Tony Gilroy's Bourne Legacy

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Even if the original Bourne Trilogy is not faithful to Robert Ludlum's books, it can be considered as "complete" in itself and probably better and more exciting than the novels.  This one though has the same quality of cinematography especially when you encounter the Alaskan scenery and the familiar dynamic car chase for a Tony Gilroy movie.

The title of this latest Bourne film is based on a novel (of the same title) by Eric Van Lustbader, a continuation of the series as approved by the Ludlum Estates. But the connection ends here. This film is a non-canon by Ludlum standards and it may be taken as a "side story" of the original trilogy films but it still entertains and well-paced up to the middle of the story.

[SPOILER HERE] The group involved in Project Treadstone invested a lot in a new "secret" project only to invest more to cover and hide the tracks for the secret to remain hidden from the public eye. I think CIA may have implicated indirectly Jason Bourne as the one who killed the investigative journalist who is about to reveal more projects similar to Treadstone. One way or another, it's a lose-lose scenario for Treadstone handlers. The Manila scenes are okay they are shown as it should be without sugarcoating. But the ending I think, is kinda rushed and I expected a better ending shot of Palawan. Even the redub of "Extreme Ways" as an ending soundtrack sounds average by employing the same techno method in an already techno music by Moby. The one from Bourne Ultimatum OST sounds a lot better.

What really saved this movie to earn eighty percentile? The question is actually "who?" The answer are the actors. The chemistry between Rachel and Jeremy stood out.


Genre: Espionage, Action Thriller
Rating: 80%

Bourne Legacy Jeepney Smash (But where are the Palawan scenes?)

Pessimistic Pinoys are at it again.
Endlessly complaining about how ugly Manila is being portrayed here not knowing that the "ugly" part of Manila is an integral part of the story. The Bourne Legacy crew took some shots not just in Manila but also in Palawan---specifically the Puerto Princesa Underground River (1 of 7 new wonders of the World). To tell you frankly, Manila as a city does not represent our country anymore and there are more worthy cities fit for that role.

Scenes starting from 1:58 showed the urban jungle called Manila but where are the Underground River scenes in Palawan? Maybe this one at 0:41? Better wait for the next trailers, quit whining and see the movie on premiere night!

p.s. the fun part here is seeing Rachel Weisz running around the streets of Manila with a Treadstone agent while at the same time married to the current James Bond--as the latest movie Skyfall will also be shown this year. 

Total Recall 2012

We're just having fun taking a break in the office and scanning through pages of upcoming sci fi movies, we saw this remake of a film adaptation based on a PKD novel. The premiere is scheduled in the US and Canada on the 3rd of August, 2012.

I am watching this for two reasons: Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel.

"Total Recall is an upcoming American science-fiction action film remake of the 1990 film of the same name, which is based on the 1966 short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick. Unlike the original 1990 film, the plot of this new version lacks a trip to Mars and contains strong political influences. It is directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld series) and written by Mark Bomback, James Vanderbilt and Kurt Wimmer."

Skyfall: From Books to Film

We remember Sam Mendes as the director of American Beauty (I can't remember a damn thing about Jarhead) and the question remains where he must stand between a 'realistic' James Bond or 'fantastic' James Bond. After the second World War, we all know that Sir Ian Fleming has already defined in his books a very high profile character completely different from the ranks of the "low profile" and less-glamorous secret agents and wetworkers of history. In short, James Bond is designed as a teenager's "mythology" of his own prepubescent ego just like Indiana Jones or Luke Skywalker. It will never change. Just enjoy the ride, check the ladies, score some(lol), relax your brain, and don't expect too much from this film.

I still believe that Casino Royale is so far the best Bond film of the 21st century as it completely overshadowed Quantum of Solace.

I Lie for A Living - Greatest Spies of All Time

I saw a review for this book over Amazon complaining that it lacks index or bibliography. It's true, there's no bibliography part but if you look closer and try reading within the pages, you can see there's a lot of reference and source materials given by the author. Only if you read the book with enthusiasm and a keen eye.

What the reviewer failed to understand is that the current recorded information on the historical spies were directly sourced from declassified data of the CIA. Meaning, what we are seeing are just the "tip of the iceberg"--cases that were deemed closed or finished--from the CIA's perspective. We must realize that espionage work will never end as long as the threat of conflict and war is always persistent, and revealing additional sources which are connected with ACTIVE cases will surely compromise not just the US, but also any other country currently performing espionage activities. So instead of seeking for the exact source, we better read and enjoy the history of both popular and less known spies of the world as recorded from the CIA archives. The main source of the story here is the CIA and if you don't trust the accuracy of their archive, then this book is not for you.

Written by Antony Shugaar and illustrated by Stephen Guarnaccia, the reader must take note that the book was published by National Geographic Society in 2006 as a tie-up project with International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. The project aims to promote the Museum to fans and scholars of Espionage, both fiction and historical. It's purely for entertainment and informational purposes. And in this criteria the book is most effective. The NGS and the authors presented this one to be objective as possible.

When I was young I love reading through monthly copies of National Geographic Magazine and knowing the magazine and the organization (the National Geographic Society), I have no doubt with the legitimacy and reputation of their scholarly work in world history. The book's intro is written by Peter Earnest--the current director of the International Spy Museum and a retired member of the CIA. Intelligence work may be romanticized in popular media but we all know how the actual players themselves suffered but still loved their work. Others who are not lucky just simply paid their lives for it. Clearly, employing espionage work is like using a weapon similar to a double edged sword. You can never win without losing something.

The book is divided in 10 chapters (or spy categories) namely Spymasters, Selfish Spies, Spies With a Cause, Femme Fatales, Spycatchers, Masters of Tradecraft, Masks of Celebrity, Mirror Writers, Agents of Influence, and Covert Actors & Wetworkers. Now I understand the term "wetwork" as an espionage term for assassination. George Washington as a spy master and Benjamin Franklin as a propagandist are basic historical ideas but it's good to know that Erskine Childers who wrote The Riddle of the Sands is declared  father of the spy novel here, and the contrast between Ian Fleming and John Le Carre (and Graham Greene) styles of spy novels were also noteworthy. Women spies who were equally deadly and controversial as their male counterpart and the involvement of Alan Turing in cryptography and the Nazi's Enigma machines are all quality informations for fans of the professional espionage. If you're a James Bond fan, you will love to know who were the historical archetypes of 007, M, and Q. The details of killing Stalin's rival Trotsky in the hands of an assassin is thrilling while Edward Lansdale's propaganda against the Hukbalahap and the eventual support for Ramon Magsaysay's presidency are ingenious.

As an introductory book for spy fans, there's more here for your delight and subtle shock. I tag this book as one of the underrated reads this year.


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Genre: Biography, Espionage, History
Rating: 3.5 Enigma Machines out of 5

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

It's not my intention to create a hype given that the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is about to be shown in the UK this month and the rest of the world probably later. The reading world is already full of "hype" and I don't want to desecrate Le Carre's work because of these silly "hypes." For the first place, Tinker Tailor may not be released in movie theaters here in the Philippines and I just want to read a Le Carre book imprisoned earlier on my shelf for a very long time and maybe reading it is better than leaving it to collect dusts (or termites) and remain unread.

For the record I have 3 initial Le Carre reads and in order, they are "The Tailor of Panama," "Single & Single," and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." I enjoyed them all. Prior to this I also dabbled into Tom Clancy's world of military intrigues; "The Hunt for Red October," "Politika," and "Patriot Games." Last year, I enjoyed Tim Powers' uber-hybrid story "Declare" (hybrid in the sense that it was a cross-genre between territories of historical fiction, sci fi, dark fantasy, and espionage). Furthermore, six years ago I felt the chill by the story of a saboteur-gone-wrong Verloc in Joseph Conrad's psychological thriller "The Secret Agent."

In all of these initial experiences within the world of espionage fiction and seeing how readers today love popular fiction, I drew a hypothesis that there can only be two kinds of a spy novel: the first kind bores you to death because the politics are realistic (if not allusive), and the second one entertained you to life because of cheap thrills, gadgets, and naked chicks. 

This made Le Carre novels apparently boring to younger readers and Ian Fleming's, commercially viable to novice readers. Nothing much to blame, politics (or history) is exclusive only for the mature readers.

But now that I am an 'old' reader it's quiet different. Global politics did not bore me anymore, it was very informative and it opened my eye. The chick was never dumb though simple, still you would want to fall for. There were action scenes but they were not the center of the novel. The center of the novel was about this dark mantra--the philosophy of any professional espionage work. This mantra states that in the real world there is no such thing as "black and white." Always been and always will be. Grey areas will never go and nothing can change that.

The most important attribute of this novel is its unpredictability--in a very good and thrilling way. Originally published in 1963, the setting is in the 1950's revolving on the post WWII espionage and counter-espionage conflicts between the communist East Germany and the monarchic Great Britain. It was a classic spy war, an unseen showdown between the forces of Abteilung and agents of the Circus. The Berlin Wall still exists here and I like it when Le Carre started the story there, and also ended it all there. Perfectly symbolic. A good closure, a return to zero when you draw that proverbial, circular line. And you will enjoy this in a light reading pace of 223 pages.
       
Now I know why this book is heavily regarded as the top espionage novel of the past century and why Time Magazine inducted this thriller in its list of 100 Best Novels of the modern era.

Le Carre's credibility as a former member of Her Majesty's Secret Service--the MI6 is unquestionable and his deep insight into the complex world (or abyss?) of espionage is unfathomable. This is perhaps, his signature book but we hope for more as long as he still writes realistic and complex stories highly relevant through the ages. That makes a novel classic.


Unforgettable Lines:

"That's because you don't want to think, you don't dare! There's some poison in your mind, some hate. You're a fanatic, Alec, I know you are, but I dont know what about. You're a fanatic who doesn't want to convert people, and that's a dangerous thing. You're like a man who's...sworn vengeance or something."  
page 35

Sometimes he thought of Liz. He would direct his mind toward her briefly like the shutter of a camera, recall for a moment the soft-hard touch of her long body, then put her from his memory. Leamas was not a man accustomed to living on dreams.  
page 43

He was contemptuous of his cellmates, and they hated him. They hated him because he succeeded in being what each in his heart longed to be: a mystery. 
page 43

"I am a worker," the woman replied acidly. "The concept of brain workers as a higher category must be destroyed. There are no categories, only workers; no antithesis between physical and mental labor. Haven't you read Lenin?" 
"Then the people in this prison are intellectuals?"
The woman smiled. "Yes," she said, "they are reactionaries who call themselves progressive: they defend the individual against the state."
page 204



Genre: Espionage Fiction
Rating: 5 blistering sentry rounds out of 5

Spy Movie of 2011? We Hope So.

THE BOOK

17 days to go, seventeen days of waiting before lovers of Espionage Fiction worldwide will finally enjoy the movie with an impressive cast of actors. He played a memorable job as Commissioner Gordon in the last two Dark Knight films and I hope Gary Oldman will deliver the goods again by playing as operative George Smiley and finally hit for the home run this time around. Originally a book published in 1974 by John Le Carre who happens to be a former member and operative of Her Majesty's Secret Service---the MI6 (but this is no secret to his followers), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as a movie will finally try to become the espionage film of 2011. Tinker Tailor is the first book (and my third Le Carre read in 2006) that will serve as a good jump off point for the bigger, more complicated Karla Trilogy.

If you want  a more realistic and mature espionage thriller who truly understands the current geopolitical structure with no bias, John Le Carre is on the top of the hierarchy. Not like Ludlum, Forsyth, and Fleming that puts the action and naked women at the center of the story, John Le Carre puts the issue (usually this issue is global) and the mystery at the center. In a Le Carre novel, there is no clear line that separates good and evil. If there ever was, the reader will realize that it was just a mirage, an illusion. There is no black and white. His stories are paradoxical that will make the reader think, and think again. Anyway, let's wait for the movie. We just hope that this movie is as good as the book.

Spy film of the year? We hope so.

THE FILM

THE TRAILER

Top 15 Espionage Novels by Publisher's Weekly (2006)

Deciphering code

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Nearly three years ago, Publisher's Weekly released their list of Top 15 Spy Novels compiled by Peter Cannon:

1. THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD by John le Carre (1963)

2. THE BOURNE IDENTITY by Robert Ludlum (1980)

3. THE DAY OF THE JACKAL by Frederick Forsyth (1971)

4. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME by Ian Fleming (1962)

5. THE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham Greene (1955)

6. THE IPCRESS FILE by Len Deighton (1962)

7. THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE by Ken Follett (1978)

8. MASQUERADE by Gayle Lynds (1996)

9. THE MOSCOW CLUB by Joseph Finder (1991)

10. ABOVE SUSPICION by Helen MacInnes (1939)

11. THE 39 STEPS by John Buchan (1915)

12. HARLOT'S GHOST by Norman Mailer (1991)

13. THE UNLIKELY SPY by Daniel Silva (1996)

14. THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS by Erskine Childers (1903)

15. MORNING SPY, EVENING SPY by Colin MacKinnon (2006)

Reactions in favor and against the listing circulated after its release but for me, the list is substantial enough for any curious collector of Best Espionage Fiction. But I would like to add Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901), Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October (1984) and more importantly, Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent (1907). GK Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) is another good book to add to the list, but I think it's more of a metaphysical thriller and cross genre literature about saboteurs, just like Tim Powers' sci-fi and modern fantasy spy thriller Declare (2001).

Let me know what you think about this list, or any suggestions of your own.

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