Everybody’s in a hurry, but where are we going?

On the way out of the theater after catching a showing of Matt Damon in the new Jason Bourne movie, I realized the film has a lot more to do with the very best action chase sequences than it does the very best spy flicks. And maybe that’s significant. In fact, one of the best car chase movies of all time, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corps’ 1971 Vanishing Point seems to be a good model for where Bourne takes modern day espionage. It’s interesting that the last Bond flick, Casino Royale, which introduced Daniel Craig with all the fanfare of a new softdrink marketing campaign,  began with an extended foot chase sequence. While, even on foot, Bond filmmakers have the annoying knack of being (though clever) far too cutesy, the foot chase sequences in Bourne (again, quite extended) play strictly for impact. That impact is palpable and the result is the largest box-office opening in August, ever.

Without the benefit of stopwatches or constantlly hawking my watch, it feels like the chase sequences in The Bourne Ultimatum clock in at fifty percent or better of the total film. There’s definitely no lacking action. Maybe it’s the constant drive that also makes the story here feel a little light, a bit too easy. But criticism’s not the point, successful marketing is, and Bourne has obviously gotten that very right. Here are the percentages that matter: The first Bourne (The Bourne Identity, 2002) did nicely, opening in the mid twenties on it’s first weekend out. Nicer yet, Bourne 2 (The Bourne Supremacy, 2004) opened in the fifties and became an effective marketing tool to sell DVDs. Last weekend, Bourne 3 cemented the franchise with a near seventy million opening and sent Universal’s execs to the white boards to figure how to make more of a series of books that stopped at three. (Not too worry, other writer’s have picked up where Mr. Ludlum left off.)

But what’s so special about a chase movie? Though great chases can make for heightened tension and excitement, they are such a staple of action movies that they have become expected and predictable. The business of stunt one-upsmanship has created too many far fetched and downright silly sequences to the point of parody. So when your film jumps from one chase to another, how do you get taken seriously? The answer is consequence. Put it simply, Jason Bourne bleeds. Maybe not nearly as much as he should, but he indeed bleeds, he limps, he staggers and he gets angry about it all. Jason Bourne isn’t bloody because it’s his business, there’s no “for god and country” about it. The  “mission” in Bourne is to stop suffering long enough to figure out how it all began in the first place. The fact that he wants out may be why we so eagerly want in. If that’s at the crux of Robert Lulum’s orignal novels, it is wisely at the heart of the making and marketing of the Bourne movies.

Rooting for the under-estimated.

Though I wouldn’t say this is the thinking man’s James Bond, I would say this is the thinking studio’s James Bond. A franchise as tired as Bond churned out it’s new and improved version last year and found itself succumbing to the cliches of it’s predecessors by the second reel. A little tougher, a bit (and only a bit) less tongue-in-cheek, the womanizing swagger still dilutes like wet ice in in a “shaken” martini: fewer gimmicks, just as gimmicky. Bourne wasn’t about swagger when it was penned as a novel, it was about smart. A man, stranded in a strange identity, instinctively lapses into deadly weapon mode and wants desperately to understand why. Moviegoers have followed that straight forward journey for three increasingly popular films and haven’t tired of the chase. If you want to see a nice copy of Bourne in the female sex, try ‘96’s The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis, a kind of Bourne meets hot chick Leathal Weapon. But still, there was something smart there too. Where Bond winks and smirks, Bourne stares icily cold, unblinking, and so does the production.

Selling a smart spy.

Most of us don’t relate well to murdering, regardless of method and purpose. When Jason Bourne looks at a lethal situation and begins to react, we want to follow what he’s thinking as much as what’s he’s doing. When he hesitates to pull the trigger at the end of a sequence, we can sense what he’s feeling. We respect him for both. Because we are along for a ride that won’t slow down for us to catch up and doesn’t put plot points into cliched “operations briefing” exposition, we also come to respect the filmmakers. The marketing department had something to work with here and they understood that from the word “action”. Since the writers, director and actors were playing smart, they made the right assumption and treated the audience as if they were smart too. After paying the price of a ticket and spending two hours in the dark, the audience can feel the same way about themselves as they exit the theater. The studio too will be feeling smart, when they begin counting up the receipts.

Take a look at Bourne marketing. Matt Damon doesn’t pull off suave or sophisticated, in fact he’d do pretty well convincing me he was my mailman. The poster shows him moving against a non-discriminate street, muted blue tones, blurred, fast passing background and gun drawn at his side. No tux, no sports cars and no sex (well, depending on how you feel about Matt Damon). The tagline (and it’s admittedly not the best) is simply, “This summer Bourne comes home.” That’s exactly what he does and the ad guys know you’ve likely already seen at least one of these things.

No-nonsense, no dumbing things down or sexing things up - they know what they’ve got, they’re confident it’s solidly what you want, and you can rest assured that they feel like they can deliver. It’s straight off an old salesman’s 3x5 card: under promise, over deliver. For me it’s easier than even that. Get it right, get it out. If you think you have a smart audience, sell them a smart product and they’ll remember you for it. In retail, it’s all about the repeat customer. In the movie business, that opens the door to marketing magic: building sequels into franchises. Will there be a Bourne 4?, maybe, but if Universal is really as smart as they have been with these films, there doesn’t have to be. This material, after all, is far from exclusive. It’s not the character or the actor that has really made this work, it’s the approach. Yes, Damon’s nailed this job down with a no-nonsense relentlessness that’s become his signature in action flicks and Paul Greengrass has nailed the direction to the door on the last two of the three films in the series - they should be applauded and they have been. But someone calling the shots, writing the checks and spending long hours on release schedules also has helped nail this one solidly in the win column. Whoever that is, they need to stay hard at work. Movie audiences will be willing to pay to see what’s next.

The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum are Universal Pictures releases. The Bourne Identity was directed by Doug Liman and written by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron. The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum were both directed by Paul Greengrass with Tony Gilroy as writer on The Bourne Supremacy and co-writer with Scott Z. Burns on The Bourne Ultimatum. All three Bourne films are based on the original novels by author Robert Ludlum. Casino Royale was released in 2006 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Long Kiss Goodnight stars Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson and was released in 1996 by New Line Cinema. It was directed by Renny Harlin and written by Shane Black. It is available on DVD through New Line Home Video. Vanishing Point was released in theaters in 1971 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and became one of the all-time classic car chase films. The film stars Barry Newman and Cleavon Little and was directed by Richard C. Sarafian. It was released on DVD in 2004 by 20th Century Fox Home Video. Lethal Weapon was released in 1987 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007