1st draft for the Review

Bourne Ultimatum 1st review analysis by Alfred Ademi

Alfred Ademi-- Bourne Ultimatum Poster analysis

Individual review Tonatiuh Bieletto

The Island

BY ROGER EBERT / July 22, 2005

"The Island" runs 136 minutes, but that's not long for a double feature. The first half of Michael Bay's new film is a spare, creepy science fiction parable, and then it shifts into a high-tech action picture. Both halves work. Whether they work together is a good question. The more you like one, the less you may like the other. I liked them both, up to a point, but the movie seemed a little too much like surf & turf.

The first half takes place in a sterile futuristic environment where the inhabitants wear identical uniforms (white for the citizens, black for their supervisors). Big-screen TVs broadcast slogans and instructions, and about twice a day everybody gathers before them for the Lottery. This sealed world, its citizens believe, has been created to protect them from pollution that has poisoned the Earth. There is, however, one remaining "pathogen-free zone," which looks a lot like a TV commercial for "The Beach." Winners of the Lottery get to go there.

Yeah, sure, we're thinking. But the citizens in the white suits don't think very deeply; "they're educated to the level of 15-year-olds," we're told. There was a time when that would have made them smarter than most of the people who ever lived, but in this future world education has continued to degrade, and we see adults reading aloud from Fun With Dick and Jane, a book that on first reading I found redundant and lacking in irony.

The true nature of this sealed world is not terrifically hard to guess; even those who failed to see through "The Village" may decode its secret. But the inhabitants are childlike and blissful, all except for a few troublesome characters like Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), who wants bacon for breakfast but is given oatmeal. This inspires him to develop what all closed systems fear, a curiosity. "Why is Tuesday night always tofu night?" he asks his supervisor. "What is tofu? Why can't I have bacon? Why is everything white?" Then one day he sees a flying bug, where no bug should be, or fly.

Sidestepping some intervening spoilers, I can move on to the second half of the movie, in which Lincoln Six Echo and the equally naive Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) escape from the sealed world, and are chased by train, plane, automobile, helicopter and hover-cycle in a series of special effects sequences that develop a breathless urgency. How the heroes manage to discover the underlying truth about their world while moving at such a velocity suggests they are quicker studies than we thought.

The movie never satisfactorily comes full circle, and while the climax satisfies the requirements of the second half of the story, it leaves a few questions unanswered. We wonder, for example, why a manufacturing enterprise so mammoth could have been undertaken in secret. Were government funds involved? We don't need to know the answers to these questions, it's true, but they would have allowed Bay ("Armageddon") to do what the best science fiction does, and use the future as a way to critique the present. Does stem cell research ring a bell?

"The Island" has certain special effects, not its largest or most sensational, that reminded me of the creativity in a film like Spielberg's "Minority Report." For example, little ladybug-like robots that crawl up your face and into your eye sockets, and transmit information from your brain before working their way through your plumbing and being expelled like kidney stones. I hate it when that happens. And consider the effective way CGI is used to show the actors interacting with themselves.

McGregor and Johansson do a good job of playing characters raised to be docile, obedient and not very bright. The way they have knowledge gradually thrust upon them is carefully modulated by Bay, so that we can see them losing their illusions almost in spite of themselves. Michael Clarke Duncan has only three or four scenes, but they're of central importance, and he brings true horror to them. Sean Bean has the Sean Bean role, as a smug corporate monster. And the beloved Steve Buscemi plays an important character who has brought all of his bad habits into the sterile future world.

Buscemi is an engineer, or maybe a janitor, and lives in what must be the boiler room. All closed systems, no matter how spotless and pristine, always have an area filled with rusty machinery, cigarette butts, oily rags, and a guy who reads dirty magazines and knows how everything really works. Even in "Downfall," the harrowing drama about the last days of Hitler, there was a boiler room in the bunker where Eva Braun and her buddies could sneak away for a smoke. The Buscemi character turns out to be surprisingly well-informed and helpful, but then again, if the plot had to depend on characters educated only to the level of 15-year-olds, we might still be in the theater.

Footnote (spoiler warning). It was a little eerie, watching "The Island" only a month after reading Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel Never Let Me Go. Both deal with the same subject: Raising human clones as a source for replacement parts. The creepy thing about the Ishiguro novel is that the characters understand and even accept their roles as "donors," while only gradually coming to understand their genetic origins. They aren't locked up but are free to move around; some of them drive cars. Why do they agree to the bargain society has made for them? The answer to that question, I think, suggests Ishiguro's message: The real world raises many of its citizens as spare parts; they are used as migratory workers, minimum-wage retail slaves, even suicide bombers. "The Island" doesn't go there, but then did you expect it would?

Chicago Sun Times

The review is written by Roger Ebert on July 22 of 2005. The review includes a brief overview of the film. It tells the audience of the running time, genre, actors, director and the crew. The way the review has been written is to inform and entertain the audience. The review has been written in chronological order, telling us what happens in the movie.  The overall tone of the review is light and humorous. Here is a quote that shows us this, ‘But the inhabitants are childlike and blissful, all except for a few troublesome characters like Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), who wants bacon for breakfast but is given oatmeal.’ This quote tells us a bit about the characters. Roger Ebert talks about the movie in an informative way and makes a lot of comparisons with other movies. "The Island" has certain special effects, not its largest or most sensational, that reminded me of the creativity in a film like Spielberg's "Minority Report." He compares The Island with better films, and he doesn’t talk positively about the film. This quote shows us his views of the film. He makes more fun out of it. ‘If the plot had to depend on characters educated only to the level of 15-year-olds, we might still be in the theater.’ This shows us the tone of the review and how he builds a relationship with the audience by using humor.  By comparing the film with other movies the audience maintains interest in the review. The review also gives quotes of the film which will make the audience feel more involved with the film.

Individual Reviews - Die another day - Joannie .

Review - Die Another Day BY ROGER EBERT / November 22, 2002

Cast & Credits James Bond: Pierce Brosnan Jinx: Halle Berry Gustav Graves: Toby Stephens Miranda Frost: Rosamund Pike Zao: Rick Yune Q: John Cleese M: Judi Dench Mgm Presents A Film Directed By Lee Tamahori. Written By Neal Purvis And Robert Wade. Running Time: 123 Minutes. Rated PG-13 (For Action Violence And Sexuality). Printer-friendly » E-mail this to a friend »

I realized with a smile, 15 minutes into the new James Bond movie, that I had unconsciously accepted Pierce Brosnan as Bond without thinking about Sean Connery, Roger Moore or anyone else. He has become the landlord, not the tenant. Handsome if a little weary, the edges of an Irish accent curling around the edges of the Queen's English, he plays a preposterous character but does not seem preposterous playing him.




"Die Another Day" is the 20th Bond film in 40 years, not counting "Casino Royale." Midway through it, Bond's boss M tells him, "While you were away, the world changed." She refers to the months he spent imprisoned at the hands of North Korean torturers, but she might also be referring to the world of Bondian thrillers. This movie has the usual impossible stunts, as when Bond surfs down the face of a glacier being melted by a laser beam from space. But it has just as many scenes that are lean and tough enough to fit in any modern action movie. It also has a heroine who benefits from 40 years of progress in the way we view women. When Halle Berry, as Jinx, first appears in the movie there is a deliberate and loving tribute to the first Bond girl, Ursula Andress, in "Dr. No" (1962). In both movies, the woman emerges from the surf wearing a bikini which, in slow motion, seems to be playing catch-up. Even the wide belt is the same. But Jinx is a new kind of Bond girl. She still likes naughty double entendres (Bond says "My friends call me James Bond" and she replies, "Well that's a mouthful"). But in "Die Another Day" her character is not simply decoration or reward, but a competent and deadly agent who turns the movie at times into almost a buddy picture.


The film opens with an unusual touch: The villains are not fantastical fictions, but real. The North Koreans have for the time being joined the Nazis as reliable villains, and Bond infiltrates in order to--I dunno, deal with some "African Conflict Diamonds," if I heard correctly, but I wasn't listening carefully because the diamonds are only the MacGuffin. They do, however, decorate the memorable cheekbones of one of the villains, Zao (Rick Yune), who seems to have skidded face down through a field of them at high impact. A chase scene involving hover tanks in a mine field is somewhat clumsy, the hover tank not being the most graceful of vehicles, and then Bond is captured and tortured for months. He's freed in a prisoner exchange, only to find that M (Judi Dench) suspects him of having been brainwashed. Is he another Manchurian Candidate? Eventually he proves himself and after a visit to Q (John Cleese) for a new supply of gadgets, including an invisible car, he's back into action in the usual series of sensational stunt sequences. For the first time in the Bond series, a computer-generated sequence joins the traditional use of stunt men and trick photography; a disintegrating plane in a closing scene is pretty clearly all made of ones and zeroes, but by then we've seen too many amazing sights to quibble.


The North Koreans are allied with Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), a standard-issue world-dominating Bond villain, whose orbiting space mirror is not exactly original. What is original is Gustav's decision to house his operation in a vast ice building in Iceland; since his mirror operates to focus heat on the Earth, this seems like asking for trouble, and indeed before long the ice palace is melting down, and Jinx is trapped in a locked room with the water level rising toward the ceiling. (Exactly why the room itself doesn't melt is a question countless readers will no doubt answer for me.) Other characters include the deadly Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), whose name is a hint as to which side she is on, and Damian Falco (Michael Madsen), whose name unites two villainous movie dynasties and leaves me looking forward to Freddy Lecter. Oh, and Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond), who seems to have been overlooked, makes a last-minute appearance and virtually seduces Bond.


The film has been directed by Lee Tamahori (whose credits include "Once Were Warriors" and "Mulholland Falls"), from New Zealand, who has tilted the balance away from humor and toward pure action. With  "Austin Powers" breathing down the neck of the franchise, he told Sight & Sound magazine, it seemed like looking for trouble to broaden the traditional farcical elements. "Die Another Day" is still utterly absurd from one end to the other, of course, but in a slightly more understated way. And so it goes, Bond after Bond, as the most durable series in movie history heads for the half-century. There is no reason to believe this franchise will ever die. I suppose that is a blessing.
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Joannie's Analysis :) -


This review was adapted from a reviewer from the Chicago Sun Times, called Robert Ebert. The review was adapted from his section of the website http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20021122/REVIEWS/211220302/1023 .


The reason for this review was to share across to an opinion to a wider audience about the movie. Robert Ebert is known for his honest opinions and doesn’t hide his opinions as he is a direct person. The review starts in a positive tone as Robert praises the new James bond (Pierce Brosman)
 ''... I realized with a smile, 15 minutes into the new James Bond movie, that I had unconsciously accepted Pierce Brosnan as Bond without thinking about Sean Connery, Roger Moore or anyone else. He has become the landlord, not the tenant.....''
This positive opening lets the audience know that the new actor of this James bond movie easily adapts into his new role and within the first 15 mins of the movie you would be disappointed as this new actor easily steps into place with this new role.
 The language the reviewer uses is very formal; he uses phrases like 'preposterous' or 'infiltrates'. Throughout this whole review there are no signs of slang what so ever; this shows that Robert may have been focusing on a niche audience of adults. If an old reviewer was to write in slang it would show a lack of intelligence and wouldn’t be show taken serious. So by using formal language it showed that the opinions that he wanted to be put across were substantial to him and would be taken serious by the audience.


Most reviewers tend to focus on just the narrative of the story , however In every paragraph the elements of film that Robert focuses on in narrative, previous history of a previous bond movie, the actors and special effects. Its very useful that he did as it shows the auidence that he a reviewer analyses more than just the narrative and focuses's on a wider view by looking at every aspect. When talking about the charcters and there roles Robert he uses a bit of sacasim "Oh, and Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond), who seems to have been overlooked, makes a last-minute appearance and virtually seduces Bond". By showing sacasim it shows that he is not only an uptight reviewer but has abit of humour.


Robert done his research before watching Die Another day this shown as he shows alot of background history on previous Bond movies.


When he ended the review it shows he wasn't really a fan of Bond movies as he described the movie as "Absurd" which was a contrast to his tone in the beginning of the review. However , he says in the end "i suppose that is blessing" that the Bond franchise is never going to end showing he has mixed emotions about it.


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Reviewer's Rating   User Rating

Die Another Day (2002)

Reviewed by Nev Pierce Updated 21 November 2002

After 40 years and in his 20th film, James Bond deserves a kick in the noughties. Kiwi helmer Lee Tamahori provides it.
The 90s saw the suave superspy become 007: licence to mildly entertain. In "Die Another Day", her majesty's finest regains his killer touch.
Sexy, funny and spectacular, Bond's first mission of the new millennium is one of the best of the series - not simply a great Bond movie, but a great Action movie, full stop. Yes, we were surprised too.
From the opening titles - the usual dancing girls, unusually intercut with the movie's action - Tamahori displays an admirable desire to get on with it.
In quick succession Bond is captured, tortured and sets out for revenge against North Korean renegade Zao (Rick Yune). He's soon facing off with Toby Stephens' sneering entrepreneur, foiling plans for world domination and getting jiggy with the mysterious Jinx (Berry) and Miranda Frost (Pike).
The script smartly pilfers ideas from the Bond back catalogue, mastering all the elements which make the old school outings great: sly in-jokes, preposterous action, clumsy innuendo and 'classic' (ie. very funny or outrageously cheesy) one-liners. It's a throwback which recalls the heights of both "Goldfinger" and "Live and Let Die", combining the cool of Connery with the frivolity of Moore, without ever descending into parody.
Plus, it reinstates the childish wow-factor at outrageous gadgets (an invisible car!) and terrific stunts (including an all-time great sword fight), blasting the veteran franchise into the 21st century.
If you want to pick nits, it's a set-piece too long, but let the sceptics be stilled: Bond is back and there's plenty of life in the old dog yet.

End Credits

Director: Lee Tamahori Writer: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, Toby Stephens, Michael Madsen, Will Yun Lee, Judi Dench, John Cleese, Samantha Bond, Colin Salmon

Genre: Action, Thriller Length: 135 minutes Cinema: 22 November 2002 Country: UK/USA

__________________________________________________________________________________ Joannie's Analysis :) :
This review was adapted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/11/09/die_another_day_2002_review.shtml
and was reviewd by Nev Pierce.

In comparison to the first review that i analysed, this review is much shorter
The reviewer rated the film 5 stars, which is the best rating to give a movie. In the first paragragh Nev

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3rd Review of Die Another Day

The Guardian.

Overview

• 
• Details: 2002, Rest of the world, UK, USA, Cert 12A, 132 mins, Action, Dir: Lee Tamahori
  With: Halle Berry, Judi Dench, Pierce Brosnan, Toby Stephens
  Summary: 007's latest mission takes him from the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea to Cuba via Hong Kong as he tries to foil a megalomaniac's plans for world domination. But a mole is undermining his efforts...

Our reviews

• Philip French

  Philip French: Die Another Day has been said to feature a more serious Bond... But there's not much here of the acerbic attitude to espionage that last year had Brosnan sending up Bond as a corrupt British agent in... The Tailor of Panama

• Peter Bradshaw

  
  Peter Bradshaw: Cheesier than Roquefort in the microwave ... It's as if Austin Powers never happened

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Date in print: Mon., Nov. 18, 2002

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Joannie's Analysis :)
This review was adapted from 'The Guardian' from two reviewers, Phillip French and Peter Bradshaw. This Review was really short but straight to the point. Many reviewers often mumble on when its easier to get straight to the point with the point they want to make.

This review was adapted from http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/93584/die.another.day and it was reviewed by 2 reviewers called Philip French and Peter Bradshaw  .