I was just wondering...

[skater6446]

I was wondering how you would go about reviewing a movie. I've never done one and am confused on how to start. Thanks for your help in advance.

[magenta321]

Skater, why not go check out some movie reviews by some of the top movie reviewers? Grouch springs to mind as one of the best, but I am sure there are others. I can picture their profile pictures, but I can't remember their names (story of my life).

[zachborman]

I still haven't figured it out...

[CurtisEdmonds]

Easy-peasy.

This is just a real quick breakdown of my Bourne Identity review:

1. Start with your deepest impression of the movie. What did this movie make you think about? What did you come away with? What was the one scene that made the movie work or not work for you?

The scene I liked in The Bourne Identity is a very American scene, one of the few in this aggressively Euro-centric movie. Matt Damon is standing in a train station; it has a big billboard marking arrival and departure times, like you would see at a large airport. Damon does what travelers do; he stares at the billboard for a moment, looking at the destinations. Amsterdam. Antwerp. Madrid. But he's not looking to catch a train, or pick someone up; he's only there to drop off a mysterious red bag in a locker and get back in his car. He's looking at all the places he could go, all the places he would rather go, everywhere except for the one place he has to go. And just as the airline traveler who would rather go to San Francisco or Miami sighs, shoulders his bags, and gets on his assigned plane for Charlotte or Cleveland, Damon turns away and gets back in his car and drives off. (Unlike most people, though, he is swiftly chased by the French police.)

2. Talk a little bit about the plot. Just the bare-bones details, together with your comments. No need to spend a whole lot of time on exposition, and don't give away any spoilers.

The Bourne Identity presents Damon with a typical role. Damon plays Jason Bourne, a phenomenally well-trained CIA assassin, skilled in foreign languages and unarmed combat. After a botched assignment, he is found floating in the Mediterranean Sea by a beat-up fishing boat. He has no memory of who he is or why he was there, and no clues to help him except two bullet holes in his back, a really ugly brown cable-knit sweater, and a mysterious capsule implanted in his hip.

We know Bourne is bright, because he's, well, Matt Damon. And he is capable, but completely clueless about his identity and why all these people are chasing after him. Bourne knows all the license plate numbers of all the cars in all of the little roadside diners in France, but he doesn't fully comprehend that returning to his bank in Switzerland or his apartment in Paris makes him a target. This makes him vulnerable, especially to gypsy maiden Franka Potente, who he bribes to give him a ride to Paris. Fortunately, this vulnerability does not extend to his martial arts and unarmed combat skills, which carry him through a number of unpleasant encounters with strangers sent to kill him.

3. Talk a little bit about the different elements of the movie -- script, acting, directing, etc. Talk about the things that you liked and didn't like, what worked well and didn't work well.

There isn't much to The Bourne Identity, it's just an attractive couple on the run from fearsome killers for reasons that cannot be explained very easily. It's interesting for a couple of reasons outside of just the natural summertime impulse to get in out of the heat. (Which is hard to do in Midtown Atlanta, the air-conditioning is still out at two of the theaters of the Midtown 8.) First, there is Doug Liman, the director here, and he is always a treat to watch. Mostly, he is not afraid to let a little incidental humor creep in once in awhile. This is what made Go such a fun ride, and it works here, too. Damon is pretty humorless, but Potente adds a lot of charm. She's not just The Girl, she's along at first because she knows a good thing when she sees it, and she doesn't buy into all the cloak-and-dagger stuff. One of the fun scenes of the movie involves her covert attempt to get some documents from a stuffy Paris hotel; watch Damon's reaction when she tells him how she did it. (The rest of the supporting cast is pretty good, too, especially Brian Cox as a befuddled CIA executive, and Chris Cooper -- the colonel from American Beauty as the hard-nosed CIA enforcer.)

4. Wrap it all up with a closing paragraph that summarizes how you feel about the movie overall; if you can, tie that back into your initial observation or some other hook within the review.

At the end of the day, though, the moviegoer stands in line at the ticket counter the same way the passenger stands in the airport terminal, looking at the different choices, trying to decide which direction to go. The Bourne Identity is not a bad choice here, assuming that you've already seen Spider-Man and The Sum of All Fears and, most importantly, the air-conditioning in the theater is working properly.

That's pretty much it. Everything else is pretty much variations on a theme; doing things in different order, throwing in some creative stuff, etc. If you follow this pattern, you should be able to start writing creditable movie reviews before too long. And the more you do it, the more you will play with the formula, etc.