E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

HE HAS FORGOTTEN WHY HE EVER LEFT THE FRANCHISE IN THE FIRST PLACE There have been few singular cultural pleasures as notable as the trilogy of Bourne films starring Matt Damon , each featuring Moby 's solemn yet oddly upbeat 'Extreme Ways' theme song ("I would stand in line for this"). Their gritty action, cinema realism, and downbeat subjects made Bond seem like a cartoon, and changed that franchise (as well as influencing the new Batman trilogy). Greengrass , the director, turned out to be an action genius, easily the best of his generation. Then we had that fourth unwelcome verstigial spin-off, with another Bournelike character, and though it had its moments, we all missed Jason. Jason is back again this summer, with his pumped-up guns and lost-boy glare. Also back is the chaos that ensues when he brings the conflict up close and personal to the shadowy espionage forces ranged against him. Aptly, he is now, in the trailer, called worse than Snowden ...

Eyewear is glad to live in the digital age where replies can be fairly immediate. Dr. Sarah Churchwell (pictured) has kindly replied to my post on her column on The Bourne series (and agreed it may be reprinted here). Her complete email of today is below: Dear Todd, Thank you for your comment, which I read with interest. I don't disagree with your assessment of the film, for the most part, although I'm not generally leaping onto the 'greatest thriller since le Carré' bandwagon. I think they are enjoyable films, and I have a lot of time for Matt Damon, who I think is a very intelligent and interesting actor. I found this film fun but so deeply silly that it is hard for me to take it seriously as a moral statement of any kind, except in so far as it is about taking responsibility, an idea which it deals with consistently, if rather overtly for my taste. But that's not a criticism, necessarily, it's just not my cup of tea to have things explained so carefully to ...

Today's Guardian features a rather lame critique of The Bourne Ultimatum , from well-known media pundit and UEA lecturer Sarah Churchwell , whose areas of expertise include American literature and culture. I respect and like Dr. Churchwell, so was somewhat disheartened to read her treatment of this great new American genre film - not least because its use of The Guardian in the film was both respectful and mature. Her basic argument is that the women in the Bourne films "don't do anything useful" and that the three main female characters in the trilogy, played by Julia Stiles (pictured), Joan Allen , and Franka Potente , unlike "male CIA agents" are "hapless". From here, the word misogyny is applied (rather trivialising that term). As my grandfather used to say: come now. This article is not a genuinely engaged reaction to a serious piece of genre film-making. Nowhere in Churchwell's column is any credit given to directors Doug Liman and Pa...

Eyewear thinks The Bourne Ultimatum - the third film in the Bourne series - starring Matt Damon and Julia Stiles , and directed in its last two-thirds by Paul Greengrass - may be the best "action film" ever made. Director of the first, Doug Liman , also deserves much praise, though, for establishing the initial frenetic pacing and energy of the series. Lights, Camera, Action! - that familiar rallying cry of helmers everywhere - has always begged the question - what is Action? We know (or think we do) what cameras and lights are. Film is, despite other definitions, the visual record of bodies moving through space and time, as caught and then again projected by light. As such, it is one of the purest art forms, if made endlessly complex by intervening elements, from market forces, to authorship, to mise-en-scene, to narrative demands made on what is, at its truest, a more beautiful and visual thing than mere story can provide (hence the usual metaphors allying film and poet...