All Action Saturday

While driving to work this week, Rachel noticed that the drive-in was showing The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3 this weekend. Both of them being movies we were interested in seeing, we decided to go to the drive-in on Saturday night.

This weekend is also the first weekend we've spent at home since the next to last weekend in July. It is a strange feeling for us. To be able to be home on saturday was very relaxing for us. Rachel opened her scrapbooking stuff up and spread our all over the coffee table, I had the laptop on and we popped in the Bourne Identity, and then the Bourne Supremacy. I always seem to forget how good the Bourne Identity is- partially I think because I saw Supremacy first, and then watched Identity. The hand to hand combat is better in the first one, I believe.

I still had placed Supremacy as the better of the two movies- something that is often NOT the case. A sequel not only equaling its predecessor, but surpassing it. I was hopeful that the Bourne Ultimatum would match that, because, after all- with a word like Ultimatum in the title, it ought to be good.

We had planned on going to the drive-in for most of the week, and most of the week it was cool, cloudy and kinda rainy. Saturday, the heat and humidity turned back on, and by Saturday evening, it was HOT, HUMID and scattered thunderstorms rolling through. Not exactly drive-in weather- the money saved at the drive-in would surely be lost in having to run the car to keep the A/C on so we could be semi-comfortable.

so we decided instead that we only really wanted to see Bourne, and that Rush Hour 3 was only a fringe benefit. We decided to go to the theater in Carlisle and let them provide the air conditioning. However, the rolling thunderstorms that were going through caused some major damage and power outage in much of Carlisle, including the movie theater. And every other theater around had either already started their show, or it started at the same time.

so with the sun going down, the lights out all over Carlisle and the rain cooling it off a little, we headed down route 11 to Newville and the drive-in. On the plus side, we arrived just as the movie started, so our normal routine of arriving early to get a good spot didn't leave us waiting. And for some reason, it wasn't crowded.

Anyway- down to the movie reviews. SPOILER WARNING!! for those who haven't seen the move, stop here and just know that I think that Bourne was amazing- perhaps the best movie I've seen this summer. It makes me question whether or not Supremacy was supreme. Rush Hour 3 on the other hand... could have waited till video had the Carlisle theater had power.

Ultimatum was filled with action. So much action, I almost thought it impossible to put that much in and not wear the audience out. Car chases, fight sequences, hand-to-hand combat, foot chases... Wow! It was fantastic.

What probably surprised me the most, however, was an hour and 15 minutes into the movie, I saw a VERY similar scene. In fact, it was the exact scene that ENDED the Bourne Supremacy. I probably would have noticed it anyway, but definitely because of watching Supremacy that afternoon, I knew that it was the exact same conversation- with a little more added to it. I was VERY impressed with how they wrapped it all in together.

In essence, the Bourne Ultimatum ended literally hours after the Bourne Supremacy. Basically, after he left Russia, but before he showed up in NY was where Ultimatum picked up. Very good writing, and very surprising. The other thing I liked was that there were times when i just expected something to happen, but didn't want it to happen- and basically just couldn't figure it out. it was great to be kept guessing the whole time.

Rush Hour 3 was disappointing. it was not bad, per se. But it was so unnecessary. It was another heart wrenching villain for Jackie Chan's character. It was another supposed friend who turned out to be a betrayer. It was another movie of Jackie Chan doing some real work and Chris Tucker running his mouth (although he has learned some marshall arts and while the final fight between Chan and the villain is taking place on the Eiffel Tower structure, Tucker is taking on 4 lackeys in the restaurant).

There was an overly-long, mostly unnecessary scene with women in underwear for a show in Paris and Tucker's character is posing as costume designer. Simply not necessary.

There was a bright spot, however. This came at the end, when the bad guy who pretended to be a friend was about to end the movie and evil was about to win and the Frenchman who had been picking on Americans for half the film, then pretending to be one the other half only to be disappointed by his wife- he ended up shooting the bad guy before he could shoot Tucker, Chan or the woman.

So, as is often the case, the drive-in costs less, we get two and are rarely disappointed. This particular double feature was well worth it, even if only for one movie.