2016 Canadian Screen Award Nominations - Complete Film Category List

The Canadian Screen Awards honor achievements in Canadian film and television production, as well as achievements in digital media.  In 2012, the formerly separate Genie Awards (for film) and Gemini Awards (for television) merged into a single ceremony, the Canadian Screen Awards.

The Canadian Screen Awards are presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.  This is a national, no-profit, professional association dedicated to the promotion, recognition and celebration of exceptional achievements in Canadian film, television and digital media.  The Academy describes itself as a “Unifying industry professionals across Canada, the Academy is a vital force representing all screen – based industries.”

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television Awards will be handed out on Sunday, March 13, 2016.  The nominations list below is only for the film categories, excluding the television, digital media, and special award categories (except for two).

2016 Canadian Screen Awards Nominations:

Best Motion Picture / Meilleur film

    Brooklyn – Pierre Even, Marie-Claude Poulin, Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
    Corbo – Félize Frappier
    The Demons | Les Démons – Philippe Lesage
    Felix and Meira | Félix et Meira – Sylvain Corbeil, Nancy Grant
    The Forbidden Room – Phoebe Greenberg, Penny Mancuso, Phyllis Laing, David Christensen, Guy Maddin
    My Internship in Canada | Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre – Luc Déry, Kim McCraw
    Our Loved Ones | Les êtres chers – Sylvain Corbeil, Nancy Grant
    Remember – Robert Lantos, Ari Lantos
    Room – David Gross, Ed Guiney
    Sleeping Giant – Karen Harnisch, Andrew Cividino, Marc Swenker, James Vandewater, Aaron Yeger

Achievement in Direction | Meilleure réalisation

    Philippe Lesage – The Demons | Les Démons
    Maxime Giroux – Felix and Meira | Félix et Meira
    Anne Émond – Our Loved Ones | Les êtres chers
    Lenny Abrahamson – Room
    Andrew Cividino – Sleeping Giant

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | Interprétation masculine dans un premier rôle

    Maxim Gaudette – Our Loved Ones | Les êtres chers
    Christopher Plummer – Remember
    Rossif Sutherland – River
    Jacob Tremblay – Room
    Jasmin Geljo – The Waiting Room

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role | Interprétation masculine dans un rôle de soutien

    Waris Ahluwalia – Beeba Boys
    Tony Nardi – Corbo
    Irdens Exantus – My Internship in Canada | Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre
    Nick Serino – Sleeping Giant
    Patrick Hivon – Ville-Marie

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | Interprétation féminine dans un premier rôle

    Leah Goldstein – Diamond Tongues
    Hadas Yaron – Felix and Meira | Félix et Meira
    Karelle Tremblay – Our Loved Ones | Les êtres chers
    Céline Bonnier – The Passion of Augustine | La Passion d’Augustine
    Brie Larson – Room

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role | Interprétation féminine dans un rôle de soutien

    Balinder Johal – Beeba Boys
    Mylène Mackay – Endorphine
    Christine Beaulieu – The Mirage | Le Mirage
    Joan Allen – Room
    Cynthia Ashperger – The Waiting Room

Achievement in Art Direction / Production Design | Meilleure direction artistique

    Louisa Schabas – Felix and Meira | Félix et Meira
    Galen Johnson, Brigitte Henry, Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski – The Forbidden Room
    Ken Rempel, Kathy McCoy, Erik Gerlund – Forsaken
    Arv Greywal, Steve Shewchuk, Larry Spittle – Hyena Road
    Ethan Tobman, Mary Kirkland – Room

Achievement in Cinematography | Meilleures images

    Yves Bélanger – Brooklyn
    Sara Mishara – Felix and Meira | Félix et Meira
    Rene Ohashi – Forsaken
    Karim Hussain – Hyena Road
    Danny Cohen – Room

Achievement in Costume Design | Meilleurs costumes

    Joanne Hansen – Beeba Boys
    Judy Jonker – Corbo
    Christopher Hargadon – Forsaken
    Katelynd Johnston – Hyena Road
    Arabella Bushnell – Songs She Wrote About People She Knows

Achievement in Editing | Meilleur montage

    Renee Beaulieu – Adrien | Le Garagiste
    David Wharnsby – Hyena Road
    Mathieu Bouchard-Malo – Our Loved Ones | Les êtres chers
    Nathan Nugent – Room
    James Vandewater – Sleeping Giant

Achievement in Make-Up | Meilleurs maquillages

    Catherine Beaudoin – Anna
    David Scott, Trina Brink – Backcountry
    Gail Kennedy, Rochelle Parrent, Jojo Preece – Forsaken
    Jayne Dancose, Debra Johnson, Charles Porlier – Hyena Road
    Sid Armour – Room

Achievement in Music – Original Score | Meilleure musique originale

    Michel Corriveau – Anna
    Michael Brook – Brooklyn
    François Dompierre – The Passion of Augustine | La Passion d’Augustine
    Stephen Rennicks – Room
    Chris Gestrin – Songs She Wrote About People She Knows

Achievement in Music – Original Song | Meilleure chanson originale

    Peter Katz, Karen Kowsowski – 88 – “Where the Light Used to Be”
    Martin Léon – Our Loved Ones | Les êtres chers – “Red and Yellow”
    Noah Reid – People Hold On – “People Hold On”
    Jenny Salgado – Scratch – A Hip-opera | Scratch – Un Hip-Opéra – “C’est aujourd’hui que je sors”
    Kris Elgstrand – Songs She Wrote About People She Knows – “Asshole Dave”

Achievement in Overall Sound | Meilleur son d’ensemble

    Sylvain Brassard, Arnaud Têtu, Pascal Van Strydonck, Olivier Léger – Adrien | Le Garagiste
    Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Daniel Bisson, Jean-Charles Desjardins, François Grenon – Endorphine
    Lou Solakofski, Ian Rankin, Joe Morrow, Russ Dyck, Graham Rogers, James Bastable, André Azoubel, Don White, Jack Hereen – Hyena Road
    Lou Solakofski, Kirk Lynds, Kristian Bailey, Don White, Jack Heeren,
    Rob Coxford, Peter Caristedt – Into The Forest
    Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Daniel Bisson, Claude La Haye, Benoît Leduc – My Internship in Canada | Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre

Achievement in Sound Editing | Meilleur montage sonore

    Benoît Dame – Adrien | Le Garagiste
    Sylvain Bellemare, Claire Pochon, Jérôme Décarie, François Senneville – Endorphine
    Mark Gingras, Jill Purdy – Forsaken
    John Gurdebeke, David Rose – The Forbidden Room
    Jane Tattersall, David McCallum, Martin Gwynn Jones, Barry Gilmore, David Evans, Dave Rose, Brennan Mercer, Ed Douglas,
    Kevin Banks, Goro Koyama, Andy Malcolm – Hyena Road

Achievement in Visual Effects | Meilleurs effets visuels

    Darren Wall – Borealis
    Alain Lachance, Eve Brunet – Endorphine
    Phil Jones, Sarah Wormsbecher, Eric Doiron, Anthony DeChellis, Lon Molnar, Geoff D.E. Scott, Nathan Larouche, Mark Fordham – Hyena Road
    Eric Doiron, Sarah Wormsbecher, Nathan Larouche, Anthony DeChellis, Geoff D.E. Scott, Jason Snea, Joel Chambers, Kaiser Thomas, Lon Molnar, Rob Kennedy – Remember
    Marcelo Alves de Souza, Paulo Barcellos, Adams Carvalho, George Schall, Luis Dourado, Emerson Bonadias, Diego Moreira, Luciano Santa Barbara, Thiago Sá, Luis Dreyfuss – Zoom

Adapted Screenplay | Meilleure adaptation

    Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout – Eadweard
    Emma Donoghue – Room
    Wiebke von Carolsfeld – The Saver

Original Screenplay | Meilleur scénario

    André Turpin – Endorphine
    Philippe Falardeau – My Internship in Canada | Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre
    Anne Émond – Our Loved Ones | Les êtres chers
    Benjamin August – Remember
    Matt Hansen – Zoom

Academy Legacy Award
EUGENE LEVY AND CATHERINE O'HARA

Lifetime Achievement Award
MARTIN SHORT

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Review: "When the Sky Falls" Means Well (Happy B'ay, Kevin McNally)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 73 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

When the Sky Falls (2000)
Running time:  107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for brutal violence, strong language, drug content and some sexuality
DIRECTOR:  John Mackenzie
WRITERS:  Ronan Gallagher, Colum McCann, and Michael Sheridan; with additional dialogue by Guy Andrews
PRODUCERS:  Nigel Warren Green and Michael Wearing
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Seamus Deasy
EDITOR:  Graham Walker
COMPOSER:  Pol Brennan

CRIME/DRAMA

Starring:  Joan Allen, Patrick Bergin, Liam Cunningham, Kevin McNally, Jimmy Smallhourne, Gerard Mannix Flynn, Jason Barry, Pete Postlethwaite, Des McAleer, Owen Roe, Gavin Kelty, and Ruaidhrí Conroy

The subject of this movie review is When the Sky Falls, a 2000 crime drama directed by the late John Mackenzie.  The film is a fictional account of a real-life Irish investigative reporter’s battle with a Dublin drug lord.  This film stars one of my favorite actors, Joan Allen, and Kevin McNally, an actor of whom I became a fan after his roles in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.  When the Sky Falls did not receive a theatrical release in the United States, although it is partly a U.S. production.

When the Sky Falls, a fact-based drama, focuses on Sinead Hamilton (Joan Allen), a reporter who invades the drug underworld of Dublin, Ireland.  Mackey (Patrick Bergin), the police officer who helps her, is mostly ineffectual because bureaucracy and lack of resources tie his hands.  Her husband, Tom (Kevin McNally), doesn’t particularly care about her work, but he supports her.

Sinead consorts with Mickey O’Fagan (Jimmy Smallhourne), minor thug who just might lead her to the big fish, Dave Hackett (Gerard Flynn), a brutal drug boss.  Add the Irish Republican Army to the danger mix, and you have a lone woman as a crusading reporter headed for doom.

The film is based upon the story of real life Dublin reporter Veronica Guerin with Sinead Hamilton as the fictional version of her, and for all the drama of the last year of Ms. Guerin’s short life, When the Sky Falls is rather tepid.  Although the film is less than two hours long, it drifts from one genre to another.

At moments, it’s a fairly intense crime thriller about a woman going after greedy men who would see the whole of Dublin addicted to heroin so that they could be fabulously wealthy.  At other times, it’s a clunky and clumsy crime drama about cops willing to go to any extreme to nail a criminal; that is whenever Patrick Bergin’s Mackey takes over the story.  It’s also a lame, movie of the week melodrama about a crusading reporter whenever Sinead Hamilton visits the offices of the newspaper for which she writes.

Anyone of the three storylines could have made a good film at a running time of one hundred and six minutes.  As it is, the subplots and storylines crowd the movie, and the filmmakers don’t do any of them justice.  The cast is mostly good, but seem to run on simmer and slow burn, lest they really let loose and chew up the scenery.  Dog forbid this movie should be as passionate as its real life subject matter.  I like Joan Allen, but this is one of her weaker performances – decent, but the kind of low wattage thing we can get from a TV movie.  When the Sky Falls is a fairly good film, but if you don’t see it, you won’t be missing anything important.

5 of 10
B-

Updated:  Sunday, April 27, 2014


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Review: "Pleasantville" is Pleasingly Pleasant

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 156 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux on Patreon

Pleasantville (1998)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some thematic elements emphasizing sexuality, and for language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
PRODUCERS: Robert J. Degus, Jon Kilik, Gary Ross, and Steven Soderbergh
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Lindley
EDITOR: William Goldenberg
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/DRAMA/FANTASY

Starring: Tobey Maguire, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, Jane Kaczmarek, Don Knotts, Paul Walker, and J.T. Walsh

The subject of this movie review is Pleasantville, a 1998 comedy-drama and fantasy film from writer/director Gary Ross, who would go on to write and direct the Oscar-nominated, Seabiscuit (2003). Pleasantville stars Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon as a brother and sister transported into their television set where they find themselves in the world of a 1950s black and white situation comedy.

It’s premise, especially the device that initiates the premise, is something straight out of pulp science fiction or pulp comics (in particular, EC comics), but Pleasantville ends up being a film poignant and delightful and thought provoking and entertaining. The film begins in the 1990’s with a brother and sister pair. David Wagner (Tobey Maguire), single, lonely, and unhappy, escapes his melancholy reality by watching the nostalgic 1950’s era soap opera, “Pleasantville.” After his TV breaks, a very strange repairman (Don Knott) gives him an equally strange remote control, but his sister, Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon), who is David’s exact opposite (happy and more far more sexually active than her brother), argues with David over watching the TV. During their struggle for the peculiar remote control, it transports the pair into the television to Pleasantville.

Suddenly, David and Jennifer are Bud and Mary-Sue Parker, and they find themselves completely assimilated into the new world. They are now black and white instead of color, and they have new 50’s era clothes. They also have new and different parents Betty (Joan Allen) and George Parker (William H. Macy), more pleasant than the old models. While David decides to blend in with this new world, Jennifer is sexually aggressive with the sexually naïve teenage boys of this “Leave it to Beaver” like world. David/Bud and Jennifer/Mary-Sue’s antics begin to change the world, and one thing leads to another and suddenly there is a vivid, red rose in this black and white world. Soon, the denizens of Pleasantville start to break rules and to break with long held traditions and before long, life is growing ever more colorful in Pleasantville. But not everyone is happy, including Bud and Mary-Sue’s Pleasantville dad and the town council, and they plan to do something about it.

There is so much to like about this movie, especially the wonderful cast. Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon perfectly portray the squabbling pair of siblings, playing them at just the right pitch to make this movie work. However, it is the adult or older actors that sell Pleasantville’s ideas and messages. The themes of conformity, rebellion, marital discord, infidelity, betrayal, loyalty, and mob violence and group-think come to life in the stand out performances of William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels and the late J.T. Walsh. It’s fun to watch Ms. Witherspoon’s antics, and Maguire has that young everyman quality that draws audiences into living vicariously through him, but the older actors shape and structure the elements that define this film.

Many Oscar® watchers had pegged this film as an early favorite to receive some big nominations, but it only earned three Academy Award nominations in the so-called technical categories. I get the feeling that many people were put off by the film. The very things that make it so intriguing – from its ideas to its concept start to fall apart about midway through the film. Slowly, but surely, the structure becomes shaky the longer the film runs. At 124 minutes (2 hours and 4 minutes) this film seems about 20 minutes too long. The last third of the film seems especially too preachy, too obvious, and heavy-handed.

Still, director/screenwriter Gary Ross created an enduring and charming gem; though flawed, it harks back to simply notions and an idealized simpler time in a fictional golden age. But the film does seem to ask, was that time really idealized and just how much is actually fiction about the good old days.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1999 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Jeannine Claudia Oppewall and Jay Hart), “Best Costume Design” (Judianna Makovsky), and “Best Music, Original Dramatic Score” (Randy Newman)

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2001 Oscar Nominee "The Contender" Contends Until the End

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Contender (2000)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Rod Lurie
PRODUCERS: Willi Baer, Marc Frydman, James Spies, and Douglas Urbanski
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Denis Maloney
EDITOR: Michael Jablow
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater, Sam Elliot, William L. Petersen, Saul Rubinek, Philip Baker Hall, Mike Binder, Robin Thomas, Kathryn Morris, and Mariel Hemingway

After the Vice President of the United States dies, President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) selects Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen, Pleasantville), a Democrat who switched parties, as his nominee to replace the deceased VP. During the confirmation hearings before Congress, a combative rival, Rep. Sheldon “Shelly” Runyon (Gary Oldman) begins leaking lurid stories about Sen. Hanson’s wild past as a sexually promiscuous college student.

Runyon prefers a popular governor, Jack Hathaway (William L. Peterson, TV’s “C. S. I.: Crime Scene Investigation”), as the new VP instead of Sen. Hanson. With an eager young congressman, Rep. Reginald Webster (Christian Slater), at his beck and call, Runyon turns the hearings into his bully pulpit. As Sen. Hanson struggles with the decision to defend herself and answer the horrid charges, investigations into her past by rival interests unearth a mound of increasingly sensational stories.

The Contender could have been a boring Capitol Hill whodunit, but it saves the boring for the end. For most of its length, the film is actually a bracing thriller that gives a fly on the wall view of how nasty and petty our nation’s leaders can be. Writer/director Rod Lurie creates a fascinating, edge of your seat thriller that burns slowly and then explodes with each new shocking revelation. You can hardly take your eyes from the screen, but the film loses its bite, as it gets closer to the end.

It is as if all the air just blows out of the film. Luckily, the cast is game, and they save the film’s ending. When The Contender gets too preachy, it’s blessed to have good actors who can make even talking heads interesting. Joan Allen is what she always is – good. Her strange, subtle beauty gives her a look that makes you sympathetic to her; of course, she has much experience playing the put upon woman in such films as Nixon and The Crucible. Bridges is well liked and respected amongst his peers because he’s a craftsman and an artist. He pulls a trick on the viewer. For most of this film, you can think of President Jackson as a phony, but he sneaks in a broader view of the character that can have you shaking your head. Clearly, President Jackson is not what he seems to be and more than what he seems to be. Gary Oldman is good, even in this unsexy role for an actor who transformed many of the characters he played into sexy, charming rogues. He’s nothing but convincing as the low rent, thuggish nerd, Rep. Runyon.

If for nothing else, a political thriller with a cast of very good actors is worth watching, and The Contender is occasionally quite exciting, even if it limps to the ending.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2001 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jeff Bridges) and “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Joan Allen)

2001 Golden Globes: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Jeff Bridges) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Joan Allen)

Review: "The Bourne Ultimaturm" is Ultimate

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 114 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITERS: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, and George Nolfi; from a screen story by Tony Gilroy (based upon the novel by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Frank Marshall and Paul Sandberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITOR: Christopher Rouse
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Chris Cooper, and Corey Johnson

In The Bourne Identity, he fought to answer the question, “Who am I?” In The Bourne Supremacy, he wanted to know, “Who killed my girlfriend,” and he killed for what was done to him. In The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) remembers everything, and his journey takes him from Europe and North Africa to a trip home to New York City where all the answers will be found.

After he got his revenge for the killing of Marie, Bourne planned to disappear and forget the life that was stolen from him, but a front-page story in a London newspaper speculates about his existence. Bourne sets up a meeting with Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), the journalist who wrote the story, but that meeting makes Bourne a target again. The journalist does give him a lead on two top-secret black operations or black-ops programs, Treadstone and its successor Blackbriar, which may hold the key to Bourne’s past. Bourne’s reemergence also gets him marked for death by Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), the head of a new covert wing of the CIA and the director of Blackbriar. Bourne gains the trust of conflicted agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and CIA operative/internal investigator and spy hunter Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), and with their help, he will have his day of reckoning.

Like his previous effort in the Jason Bourne series, The Bourne Supremacy, Oscar-nominated director Paul Greengrass (United 93) delivers mind blowing action, whiplash-paced fighting, and thoughtful plotting. Greengrass does this picture with equal parts humor and brutality, and makes it is as smart as it is stylish.

Matt Damon is Jason Bourne, and he leaves no doubt that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to take his place. His acting chops and screen charisma combined with his physical training for the role invents Bourne as a supernatural covert operative who can kick any ass, go anywhere, break into the most secure locations, and be invisible in a crowd.

The supporting cast may not be A-list actors in terms of star power, but they are A+ list in terms of screen acting. Added to Damon’s work here, they put The Bourne Ultimatum over the top. It’s not just a great espionage thriller; it’s the best thriller of the year and a great film. Whether you’re a Bourne fan, or just a friend, mother, father, etc. going along with a fan, you’ll go home impressed and happy.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, August 12, 2007

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Achievement in Editing” (Christopher Rouse), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Scott Millan, David Parker, and Kirk Francis), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Karen M. Baker and Per Hallberg)

2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Editing” (Christopher Rouse) and “Best Sound” (Kirk Francis, Scott Millan, David Parker, Karen M. Baker, and Per Hallberg); 4 nominations: “Best British Film” (Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley, Paul Sandberg, Paul Greengrass, Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, and George Nolfi), “Best Cinematography” (Oliver Wood), “Best Director” (Paul Greengrass), and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Peter Chiang, Charlie Noble, Mattias Lindahl, and Joss Williams)

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Review: "The Bourne Supremacy" Was the First Greengrass-Damon Joint

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 131 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and intense action, and for brief language
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITER: Tony Gilroy (based upon the book by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Patrick Crowley and Frank Marshall
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITORS: Richard Pearson and Christopher Rouse

ACTION/DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Gabriel Mann, Joan Allen, Marton Csokas, and Tom Gallop

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) has been hiding in India with the love of his life Marie (Franka Potente) since the incidents of the film The Bourne Identity. However, the ghosts and remnants of one of his long-forgotten missions come back to haunt him, and tragedy strikes. So Jason takes the war back to the Americans who are hunting him for two murders they believe he committed during a botched CIA operation in Berlin, Germany. Once again, Jason has to take up his former life as a highly trained super assassin to survive and find out who is framing him.

The Bourne Supremacy is not quite as good as The Bourne Identity, but it’s the probably going to be the best adult-oriented action thriller for mature minds to come along in for a while. Paul Greengrass’ direction in Supremacy is as good as Doug Liman’s in The Bourne Identity, but Liman worked with a better script. The screenplay for Supremacy is high on action, but light on drama and character. The characters are good enough for the standard action thriller. The Bourne Supremacy needed more, and here, they’re mostly checker pieces moved around a board. That wasn’t the case in the first film. Supremacy has lots of actions, excellent suspense, and thrills that run the razor’s edge, but the drama and character interplay is watery. Every time, two characters are about to develop a good conflict or relationship, the film abruptly leaves for some highflying, though quite thrilling, action.

Matt Damon really makes this film. He’s a good actor and has a wonderful and endearing screen persona, and has an engaging personality – even when he’s popping caps in someone. He’s adept at playing the victim and the victimizer – the hunted and the hunter. He sells you on Bourne’s perils, but makes you anticipate that Bourne will survive anything and find his way out of any trap. It’s the modern day black ops stud as Indiana Jones. If you liked the first film or movies like Ronin (1998), you’ll be down with this.

7 of 10
A-

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