The Bourne Identity

[pesilat]

I just recently read that Matt Damon trained in Filipino Kali for 1.5 hours per day to prepare for his role in "The Bourne Identity" ... the movie already looked decent ... now I *have* to see it to see if his training is apparent in the fight scenes (though I know that movie fight scenes *can't* be too realistic because it would look like garbage on the screen).

Anyway ... just a little tidbit of interesting info (interesting to me, anyway :-)

Mike

[Greyghost]

Hi mike,

i've read all the Bourne books ...and matt damon strikes me as being a bit too young to be playing a middle aged double agent.

However, if the film as anywhere near as good as the book...it will be fantastic.....don't remember there being any stick fighting in the books though.

i suggest you read the books...if you haven't done so already....in the words of tony the tiger...theeerrrreeee ggrrrrreeeaaatttt!

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Greyghost
Hi mike,

i've read all the Bourne books ...and matt damon strikes me as being a bit too young to be playing a middle aged double agent.

However, if the film as anywhere near as good as the book...it will be fantastic.....don't remember there being any stick fighting in the books though.

i suggest you read the books...if you haven't done so already....in the words of tony the tiger...theeerrrreeee ggrrrrreeeaaatttt!

I'll have to check them out.

LOL ... the FMA are a lot more than sticks ... that's just the tip of the iceberg :-)

It differs from system to system, of course, but most FMA systems are very well-rounded and deal with weapons in general, deal with all ranges, have empty hands, sweeps, takedowns, throws, grappling ... all with and without weapons :-)

Mike

[pesilat]

Well, I saw the movie and liked it.

A friend of mine said, "The only thing they got right from the book was the character's name."

My response, "See, that's what you get for reading."

Anyway ... I did like the movie and the fight scenes were pretty good.

The next one to look for is "The Hunted" with Tommy Lee Jones ... I know the guy who helped choreograph and trained TLJ for the knife fights ... should be really impressive.

Later, Mike

[Greyghost]

Hi,

i think your friends reaction may have put me off a bit...but i reackon i will still go see it...do keep faithfull to the book...ie is it set in france and is the female lead a redhead.?

give us a report!!!!


regards,

fraser:woo:

[Silver_no2]

The books are excellent. Have read the three of them several times. In fact I'm reading The Bourne Identity at the moment.

Have been discussing the choice of Matt Damon for the lead role with a couple of friends and they all agree that he is a little young to be playing Bourne. Guess we'll just have to wait and see the movie.

Just for your information, Pesilat, the author is Robert Ludlum and the three books in the Bourne trilogy are The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.

Quick question...Can anyone remember a film made from a book that is as good as the book? I know I can't. Even The Lord Of The Rings isn't as good as the book (and the film is absolutely superb!)

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Silver_no2
Quick question...Can anyone remember a film made from a book that is as good as the book? I know I can't. Even The Lord Of The Rings isn't as good as the book (and the film is absolutely superb!)

Nope. None come to mind. Though I'm looking forward to seeing "Red Dragon" ... I know the TV movie (titled "Manhunter") wasn't anywhere near as good as the book. But the preview for "Red Dragon" looks excellent ... Ed Norton and Anthony Hopkins ... way cool :)

Of course, it's been about 15 years since I read "Red Dragon" so I may have to re-read it before I can honestly compare the movie to the book. With any luck, though, the movie will be as good as it looks so far.

Mike

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Greyghost
Hi,

i think your friends reaction may have put me off a bit...but i reackon i will still go see it...do keep faithfull to the book...ie is it set in france and is the female lead a redhead.?

give us a report!!!!


regards,

fraser:woo:

The female lead is kind of a redhead ... it looks red in some of the lighting. I'm not sure how I'd classify her hair color, though. Yeah, it's set in France.

I thought it was a very good movie. I didn't feel ripped off about paying $7 to see it (movies are still relatively cheap here in Nasty Nowhere, Texas). I don't think I'd have felt ripped off if I'd paid $8 or $9 (the price at a lot of theatres here in the States).

I wouldn't say it's an "owner" (i.e.: I won't be buying the video or DVD when it comes out). But it was, IMO, a good movie and well worth seeing :)

Mike

[Darzeka]

Originally posted by Silver_no2

Quick question...Can anyone remember a film made from a book that is as good as the book? I know I can't. Even The Lord Of The Rings isn't as good as the book (and the film is absolutely superb!)

Having a movie as good as the book it came from? Physical impossibility.

Both can be enjoyable but the book will win every time. There is just so much that a book can convey with clarity - thought processes, exact decriptions of things - and many things thatare left up to the reader - peoples appearances - that a movie just can't allow for that invariably if a person likes a book and sees the movie it will be too different from their mental picture that it won't be as good.

The nearest I've seen is the mini series of Dune by Frank Herbert. It was good but the book infinitely moreso.

I think it could be a question of the detail offered by a good book that can't be told in a 2 and a hlf hour movie but there is something else indescribable too.

[Ghostsuit]

I think the real problem and one which many people fall into is that they are different mediums and you have to realise that what works on paper usually won't work on film. It's probably better to view them as variations on a story and then you'll be less likely to be disappointed by the movie.

Sorry just had to drop my 2c in there.

[LilBunnyRabbit]

The Imposter, short story by Phillip K Dick elaborated into a great film. Didn't like what they did to Minority Report as much though.

[khafra]

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? And We Can Remember it For You Wholesale were Philip K. Dick short stories made into successful movies, with a much larger audience than the original books, also. To be sure, P.K.D. was better in the original idea department, but Blade Runner and Total Recall showed much better technical and storytelling skills.

[Sweeet]

I saw the movie and thought it was absolutely fantastic. As for the female lead, I believe she had predominantly black hair with a touch of red in there somewhere - red highlights I think. It seemed to go well with her 'gypsie' persona. As for Matt Damon being too young to play the lead role - I thought he was perfect for the role. Since I haven't read the book I lack the bias, and I find it hard to imagine an old fogie being as cool and awesome an agent as Matt was in the movie. Besides, isn't he 30 something? Realistically how many black-ops agents do you think are older than, say - 35? I doubt that many are. I think I'll read the book now, although it will be tainted by my impressions of the movie, I still think that it might be enjoyable. Of course books are better than movies! How can some images displayed on a slightly bent piece of glass possibly compare to the human imagination? Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie, check it out. It's sweeet.

[wayofthedragon]

Well I didn't see the movie, though I really wanted to. Though bit of people I know saw it. They said it was okay. However, they said it wasn't much fight seens in it at all, as I thought it would be. However, the fight seens that were in there I heard was good....
Never the less, I still want to see the movie

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Silver_no2
Have been discussing the choice of Matt Damon for the lead role with a couple of friends and they all agree that he is a little young to be playing Bourne. Guess we'll just have to wait and see the movie.

Have finally read the books :) Good books.

I think Damon was fine for the role. I mean ... in the first book, Bourne was in his late thirties but the description said that he had the type of looks that made it hard to judge age. Damon is only 5 or 6 years younger than Bourne would have been in the first book.

The story is very different ... only the most basic elements were kept from the book. I can't even really consider this movie an adaptation from the book. It was inspired by the book, certainly ... but that's about it.

But I don't think that the book would translate as a current movie. There's a whole generation of people who wouldn't understand the whole Soviet angle at all ... the cold war is history and Vietnam is ancient history (to a lot of today's teens). Vietnam is, to the average teen or early 20s person about the same thing that WWII was to me. I intellectually know about it, but there's no tangible attachment. In fact, since I was born in '71, the only reason that 'Nam has any real attachment for me is that there were a lot of movies centered around it when I was growing up (Long Live Rambo! ... oh, and the M.I.A. [Chuck Norris] series and the Sneakeater series [Lorenzo Lamas] ... and many others).

I thought the movie was good ... but it doesn't really compare to the book.

Mike

[Jim]

Movies that were better than the book?... I can think of two: First Blood and Die Hard. Both books were a little underdone IMO.

[Freeform]

But how did people rate the fight scences?

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Freeform
But how did people rate the fight scences?

I liked them ... but there wasn't a lot to them.

They were hectic and choppy which I liked because it kind of conveyed the chaos of a real fight ... but at the same time, it made it hard to actually judge the martial arts aspects. But I liked what I saw.

Mike

[Greyghost]

I saw one clip where he takes on some guards in a bank....and literally ties them in knots.....is this lock /twisty stuff prevelant in your art mike?

regards,


fraser

(it did look good ....if a little complicated)

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Greyghost
I saw one clip where he takes on some guards in a bank....and literally ties them in knots.....is this lock /twisty stuff prevelant in your art mike?

regards,


fraser

(it did look good ....if a little complicated)

Yup ... especially in my personal expression which has been influenced by Shen Chuan which specializes in locking.

But the FMA do some locking ... the emphasis is a little different, though, than most people use for locking. In the FMA most of the locks come from weapon retention methods so the emphasis isn't so much on pain or submission but rather to prevent them from getting control of your weapon and, often, to set up an advantageous shot. The FMA do a lot of trapping, though.

I'm not sure of the specific scene you're referring to in the movie, so I can't really go into much more detail than that :)

Mike

[Greyghost]

i still haven't seen the movie .....but Mr Jonothan Woss showed some clips and the bank clip looked real nasty.

i shall endeavour to see it now.

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Greyghost
i still haven't seen the movie .....but Mr Jonothan Woss showed some clips and the bank clip looked real nasty.

i shall endeavour to see it now.

Cool :)

Oh, and regarding your previous post, I'm sure that it was complicated. Actual "KISS" techniques don't often translate well to the screen :)

Mike

[LilBunnyRabbit]

Great fight scenes in my opinion, crude and effective stuff rather than the normal flashy elaborate dance you get.

[Freeform]

Yeah, this is what I found, nice real hectic fighting. None of this flying around on wires c***. What did you think of the knife fight in his apartment?

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Freeform
Yeah, this is what I found, nice real hectic fighting. None of this flying around on wires c***. What did you think of the knife fight in his apartment?

I thought it was good (for Hollywood). But, again, hard to really see much with the chaotic camera work.

As far as knife work, though ... a movie to watch for is "The Hunted" with Tommy Lee Jones. It's due for release here in the States in February. I know the fight choreographers (I've met one in person and the other I know online). They're both top notch knife guys.

I saw the trailer when I went to see "Red Dragon" and it looks great.

Mike

[LilBunnyRabbit]

Loved the knife fight. That's how I've trained with knives before (lacking the skill unfortunately). Shame about the guns.

[Freeform]

I kinda liked the fact that he used a 12 bore shotgun, added a touch of 'realism' to a film set in Western Europe.

Colin

[Cain]

Hmm...anyone read the book? It's more interesting than the movie itself.

There r also 2 more books on the sequel called 'The Bourne Supermacy' and 'The Bourne ultimatum.'
|Cain|

[Cain]

No wonder my name is Cain :D
|Cain|