard, OCEAN’S TWELVE). The devious plan is to make his Allinol look unstable therefore discrediting biofuels in general.

McMissile is featured prominently, especially in the thrilling opening sequence where he infiltrates the secret offshore oil facility of Professor Z (Thomas Kretschmann, THE PIANIST). The quick paced section is a first-rate set-up to the spy elements. It finds quick ways to establish real danger for the hero and utilizes fun spy standards, with a CARS twist, to free the Aston Martin from the bad guys.

Mater’s fish out of water elements are what one might expect from an uninformed person in Tokyo, Italy and England. He learns hard lessons about wasabi and international bathrooms. The mistaken identity element is handled with attention to the characters. Finn believes Mater is simply playing the fool, while the tow truck’s superior knowledge of automobiles actually helps out their investigations. But the humor isn’t anything we haven’t seen in similar stories like THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE, AUSTIN POWERS or JOHNNY ENGLISH. The funniest elements are the witty car-ifed world. But unlike the first film, which had a slower pace to take them all in, this drag race will need multiple trips to take in all the funny scenery you’re zipping by.

Not since A BUG’S LIFE has Pixar made a film so unoriginal. That sounds far worse than it is. Films like the TOY STORY trilogy or UP or RATATOUILLE are hard to compare to anything else. They don’t show their influences on their sleeve. CARS 2 shows its all over its hood, roof and undercarriage. While it’s not as inspired as the previous Pixar films, it’s still something that any other studio wouldn’t mind having in their showroom. It’s slick, fast and has punch. Even emotional punch in Mater’s revelation of how people view him. If the original CARS is like a classic Mustang running of nostalgia, CARS 2 is a new convertible Mustang, a fun take on the original with a suped-up engine so that riders can zip along on a virtual autobahn tour. I guess there are times to take leisurely drives down Route 66 and then there are times you put the pedal to the metal. Having a bomb strapped to you is one of them.

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Based on the Vertigo comic book series, the film is the better A-TEAM movie released in 2010. The backstabbed black ops team tale doesn’t blaze new ground, but unlike the other A-TEAM film of 2010, it mixes violence, humor and some over-the-top action with a dash of character motivation.

Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, WATCHMEN) leads his black ops team into Bolivia to hit a high profile target. But in the midst of the action, the team discovers children at the compound. They decide to rescue the kids, but discover no one, even the team, was to survive the mission. The operation was being run by Max (Jason Patric, THE LOST BOYS), a powerful government spy who ruthlessly makes deals to defend America and his own self interests — the latter is his chief objective.

Stuck in South America, the disgraced team tries to find a way back to the States. Clay’s right hand man Roque (Idris Elba, TV’s THE WIRE) is losing his patience as a fugitive. Jensen (Chris Evans, FANTASTIC FOUR) takes the situation lighter, but he regrets missing his niece’s soccer games. Pooch (Columbus Short, STOMP THE YARD), the transportation lead, worries about his pregnant wife. Cougar (Oscar Jaenada, THE LIMITS OF CONTROL), the sharp shooter, is the quiet type. One night, Clay is followed by the beautiful Aisha (Zoe Saldana, AVATAR), who he takes back to his room, which, in a battle to kill each other, ends in the hotel burning down and her offering the team a mission and chance to get back home. All they have to do is kill Max.

Like these men on the mission, each of the characters is a collection of characteristics. Clay is the noble leader. Roque is the disillusioned soldier. Jensen is the goofy comic relief. Pooch is the timid, smart guy. Cougar is the quiet killer. Aisha is the mysterious woman. Max is the vile criminal. And let me tell you the film constantly reminds us just how vile Max is.

Now these types can work well when they’re put in ingenious situations. THE LOSERS taps into that when it’s dealing with motivations of each of the characters, which can at times be at odds with each other. Where the story gets into problems is with the details of the mission. The action sequences are preposterous, but nothing like parachuting in a tank. However, they’re not all set up logically. When the team steals a helicopter, the scheme is complicated, but works in a fun ingenious way. But then the siege of the armored truck pushes credibility with how its paced and staged. Clay and Roque pop out of a Pinto in traffic to shoot a gag canister into the street. Um, do they want to get caught? Aren’t the people in the cars around them calling the cops right that second? Plus the key to pulling off such a daring daylight action is speed; the sequence seems like it takes forever to unfold.

The story develops some nice character dynamics between Clay and Roque and Clay and Aisha, but the goodwill it earns in those scenes are lost in scenes where Max demands a nuclear weapon and a motorcycle, the latter’s purpose being only to be available for an outlandish action sequence that’s trying to be iconic cool, but leaves the audience wondering if the motorcycle jumped a shark as well.

THE LOSERS is a B-actioner that’s trying to tell a story, but can’t settle on the tone. It’s not a total cartoon, but get absurd in the wrong places. I’m always more critical of over-the-top action in films with a real world setting. It’s a bit tongue in cheek and doesn’t take itself too seriously, but lacks a satirical bite. The film presents twists, but one wonders why the characters didn’t see them coming or prepare for them. The best I can say is that it’s entertaining in a “well there’s nothing else on” kind of way.

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To get a sense of this actioner take an awesome Bond girl, say like Tatiana, have her train with Jason Bourne and let her loose against the CIA. And one of the main reasons it all works is that you have Angelina Jolie at the helm. She really is the first female action star.

To start Evelyn Salt (Jolie) has been taken prisoner by the North Korean government. When a prisoner swap is arranged, she asks her partner Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber, TAKING WOODSTOCK) why the CIA didn’t just write her off — his answer is that her boyfriend Mike Krause (August Diehl, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) wouldn’t let them. Now free and married, Salt is looking to take a desk job. But a Russian spy named Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski, BREAK POINT) walks into CIA HQ and wants to defect. He has an elaborate tale of Russian agents planted in the U.S. since they were children and that one is about to assassinate the Russian president on U.S. soil. He says the agent’s name is Evelyn Salt.

Counter intelligence agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor, 2012) instantly suspects her and has her put in an interrogation room. She worries about her husband’s safety since her cover was blown in North Korea. When she goes on the run, we’re not sure if it’s because she wants to find her spouse, or if she is really a Russian spy, or if it’s C) all of the above.

The film often works as a successful shell game, keeping us focusing on elements we can figure out while hiding other secrets right under our noses. Kurt Wimmer’s script is a greatly paced puzzle and director Phillip Noyce knows how to shoot and time these kinds of films like he did in DEAD CALM and the first two Jack Ryan films. There is one misstep in a shocking twist toward the middle. It works extremely well emotionally for the moment it happens, but dilutes the emotional pull of the film over time.

Some of the action is preposterous, but no more so than in many James Bond films. As we know from the damn MYTHBUSTERS, most of anything that takes place in these kinds of movies is preposterous. But like the Bourne series and latest Bond films the action falls within the bound of reasons of suspension of disbelief. Salt is the kind of character who thinks on her feet and she’s really smart and skilled. She never does anything that seems completely out of character for a super spy, which is key. I don’t care if it couldn’t happen in real life, but this film has one of the best uses of a taser ever.

The best part is that the film gives us a reason to care. In a few quick strokes, we feel that Evelyn and Mike would do anything for each other. It’s the driving force of everything that happens. It also helps to keep us guessing about Salt’s motives.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting much going into this one, but it put a smile on my face from the start. It’s serendipity that real-life, long-term Russian spies were captured on U.S. soil right before this film came out. In some ways it makes the film’s giant Russian conspiracy seem far less dated. Nonetheless, Noyce has fun with the throwback spy tale — at one point there’s a great wink wink to the audience in a costume change. Jolie is the sexiest spy around and a bona fide action badass. Anna “Agent 90-60-90″ Chapman needs to watch out, because in my mind she was pretending to be a spy while Evelyn Salt is the real deal.

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This action comedy attempts to recreate the globetrotting thrillers like CHARADE and NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Innocent people are wrapped up in international espionage. The plot tries to keep us guessing. Romance grows as the leads run from a host of nefarious characters. Casting was a big part of those previous film’s successes and this film gets that element right, but the others less so.

The film begins with Roy Miller (Tom Cruise, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE) watching June Havens (Cameron Diaz, MY SISTER’S KEEPER) at the airport. They have a funny way of bumping into each other. But something seems odd when they end up on the same flight and June gets bumped, than given a seat anyway on a nearly empty plane. During the flight, she flirts with Roy and they seem to have a connection going. But when she goes to the bathroom, all hell breaks loose. Roy is attacked by everyone on the plane, which ends up in a nosedive. Roy informs June that people will come for her and say that he is crazy, but that she should not believe them. The evidence up to this point doesn’t support his case.

As Roy said, government agents do come to visit June. When you seemingly walk away from a plane crash that was filled with dead agents, you become someone of interest. Director George (Viola Davis, DOUBT) and Agent Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard, AN EDUCATION) present an alternative explanation of events. Roy has gone rogue and has killed agents and stolen a powerful new technology from the prodigy investor Simon Feck (Paul Dano, THERE WILL BE BLOOD).

Roy and June reunite when he steals her away from government custody. Of course he does so in the most dramatic and unlikely fashion, leaping onto moving cars from out of nowhere and fighting off dozens of trained FBI agents in the process. At this point June doesn’t know whom to trust as Roy drags her all over the planet running from agents, assassins and Antonio (Jordi Molla, CHE), a nasty arms dealer. From time to time he has to drug her for her safety. And while drugged, undressing her and putting her into a bikini is definitely part of keeping her safe.

Cruise and Diaz show why they are international movie stars. Their charisma is engaging and they make the most preposterous sequences fun. James Mangold’s film even gives them personalities. Cruise plays Roy with a slightly off, but always pleasant, intensity. It’s like he’s having fun with his own public persona. Diaz makes June a tomboy, who can handle her own, but she’s not an instant super spy… well there’s that one part, but you know that comes at the end after she’s learned from Roy, right?

As much fun as the film has with the plausible romance and implausible action, the film lacks any jeopardy. Roy is a superhero and never once do we ever think that June is in any danger, or that Roy’s adversaries have what it a takes to beat him. This saps all the tension out of the string of action sequences. If you’re going to have your hero engage in stunts that would make Superman break a sweat than you need to give him an enemy that’s a few steps ahead. Roy makes agents and villains alike look like Wile E.Coyote. Beep beep.

Throughout, my mind kept coming back to CHARADE. June’s awe of Roy reminded me of the awe Audrey Hepburn’s character had for Cary Grant’s character. But what that classic had that this film lacks is real doubt. The new film has some twists like the 1963 film, but not as many and not nearly as convincing. The Hepburn film had her innocent solidly at the center with an invested interest in the mystery. Diaz’s June is just along for the ride.

So in the end I was really torn with this one. It was a fun diversion, but the over-the-top action pulled me out of the story every time. If it weren’t for Cruise and Diaz, the whole thing would have come apart at the seems. Fans of the actors will enjoy their quirky characters and their relationship. Those that loathe modern action will find this film a bit tedious. Those people should just go watch CHARADE.

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The BOURNE series has influenced every spy film that has followed. The action is grittier and the agents are skilled beyond belief. Co-written and produced by LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL’s Luc Besson, this twist on the genre gives its super spy a personal agenda. His daughter has been kidnapped by a human trafficking ring.

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson, SCHINDLER’S LIST) was a CIA agent before he retired in an effort to get to know his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace, TV’s LOST) better. His job made him absent from her life and now that she’s 16, he wants to make up for lost time. But old pops can’t compete with Stuart (Xander Berkeley, YEAR ONE), the rich husband of her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen, X-MEN). I mean he can buy her a pony. Bryan especially looks bad when he has problems letting Kim go on a European trip with her friend. He reluctantly agrees, but his instincts were good. Barely off the plane in Paris, she is abducted.

Now Bryan goes into super spy mode. He uses all the sleuthing technology and skills that the modern world can provide. He’s always thinking ahead. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty, he can kick some ass. We see him show off his acquired skills in a series of scenes that lead him closer to his daughter. Along the way he tears up Paris, which irritates his former associate, now newly made desk jockey, Jean-Claude (Olivier Rabourdin, KINGS & QUEEN). Of course he had to have a contact in France named Jean-Claude.

The one key difference between this film and the BOURNE films, or even the last two BOND films, is that it relies on the action too much. The fun of Jason Bourne is not that he’s the best, but that he’s brilliant. In those films, he’s given an impossible situation and thinks his way through it. Bryan Mills takes a karate chop to the throat to every situation. After a while, it gets tiresome and boring.

The personal set-up for TAKEN is good. Even the preposterous plot can be forgiven, but after a while the film loses tension, because we have no doubt that Mills will win. The film doesn’t surprise us, only competently gives us what we expect. It’s like watching your favorite team in the Super Bowl blow away the opponent, you enjoy it, but it’s not nearly as thrilling as if they won a close game. If you like routs then you might like this film, but if you’re like me and like a little competition, you might have the urge to turn this one off before the fourth quarter has ended.

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Many action movies are just elaborate chase sequences strung together. Too many of these action movies turn off their brains while they’re doing it. The best action movies establish their iconic heroes’ personalities and then let those personalities shine through during the chases. Jason Bourne isn’t as suave as James Bond or as witty as Indiana Jones, but he’s more badass. I’ve come to respect his skills over three pictures. Matt Damon has created an iconic movie hero.

This third film in the series continues Jason Bourne’s search for the truth about his past. Newspaper reporter Simon Ross (Paddy Considine, IN AMERICA) has gotten a CIA contact to speak about the mysterious assassin Bourne. This brings out the big dogs, lead by ruthless CIA agent Noah Vosen (David Strathairn, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK), who seems to have a vendetta against Bourne. Bourne’s nemesis from THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, Pam Landy (Joan Allen, UPSIDE OF ANGER), has come to believe that Bourne shouldn’t be treated as an enemy, but a lost and confused ally. Bourne will run all over the world looking for the next clue, running into old friends like CIA agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles, SAVE THE LAST DANCE). Each move brings him closer to finding out how Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn, THE RIGHT STUFF) and Dr Albert Hirsch (Albert Finney, TOM JONES) play in his past.

We find out Bourne’s real name and learn what the CIA did to him, but it really doesn’t matter. It turns out to be nothing we have seen in other spy flicks. But that’s not what makes this film so compelling. The action sequences are first rate. Damon makes Bourne a chess player, who makes Bobby Fischer look like a checkers novice. His efficiency is mind blowing. He’s like the Michael Jordon or Tiger Woods of spies; he schools everyone and makes it look like poetry. As preposterous as some of the things he does get, Damon makes us believe in the fantasy.

Director Paul Greengrass’s documentary style also helps with making the unbelievable believable. His action sequence seem like one long take, and when he does cut it’s with a quickness that runs as fast as Bourne’s next move. While, he still films his well choreographed fight sequences too close and with too many cuts (something Doug Liman did not do in the original), he seems to have gain more patience with the action, allowing it to breathe.

Like John Ford’s Westerns influenced Akira Kurasawa’s samurai films, which in turn influenced spaghetti Westerns, the circle has come around for Bourne, which owes a debt to Bond, and now Daniel Craig’s 007 must repay the favor to Jason. The lightning speed and fantastic realism of the Bourne series has changed the way movies like these are made. They use to be light and adventurous. Bourne made them serious and adrenaline thrill rides. Bourne is a distant character so he’s not as charming as Bond or Indy, whom make us laugh with their one-liners and bewildered expressions. Bourne makes us laugh for different reasons — he’s just so damn good at what he does, he makes everyone around him look like fools.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM isn’t any better than the other films in the series, but when the third film in a series is this entertaining, one rethinks just how good the others were. At first, Bourne seemed like a grittier, modern take on Bond. But now that Bond looks more like Bourne, you see Bourne in a different light. He feels less like a simple upgrade and more like an innovator. He learned from what worked before and shed the mistakes of the past. It’s hard to think that James Bond could ever go to the moon with bikini-clad women ever again.

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