Bond vs Bourne

[layne67]

I saw 'Casino Royale' last Saturday. It was the first time ever that I watched a Bond movie on the big screen. With the exception of the last three with Pierce Brosnan as 007, I've never watched them anywhere. I do know that there had been four Bonds - Connery, Dalton, Moore and Brosnan ( or were there more? ) - and I have a certain fondness for Brosnan which ran from his Remington Steele days. And Michelle Yeoh certainly kicked ass in one, and Sean Bean was delicious of course but I was never really into James Bond per se. He's just not my kind of hero with all his impossiblly high-tech gadgets ( invisible cars anyone? ) and why oh why didn't the villains just shoot the hero and be done with it instead of going through all those long drawn-out slow methods of killing?

But I wanted to watch 'Casino Royale'. And I was really looking forward to it, too. Maybe because Daniel Craig doesn't look one bit like the usual Bond and also because they say that he is the best Bond ever and the film is not really like the typical Bond movies. Heh, we have men-journalists rhapsodizing about Craig here and almost every review that I read gave it an 'A'. Not to mention i_o_r_h_a_e_l who's head-over-heels in love with Craig *g* So, yeah, I went, I watched, and surprise, surprise, I loved it!

However, watching it, I couldn't help comparing it with the Bourne movies. I've actually compared Bourne to Bond ( hey, they even have the same initials! ) when 'Bourne Identity' first came out a few years back. And whilst the earlier Bond movies always seemed to rub me off in the wrong way, Jason Bourne, played by my darling Matt Damon, had me hooked right from the moment Bourne was err, hooked out from the sea, unconscious and waking up an amnesiac, eerily silent most of the time but with lethal moves and equally lethal, quick-thinking mind. And there wasn't a single gadget in sight! Oh yes, that was when I first fall in love with Matt Damon. In fact until now I'm not quite sure whether it's Matt Damon or the character Bourne that I fall for. So each time I watch Brosnan as Bond, I was like, Bourne would never do that or Bourne would never say that. And the martini? Heh, the only alcohol that Bourne used was the one that he washed his gunshot wound with.

There are times when I can't help wondering that when Ludlum wrote his Bourne trilogy he was attempting to create an anti-thesis to Fleming's Bond.

Until Daniel Craig comes along. My husband keeps teasing me that Bourne has now met his match. Uh huh. Sure this Bond is tough, smart and sexy as hell and I like him best compared to the previous Bonds and yes, I'm looking forward to watching more Bond movies with Craig at the helm. But at the end of the day, Jason Bourne still has my heart!

For one thing, there are no 'Bourne-girls' with smouldering eyes and sexy European accents to be jealous of. I like Marie well enough ( I think Franka Potente was great as Marie ) and she didn't die in the books but I certainly did not mourn her early demise in 'Bourne Supremacy'!

Speaking of Bond-girls, I thought that the girl who played Vesper looks very familiar but I couldn't for the life of me place where I've seen her before. It's only today that I read in the papers that she played Sybilla in 'Kingdom of Heaven'. Verper is gorgeous indeed but I don't think I would have like it one bit if Bourne falls in love with her.

Oh, another thing. The action sequence in 'Casino Royale' is fantastic. Almost as good as Bourne's. And that run when both of them ran like the Terminator? The Dogget-run, my husband calls it. Awesome.

I wonder. If it's a Bourne movie playing alongside 'Happy Feet', would it be trampled to second place the way Bond is? Or more to the point, if Bond and Bourne are shown at the same time, who would win?

Comments

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

One other film Bond: George Lazenby in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." He was only in the one film, between Sean Connery and Roger Moore.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Lazenby? I may have heard of him. He wasn't that well known, was he?

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

Don't think he was terribly well known. It was a good movie, though.

[honeyandvinegar.livejournal.com]

Y'now, I never got into Bond. I don't think I've seen any of the movies in full. Not my cuppa, but strange that I've never gotten into it. I dunno! Glad YOU ha fun, though. :)

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Only for this particular Bond movie. The previous ones were far-fetched bordering on the ridiculous in terms of, oh, everything! But I guess the men like them for the women and the toys :)

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Bourne would beat Bond, hands down, if it were up to me, and for all the reasons you stated. Very articulate analysis of the two heroes, by the way. If it were Bourne and Happy Feet? Sorry, Mumble would get me, although it would be very close.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

*bounces*

Now, that's a girl after my own heart :)

I can't wait for the 3rd installment of the Bourne trilogy to be shown!

[suzy-74.livejournal.com]

Excellent points you made and I agree with you.

I find Bond very boring and blasé. Don't matter how they try to "update" it in the later movies... the story is just so... not interesting. Kinda silly actually. I haven't seen the latest though. I'm afraid Daniel does not appeal to me at all.

Bourne. Now, that is a favorite book of mine. "Kain Identity" I think it's called.(?) I loved it and have read it a couple of times, many years ago now though. The movie, as movies of books usually are, does not give the whole picture but I found the first one quite exciting and good. And yes, Matt is not so wrong either. :D

Are they making a third?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I think you should give the latest a try. I don't even know Daniel Craig before this but I think he's hot and this coming from someone who agrees with you 100% that the previous Bond movies were kind of silly. And I forgot to mention that the Bond girls have extremely funny-sounding names :P

Yes, they're doing 'Bourne Ultimatum' now. But apparently they're just using the title. The story would be completely different from the book.

I love the 3 Bourne books! In fact, I rather enjoy the spy genre. I also love Tom Clancy, Frederick Forsythe and Trevanian. Do you read any of their books?

[suzy-74.livejournal.com]

I've read a few Clancy. I like that genre too. Heh, I even have one of his in my book shelf but... I've not read it yet! I don't remember the title but I think they made a movie of it. Don't know the other authors. Well, Forsythe seems familiar.

It really has been awhile since I read a "real" book. I borrowed the Davinci code from my brother like um, two years ago and still haven't read it. It just lies there. I guess I'm not very good at reading anymore.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm not very good at reading anymore.

I know exactly what you mean. I used to be able to finish a book within 3 days. Now it's more like 3 months :(

[melyanna-65.livejournal.com]

I remember I've seen a lot of Bond movies when I was a young girl (the ones with Sean Connery) then I've seen them anymore.

I liked The Bourne Identity, it was a pretty good movie.

But mostly, I jumped in to say hello to you and cuddle you a bit (it's been a long time!).

*many hugs*

[layne67.livejournal.com]

You should also see 'Bourne Supremacy'. That one is pretty -- supreme :))

The current 'Casino Royale' is a remake of the Sean Connery one, I think. I really have to watch the original version, for comparison, you know. And the young Connery is rather hot, too!

Ooh, I love being cuddled.

*burrows into your arms*

:D

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

:D

And thank you for giving it a try for my sake, well, sort of. LOL.

But I have no comment about Bourne since I haven't really seen the movies (even though Karl Urban was there) and read the books. I simply give Bourne to my sister. Frodo is enough for me. :D And now Craig, I guess.

But of course Happy Feet will beat them all! Heheh.

*hugs you*

[layne67.livejournal.com]

You really should give 'The Bourne Identity' a try and see for yourself why the latest Bond made me think of Bourne. The movie adaptation is rather different from the book though, they only took the general premise of an amnesiac govt assasin in search of his true identity.

And oh, Karl Urban rocked in that movie. See it for him then, if Matt Damon has no appeal to you whatsoever. But then, as I was saying, I think I'm more in love with the character Bourne that the real person himself! :)

ps I'm glad you're not mad at me for that bit on the Bond movies in general. Mind you, I love Daniel Craig as Bond and I really don't understand what the hoo-haa is about him being blond. He's better than all the Bonds put together and as one journalist here wrote, he kicks Brosnan's ass to Moonraker and back!

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen the movies, but never completely. I remember Karl died there. :(

Perhaps I will see the last of the series. :D

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Have you seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqN0av2XdXk

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Yes! :D