Spy Flicks

I've pretty much loved every movie that has to do with spies (I'm sure there's some glaring exception that I cannot think of). If you love spies and all things British, one of my favorite series is MI: 5. Maybe in a past life I was a Ukrainian spy? I digress. This weekend I finally went to see "The Bourne Legacy." I'm a huge fan of the Bourne trilogy with Matt Damon and was wondering if this addition was going to ruin that. Damon was so good as Jason Bourne, how could Jeremy Renner measure up? I am happy to report that Renner stepped it up and the Bourne series continues in all its glory. Instead of replacing Damon with a new actor for Bourne, Renner steps into the role of Aaron Cross. Cross is part of a different program, that's an offshoot of the CIA's Black Briar project. Edward Norton steps in as the "fix-it" man for this new offshoot and is amazing. Norton has been noticably absent from films for the last few years, making a delightful appearance as the scout master in "Moonrise Kingdom." In this film, he's calculating, cunning and has just the right amount of a frosty exterior. I will confess, Edward Norton has always been a movie star crush of mine. It's kind of weird, especially considering his age, the types of roles he takes (American History X or Death to Smoochy anyone?) and that he's probably really short in real life, but I just love him. One of my favorite actresses, Rachel Weisz, plays the brilliant mind behind the mind and body alerting for this offset. It's always more believable when they cast someone who's probably intelligent in real life as a genius scientist (do you remember Denise Richards as the nuclear physicist in "The World Is Not Enough"). There's plenty of tie-ins to the original Bourne trilogy throughout the movie. Joan Allen, as my favorite director Pam Landy, gets a cameo. No sign of Damon in this flick, but with the way it ends there's the promise of Damon and Renner sharing the screen in the future. Definitely go see this one if you still have time to catch it in theaters.

On another note, I wanted to watch something awesomely bad. Sticking with the spy theme, I queued up "Abduction." It was ridiculously horrible. The movie stars Taylor Lautner (best known for his poor acting in the Twilight movies). While he insanely buff for a teenager, his face does not change its expression for the entire 106 minutes. This is Taylor sad, this is Taylor in love, this is Taylor angry.... apparently all emotion carries the same scowl (see image below for reference). Basically Lautner's character discovers via a missing person's site that his current parents are actually government handlers and his real parents were top-rate spies. He then, miraculously, evades hardcore Russian assassins and the CIA as he and his neighbor (Lily Collins) go on the lam. Apparently neither of them had watched a spy movie before. Stop talking on cellphones! Don't you know how easy it is to triangulate a signal and get your exact location. Also, don't park the car you know is burned outside a train station when you actually intent to take a train to escape. Wait for cable on this one. Or never see it. Unless you want to feel more like a secret agency than Taylor Lautner.