Outstanding Film with cinematography performed by a dancing monkey

Rating: 6/10 (4 August 2007)

This is an excellently written, well-plotted film, expertly acted.... and filmed by a 2 yr old monkey with a camera mounted on his head, who also suffers from arthritis and epilepsy.
Pros: Matt Damon turns in another expert acting job as Jason Bourne, the federal hit-man with no memories of his deeds or his origin. The fight scenes are amazingly well done (at least...I think they were) and Damon's portrayal of the capable, highly intelligent, yet befuddled Bourne is amazing to see (when you can).
David Straithairn shows up as a new character and his level of acting has never been better. Julia Stiles is at her best in this film. Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, and Albert Finney also show up and provide amazing stellar performances.
The plot is extremely well-laid out and the writing captures both the modern world and the HIGHLY imaginative view of espionage, CIA, and the NSA that Ludlum invents for Bourne. In short, perhaps the only danger in this film is that some people may actually come away believing the CIA and NSA actually have all these godlike abilities due to the talented writing.
Cons: I'm not joking about the monkey. This is, with the possible exception of Blair Witch Project, the worst filmed movie I have EVER seen. Every film I've ever seen was filmed better than this one from major motion pictures, indys, car commercials, local used car ads, porn, and things filmed by my dad on vacations.
When The Rock came out, I was particularly hard on Michael Bay for having the "shakycam" effect placed on every car chase to "up" the action level. Sadly, Bay still thinks this works and it becomes the only negative aspect of many other films like Transformers. If I cant see the action because you've made it into a blur, it doesn't have the same effect on me. This is not realism.
In this film, director Paul Greengrass takes this to a new level. We don't have the "wandering realistic" camera only in chases and fight scenes, now we have it throughout the entire film. Even in close ups of people you'd like people to see (like the ever attractive Julia Stiles), you cant see her for any more than a second or two because the camera has bounced all over the damn place as if its on a yo-yo or a pendulum.
A discussion between two characters, with no action value at all, in a quiet cafe, is filmed as if someone has handed the camera to a small child. This child was told to just "hold the camera and point it at those two guys" and meanwhile he's sucking on a lollipop and running around the table.
I have seen POV porn films that were filmed with more artistic integrity than this...and I HATE those things because of this very thing: You cant see anything. The first 30 minutes of the film were so painful for me to watch that I nearly left the theatre.....which would have been a shame, because whats happening in the film is so good.
My advice: Wait until it comes out on video and listen to the dialog from the kitchen. Its an amazing script.