... but what happened to the blonde chick?

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2002)

I went into this one expecting some solid mindless mayhem, good "popcorn flick." (I use quotes 'cause I don't usually eat popcorn at movies since I go to matinees right after having lunch.) Got that, & then some. Cinematically so far this is my biggest pleasant surprise of the year. Really holds together well. GRANTED, one needs to accept the premise, particularly the amnesia bit; just out of curiosity, has anyone in history ever actually had amnesia? (Just 'cause there's a word for something doesn't mean it exists; I've never seen a "unicorn," for instance.) It would've been great if someone in the movie, preferably Franka, had said "Amnesia? Don't only people on soap operas have that?"
Well, now that I've mentioned Franka: guess it's chiefly due to her that this one works so well for me. This is a genuine FOX. Got an immediate crush on her in "Run Lola Run," & thought "Well it's too bad she can't have an English-speaking film career since she doesn't resemble Sarah Michelle goddamned Geller or some such." But look at those eyes, dammit. Pair her up with a leading man even somewhat bearable, & bingo. Matt Damon is one of the few young leading men these days about whom the word "likable" pops up. Hard to say why he's likable. "I don't know about art, but I know what I like..." There's a kind of grace to him onscreen, an anti-in-your-face quality, it's as though he's embarrassed to get caught getting depicted. (By way of contrast, I wish his buddy Ben Affleck would just go away. Affleck's like a goyisher Adam Sandler, who knows he's annoying & makes it work for him. Affleck doesn't seem to know he's annoying, which makes it even more annoying.) This reluctant-hero persona can be absolute gold in the action realm; Steve McQueen comes to mind. In this movie Damon & Potente together have charisma out the wazoo. Comes out in quiet little moments; they're in a car together, or a diner, one will glance at the other, whatever. The scene in his apartment: the two of them generate all the tension; don't believe me? Imagine the shooting script: "She comes out of the bathroom, he picks up a knife, he puts it down, she looks around, he looks around, she smiles, he frowns," etc. The actors make it work. Franka even overcomes the flick's chief plot flaw: once he's had his ride to Paris & she's been paid, there's really no reason at all for them to be together any more. She makes us believe her character knows she should split but just doesn't want to.
Oh, & supporting cast? Chris Cooper? Brian Cox? I think I'd pay to see Cooper read the phone book; that guy owns the screen when he's on it. His face is like the proverbial car wreck: you can't not watch it, whether you want to or not. His 3-minute part in "Money Train" is acid-etched into my brain for life. Cox? Sorry Anthony Hopkins but Cox's Hannibel Lecter was far superior, every supporting part he plays is a treasure for me. ...Plus all those great Europeans; I even got caught up in the card game on the boat at the beginning. They exude Presence or something. Even the pain-in-the-ass African character was fascinating, if for no other reason than how shamefully that continent gets ignored usually. (Less than a decade ago there was genocide occurring there to make Bosnia look like burlesque. In the media it was a sideshow. "If the corpses are black, the world stands back.") EVERY part in this movie seemed to resonate; the exasperated English friend, the bespectacled sniper, the blonde chick--each seemed a real entity.
But of course it's an Action flick & as such more than passes muster. Sure, there were some random musings here & there, e.g. "An American guy with amnesia on a French boat arrives in port, why doesn't he IMMEDIATELY seek the nearest Yank embassy?" or "Cops are chasing a car--shouldn't they be radio-ing for more cops so that the chasee can't escape merely by shaking those few off?" or "All those Marines in the embassy--they weren't allowed to poke their heads out the door?" or "Not since Bruce Lee flicks have body blows sounded this loud." But what chiefly gave me pause--enough to make it the title of this piece--is the scene towards the end--this isn't a "spoiler," doesn't really affect the action one way or the other--Damon & Cooper & the blonde chick are in a room having the big showdown. She's seen constantly, up to a certain point--then she's just not seen any more. We don't see something happen to her in the room; we don't see her leave the room; I think we never see her again. She had had enough screen time that we're led to believe she's at least somewhat significant to the proceedings--certainly we see what happens to certain characters with much less screen time--but she just kinda evaporates. So what the hell happened to her? I even checked under "Goofs" before beginning this piece, thinking maybe it was just a continuity problem. But bottom line: see the movie, it's fun. I may even want to see it again, before I groaningly drag my butt off to see "Minority Report" with Spielberg apparently having decided he wants to be Stanley Kubrick the rest of his life. (I'm not sure even Kubrick wanted to be Kubrick.)