4k-UHD/Movie Collection Review: The Bourne Complete Collection

 

This is a collection of the four Bourne movies starring Matt Damon (2002's The Bourne Identity, 2004's The Bourne Supremacy, 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, and 2016's Jason Bourne) and the 2012 spin-off film starring Jeremy Renner, The Bourne Legacy. Most of the movies center around the character of Jason Bourne (Damon), who, in the first movie, is fished out of the ocean with no memory of who he is. He discovers that he has superior fighting and espionage skills and is subsequently chased by government agents. He begins to regain fragments of his memory, discovering he is an assassin for a CIA black ops group code-named Treadstone. In The Bourne Legacy (set during The Bourne Ultimatum's events), we learn that Treadstone was one of many black-ops programs, including one called Outcome, which was creating a group of super-soldiers. The movies had strong supporting casts, including Julia Stiles, Rachel Weisz, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Karl Urban, Tommy Lee Jones, Edward Norton, Alicia Vikander, Paddy Considine, Clive Owen, and Vincent Cassel. The crux of each movie involves the heroes being chased down by the CIA or some branch of the CIA. They are mostly action thrillers with some drama (and humorous moments) mixed in. 

The 4K set is a six-disc set consisting of five UHD discs (one for each movie) and one regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD discs varies. They are packaged in a slim keep case, with all five movies held on their own base, which is held in an outer box. The audio quality of all the movies in UHD is outstanding. However, the video quality of the first three movies (Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum) is not much better than the 1080p regular Blu-Ray transfer. The video quality of Legacy and Jason Bourne is much better. Identity, Supremacy, Ultimatum, and Legacy can be played with a director's commentary track. There is no commentary track on Jason Bourne. The sixth disc has the remaining bonus materials, categorized by movie. They vary by movie but generally include deleted scenes, gag reels, and behind-the-scenes material. Each movie has an hour or more of bonus content. The bonus features are carried over from the original physical media releases of the movie. No new bonus material has been created for this set. Ultimately, this is a good set, but I would not call it a must-own if you already have the movies on Blu-Ray. You do not get anything new from those releases, and the A/V quality of the films in UHD is not a massive upgrade from the regular Blu-Ray (at least for three of the five movies). The movies themselves, however, hold up well and are worth watching if you are a fan of action-thrillers.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: Jason Bourne

 

Jason Bourne, released in 2016, is the fifth movie in the Bourne Franchise (which started with 2002's The Bourne Identity). It was directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Bill Camp, and Riz Ahmed. Greengrass (who directed The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum) returned to direct, and Damon and Stiles reprised their roles from the earlier films. The events of this movie are set about a decade after The Bourne Ultimatum and ignore the events of The Bourne Legacy (the spinoff movie that starred Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz). In it, Bourne is living in Greece, making a living as a street fighter. Nicky Parsons hacks into the CIA to expose the Black Ops programs (like Treadstone) and then seeks Bourne's help when she discovers a link between Bourne's father and Treadstone. From there, it becomes a typical Bourne movie in which Tommy Lee Jones's character (who plays the director of the CIA, Robert Dewey) sends an "Asset," played by Vincent Cassel, to take Bourne out. Alicia Vikander plays Heather Lee, the head of the CIA's cyber ops division, who is helping track Bourne. The storyline also includes the CIA planning to use a social media platform called Deep Dream, owned by Ahmed's character, Aaron Kallor, for real-time mass surveillance. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set, including UHD and regular Blu-Ray discs. The UHD disc just includes the movie. Unlike the prior films, this one does not have a commentary track. All the bonus content is on the regular Blu-Ray disc. It amounts to just under an hour of making-of and behind-the-scenes material. The movie is a good return to the Bourne Franchise. While I was not one of those who hated the spin-off movie, it was nice to see Damon return to the leading role (and he got extremely jacked for the role, which is no easy feat in your mid-40s as he was in when the movie was filmed). Personally, I would have liked to see him team up with Renner's character, but given that Legacy was mostly considered a flop, it is not surprising that didn't happen. It also seems like there may have been a falling out between Greengrass and Damon with Tony Gilroy, who was the screenwriter for the first four movies (and the director of Legacy) since he was not included in this movie (Greengrass and Christopher Rouse wrote this movie). Damon had made it clear that he would not return to the franchise unless Greengrass was the director, but none of the bonus features address any of that. 

The movie has a good storyline and is well-acted. It would have been nice if Julia Stiles had a larger role, but she was always a more minor character. It would also have been nice if this movie had included more of the fallout from the events of Ultimatum and Legacy (and maybe brought back Joan Allen and/or Edward Norton's characters). Still, as I said above, it ignores much of the prior movies, especially Legacy. Like the other films, it has a lot of action, including the requisite Boure chase scenes. This movie actually has two chase scenes, one early on and the other toward the end of the movie, going through the streets of Las Vegas. The storyline is mostly self-contained, so while it helps to watch at least the first three movies in the Franchise, you don't have to have seen the earlier movies to follow what is happening in this one. Ultimately, it is a good action-thriller and is worth your time to watch.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

 

The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 action-thriller. It is the third entry in the Bourne Trilogy, including 2002's The Bourne Identity and 2004's The Bourne Supremacy. It stars Matt Damon, Julia Stiles (reprising their roles from the first two movies), and Joan Allen (her role from the second movie). The new cast members of the franchise include David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, and Albert Finney. Paul Greengrass returns to direct the movie, and Tony Gilroy again wrote the screenplay.

In the film, we find out that there is a six-week gap between when Bourne leaves Moscow and when he calls Pamela Landy at the end of The Bourne Supremacy when she tells him that his real name is David Webb. Most of this movie fills in that six-week gap and gives more context to the call between Bourne and Landy. We also get Bourne's entire backstory and discover how he was brought into Treadstone. The film also reveals that Treadstone was a small part of a more extensive operation within the CIA. Julia Stiles finally has a larger role in this movie than she did in either of the first two films, and we get a couple of new antagonists.

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is good. The audio is outstanding, but the video is again upscaled from 2k, so it is not a huge leap in quality over 1080p. The UHD disc contains the movie, which can be played with the director's commentary track. The rest of the bonus material, including deleted scenes, a spy training guide, and about 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes material. You can also watch the movie in a U-control mode that integrates behind-the-scenes material while the movie plays. Ultimately, the movie is good and caps off the trilogy well. It is well-written and acted. Like the prior movies, you must suspend your disbelief and not try to think too hard about how Bourne survives the things he does, but if you can do that, it is enjoyable. If you liked the first two movies, this is absolutely worth watching.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Supremacy

 

The Bourne Supremacy is the 2004 sequel to The Bourne Identity. It is the second in the series of movies adapted from the Robert Ludlum novels. The film is directed by Paul Greengrass and brings back Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Franka Potente, Julia Stiles, Gabriel Mann, and Brian Cox reprise their roles from the first movie. Chris Cooper also returns for flashback sequences. Joan Allen and Karl Urban are the main additions to the cast for this film, and Michelle Monaghan plays a small role in the movie as well. Without giving too much away, Bourne and Marie have been living off the grid in India. Bourne gets pulled back into the world of Treadstone when he is targeted as a part of a setup to frame him for murder. From there, the movie involves Bourne trying to uncover the plot against him while playing a game of cat and mouse with the CIA, specifically the new deputy director, Pamela Landy, played by Joan Allen. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is good. The video is upscaled from 2k, so it does not look as good as a film in native 4k, but it is a bit of a step up from 1080p and better than the video quality for The Bourne Identity. The audio quality is wonderful, even without a great sound system. The only extra on the UHD disc is the director's commentary on the film by Greengrass. The rest of the bonus content is on the regular blu-ray disc, which includes several behind-the-scenes featurettes that total about an hour. Ultimately, this is a good action movie with some drama and humor mixed in. Damon (again) does an excellent job as Bourne and plays him with a wonderful level of intensity. Allen, Cox, and Stiles also do an excellent job in their respective roles. Stiles' role is still relatively small but different than it was in the first movie, and Cox's role is expanded in this film. If you liked the first movie (or are just a fan of the action thriller or spy genre), this is absolutely worth watching. 

4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Identity

 

The Bourne Identity is a 2002 action thriller directed by Doug Liman and adapted from Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. It stars Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Gabriel Mann, Julia Stiles, Clive Owen and Adewale Akinnouoye-Agbaje. Sharp-eyed viewers will also recognize Walton Goggins (from the excellent series Justified) in a minor role. The movie starts with Damon's character being pulled out of the ocean by the crew of a fishing vessel. He has been shot in the back and has no memory of who he is or where he comes from, and the only clue to his past is a small laser projector embedded in his hip with the name and address of a bank in Switzerland on it. He discovers that his name is Jason Bourne, and throughout the movie, he realizes that he speaks multiple languages and is highly skilled in fighting and counterintelligence. Potente is a woman he meets at the American consulate in Zurich who agrees to help get him to Paris in exchange for $20,000. The two are then pursued by local authorities and shadowy assassins with the same skills as Bourne. Bourne ultimately discovers that he is part of a CIA black ops program called Treadstone, which is run by Cooper's character, Alexander Conklin, who works for the deputy director of the CIA, Ward Abbott, who is played by Cox. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc's A/V quality is good. The audio is outstanding, but the video transfer is not as good as it should have been. The only bonus feature on the UHD disc is the director's commentary track. The other bonus material, which includes an alternate opening and ending, deleted and extended scenes, and about two hours of behind-the-scenes material, is on the regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie itself is a good blend of action and drama with a couple of humorous moments mixed in. Damon does a good job in the lead role, and although he is not extremely physically imposing, he does an excellent job in the action sequences. It is well-written and very well-acted, and while you do have to suspend your disbelief to accept that Bourne could survive everything he goes through in the movie, it is entertaining. If you are a fan of action thrillers or the spy genre, the movie is absolutely worth seeing. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is not a major step up from the regular Blu-Ray, so if you already own it on Blu-Ray, you may want to stick with that version, especially if you are a big A/V wonk.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Red Sparrow

 

Red Sparrow is a 2018 film adaptation of the first book in a trilogy of spy novels. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons, Mary-Louise Parker, and Joely Richardson. It centers around a Russian ballerina named Dominika (played by Jennifer Lawrence), who, after suffering a career-ending injury, is forced into a spy training program called the Red Sparrows, which trains young Russian women in spycraft.

An easy comparison for the film would be "The Americans" TV series. However, while there are some character parallels between Keri Russell's character on the show and Lawrence's character in the movie since it is set entirely overseas, the better comparison would be to Atomic Blonde, with less over-the-top fight scenes. The movie is a spy thriller with a KGB vs. CIA kind of plotline, with the loyalties of almost every character called into question at some point. While it is set in the modern-day (there are cell phones and laptops), because the spycraft in the novels was deliberately kept old so that the author did not reveal any modern-day secrets, the movie has a very cold-war 1970s-1980s feel to it. As a result, some of the technology in the film is very old-school. Those old enough to remember 3.5" discs will find it hilarious that they are being used to copy files off a modern-day laptop computer. If any laptop had a 3.5" disc drive, they have not been around in a long time.

The 4K set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc.  The UHD disc has just the movie and the director's commentary. The movie looks and sounds great in the ultra-high-definition format.  The regular Blu-Ray has all the other extras, including previews, deleted scenes, and over an hour's worth of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes. So, there is a decent amount of bonus material for those who like to watch the extras. Overall, the movie is very good. It is well-written and acted, and Lawrence takes on a different role than those she had played up to that point. The movie is very violent, and there is some nudity with a lot of sexual tones and themes. The movie is a bit different from the book it was adapted from, but it generally stays true to the story in the book.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Salt

 

Salt is a 2010 action/spy thriller starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The movie is kind of a mix between the Bond franchise, the FX show The Americans, and a combination of plot elements from lots of other spy/secret agent movies that have come down the pipe. In some ways, there is not a lot new here, but the twist of making the main character a woman, Evelyn Salt, played by Angelina Jolie, does add something that makes the movie stand out on its own. The movie is about a CIA agent, Salt, who is accused of being a Russian sleeper agent in the US who will carry out an assassination within a couple days. The movie then basically becomes part chase story, part is she, or isn't she a Russian Spy mystery, that really does not get resolved fully until the end. The main supporting roles go to Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor as fellow CIA agents trying to track her down and bring her in. The movie clearly sets up a possible sequel or even franchise of films that may or may not ever materialize. But even as its own stand-alone movie, it is very good.

The Blu-Ray is a single-disc release that contains three versions of the movie. First, there is the PG-13 theatrical version, an unrated director's cut, which has a different take on a death scene that would have pushed it to an R rating, a twist on the ending of the movie, and a bit more character development, mainly between Salt and her husband. There is also an unrated extended edition, which actually has a shorter running time than the director's cut, which mainly has a totally different ending from the other two films, plus the changed death scene. All three versions of the film are good and are honestly all worth watching. The extras include several behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes that end up running probably an hour and a half total. There is also a commentary track on the theatrical version of the film by the director Philip Noyce and some of the visual effects and sound crew members. The bonus content fleshes out the overall story and provides a lot of interesting history about the real KGB "illegals" program of placing spies in America and other countries, as well as some of the U.S. history of doing the same thing. And the AV quality of the movie in HD is very good. 

The movie has a good blend of action and suspense and does not reveal too much too soon into the movie. While I cannot say everyone will like the movie, if you are a fan of any of the principal actors and/or director or just generally like the spy movie genre, this is definitely worth checking out. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Anna

 

Anna is a 2019 movie written and directed by Luc Besson (who has directed movies such as The Professional, The Fifth Element, Taken, and Lucy) and starring Sasha Luss, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, and Helen Mirren. In the movie, Luss plays Anna, who is recruited into the KGB by Evans' character, Alex, and works under the direction of Mirren's character, Olga. She is trained as a KGB assassin with the promise of being discharged after five years. When the director of the KGB refuses to honor the agreement, Anna becomes a double agent for the CIA in exchange for a new life.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. Both of the discs include the movie and the special features. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good. It is not quite reference quality, but close. There are about 30 minutes of bonus material consisting of four different making-of featurettes. The movie is a good spy thriller, with a handful of action scenes spread out well throughout the movie. The story is not told linearly. It plays out similarly to the movie Memento. The movie starts partway through the story, and then flashbacks are used to tell Anna's backstory, to fill in gaps, or to show events from a different perspective than when they first played out. So, by the end of the movie, you know how Anna was recruited into the KGB and the CIA, but as you watch the movie, there are twists and turns that play out via the flashbacks. The action scenes that are in the movie are very good, but very violent. There is a bit of sexual content and one nude scene in which Luss is topless. So, it is not really a family-friendly movie.

Ultimately, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. Luss does a very good job in what was her second movie role, and Mirren pretty much dominated every scene she was in. Luss was especially good, considering she came from a modeling background and not an acting background. Evans and Murphy did well in their supporting roles, but neither were in the movie as much as Luss and Mirren. While it was not a blockbuster movie, it is much better than a lot of people will likely expect. So, if you are a fan of spy thrillers, this is worth the time to watch. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Alias: Seasons 1-5

 

+++Warning, this contains some spoilers from throughout the series.+++

This is the complete series of Alias which ran from 2001 to 2006 and starred Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Kevin Weisman, Greg Grunberg, Carl Lumby, and David Anders. In the early seasons, it also starred Merrin Dungey,  Bradley Cooper, and Sarah Shahi, and in later seasons, Lena Olin, Melissa George, Rachel Nichols, and Mia Maestro.  Alias was a great concept that got a little weird when it started to focus on the Rambaldi storyline. The first few seasons where the Rambaldi storyline was merely in the background and would be advanced in one or two episodes each season were great. Once it became the focus and the supernatural elements got more and more silly, the show definitely took a downturn. 

The crux of the storyline in the first season is that Jennifer Garner's character, Sydney Bristow, believed that she was working for the CIA (which she could not reveal to anyone), while she was really working for a shadow organization run by criminals. When the organization discovered that she told her fiancee that she worked for the CIA and he was killed by the organization she discovered who she was really working for and what she was really involved in. From there the show focuses on her life as a double agent and her attempts to bring down the rogue spy agency/criminal organization.

Where Alias really shined was character development and perfect casting. Every character that was around for a significant amount of time changed from the time they were first introduced. And of course, Alias was a world where being dead did not always mean staying dead. I think the best storyline of the series was the time jump and the way it was done. Sydney having lost two years with no memory, then finding out exactly how and why her memory was erased was a great payoff. Especially when that is the kind of story that often falls flat at the big reveal.

The one drawback to the series as I said before is by the end the entire focus was on the Rambaldi storyline, and making the whole supernatural/eternal life storyline. It really did change the feel of the show, and while it did provide a good explanation for Sloane's motivation from the beginning, I think it did better when those parts of the storyline were in a few episodes of the season as opposed to the focus of the season. Overall though if you are looking for a show that combines action, comedy, great acting, and a unique take on the spy world (plus the bonus of Jennifer Garner in skimpy outfits on a pretty consistent basis) this is a good one.

Book Review: Memorial Day: (Mitch Rapp Series Book 7 Chronological Order; Book 5 Publication Order)

 

At the time it was written, this was the fifth novel in the Mitch Rapp series of spy/assassin novels by Vince Flynn. It is the seventh book if you read the series chronologically, and the second book in the series written after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While the prior novel, Executive Power, did mention the 9/11 attacks, this was the first novel in which Flynn built the storyline around the fallout from the attacks. The plot of this book is that what was left of Al Qaeda planned another attack using a cell located in the United States to launch another attack on the country, this time using a nuclear bomb. Rapp discovers the plot when he is helping clear out a stronghold in Pakistan and then has to return to the US to attempt to foil the plot. 

The book is fairly fast-paced with an engaging story. Flynn does introduce a couple of new characters in this novel, the most prominent of which is Peggy Stealey, who is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of Counterterrorism, who, of course, butts heads with Rapp, and her boss, the Attorney General, Martin Stokes, who is angling to replace the Vice President on the ticket. Mitch's wife, Anna, is mostly absent during the events of this book, essentially written out as visiting her family in Wisconsin for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.  

In my opinion, this was the best book in the series (up to that point), and I think told a much more realistic story than Flynn's prior novels did (in which Iraq was made out to be a much larger threat than it really was). Of course, the plot and the characters were made up (he even refrained from using the names of the real Al Qaeda leadership), but Flynn again blended elements of real life into his story, including the controversy over whether torture (or the threat of it) should be used to interrogate terrorists at a time when the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used in real life were coming to light. Flynn does, despite the fact that he himself was a conservative, remain mostly apolitical in the storytelling and includes characters from both sides of the political spectrum, writing Rapp to pretty much despise all politicians and especially their hangers-on.  The story in the book is mostly self-contained, but there are definitely elements in the book that could be brought into the plots of the subsequent books. I started reading the books in chronological order, so this is the farthest in the timeline I have gotten, so I am not sure how much from this book will carry over into the other books, but it definitely seems like Flynn was setting some things up in this book that will pay off down the line. It is definitely worth reading if you liked the prior novels in the series. 

Book Review: Executive Power: (Mitch Rapp Series Book 6 Chronological Order; Book 4 Publication Order)

 

This is a continuation of the spy thriller/political thriller series of novels by the late Vince Flynn set around the character of Mitch Rapp. It is set down the line from the events of the prior novel, Separation of Power, in which Rapp was outed as a CIA asset by President Hayes after the mission in Iraq. Now, Mitch is basically saddled with an office job working for Irene Kennedy at the CIA, but he still manages to get into the thick of things (much to the displeasure of his boss, Irene Kennedy, and his wife, Anna). 

This novel has a couple of different storylines going on. The beginning of the book centers around an operation in the Philippines involving a corrupt general and a family of Americans being held hostage by terrorists. The main storyline in the novel is a plot that involves a Saudi Arabian prince who is working with a Palestinian assassin (who is also working with Ben Friedman, the fictional head of the Mossad, who has been a major character in the prior novels) in a scheme to get the UN to set up a Palestinian state.

In this novel, which is the fourth in the series if you read the books in order of publication, Flynn again blends real life with his fictional world. This was the first novel that was written after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and while Flynn does refer to the attacks, and does a play on names of one of the real 9/11 hijackers in naming one of his fictional terrorists, he does not extensively work the events of 9/11 into the book. Flynn also gives a nod to his Twin Cities roots by naming a character after a local reporter/talk show host. 

Overall, the book is another good action thriller. While I do not think the overall story is as good as the stories in Transfer of Power, The Third Option, and Separation of Power, it has a similar tone to all of those books there were just too many stretches in the book in which Rapp was absent or on the sidelines. That said, it is still worth reading.

Book Review: Separation of Power: (Mitch Rapp Series Book 5 Chronological Order; Book 3 Publication Order)

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior novel, The Third Option, but does not contain major giveaways from this book+++

Separation of Power is set a few weeks after the events of The Third Option, with Mitch having saved Anna from the hitmen hired by Cameron to take him out, Stanfield having died of cancer, and Irene Kenndy set to be nominated for director of the CIA. Mitch wants out of the spy life, but before he retires he wants to figure out who hired Cameron to kill him, which means a trip to Italy to track down Donatella, the former model turned spy who took Cameron out. Further complicating things is Mitch's plan to propose to Anna in Italy after he handles some business, that he of course cannot tell her about. That storyline heavily involves Senator Clark, the Arizona Republican (who is basically the main antagonist of the book) who is using the Democratic Congressman Rudin (who hates Kennedy and the CIA in general) to derail Kennedy's nomination without getting his own hands dirty.

The other major plotline of the novel is that the US finds out that Iraq is weeks away from developing three functional nuclear weapons hidden in a bunker under a hospital, requiring President Hayes, the CIA, and the Military to make a decision about how to prevent Saddam Hussein from finishing them.  As you would expect, both storylines intertwine toward the end of the book.

Overall, the book is a very good mix of spy action and political intrigue. The tone is very similar to the novels Transfer of Power and The Third Option, which were the first two books featuring Rapp that Vince Flynn wrote back in the late 1990s. The political storyline has a bit of a "House of Cards" feel to it, and the stuff directly involving Rapp has a very "24" feel to it. It also seems that members of George W. Bush's administration were reading this as a non-fiction book because much of the justification they used for invading Iraq a year or so after this was published seemed like it was taken directly from the pages of the book. That said, it is a good work of spy-thriller fiction with a story that flows very well and keeps readers engaged throughout. The book is just over 350 pages but reads pretty quickly, so if you are a relatively fast reader it can easily be finished in a few days. So, if you like spy novels and liked the books Transfer of Power and The Third Option (and American Assassin and Kill Shot if you are reading the books in chronological order), this is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: The Third Option (Mitch Rapp Series Book 4 Chronological Order; Book 2 Publication Order)

 

The Third Option is the third book written by Vince Flynn, and the second novel to feature the character Mitch Rapp (if you read the novels in the order they were published). If you read the series in chronological order it is the fourth in the Mitch Rapp series.

This novel is set sometime after the events of Transfer of Power, with Mitch wanting to get out of his clandestine work with the CIA and settle down with Anna, the reporter whose life he saved in the first book. He decides that his current mission, to assassinate a German arms dealer who has been selling weapons to Sadaam Hussein will be his last. The mission goes sideways when the people he is working with turn on him, causing Rapp to try and figure out who tried to take him out. 

Most of the events in the book are set in Washington D.C. Most of the major characters from Transfer of Power return in this book, and there are a few new major characters that are introduced. Some of whom will clearly be integral to later novels. Most of the story is wrapped up by the end of the book, but it is clear from reading the book that the story told in this one will play out over at least one additional book.

It is interesting reading Flynn's work while looking through the lens of history. His first books were written in the late 1990s and this one was published in 2000. In the real world Al-Queda was becoming the major terroristic threat, yet in Flynn's novels, Sadaam Hussein was much more of a threat than he was in reality. I am interested to see whether that changes at some point after the events of September 11, 2001. I am reading the books in chronological order so I have only read American Assassin, Kill Shot, Transfer of Power, and now this book. 

Overall, the book is very entertaining, with a nice blend of action and suspense. It does have a bit more political intrigue and behind-the-scenes backbiting and maneuvering than Transfer of Power Had. Even though Flynn was a pretty staunch conservative, he has no problem having bad guys in either party. If you ever listened to him being interviewed, he often sounded exasperated with politicians in general, regardless of party (at least the interviews that he did on local Twin Cities talk radio), and that sentiment does come through in this book. It is definitely a good read, and a must-read if you are into the spy novel genre.

Book Review: Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp Series Book 3 Chronological Order; Book 1 Publication Order)

 

Transfer of Power is the first novel in the series of spy novels centered on the character of Mitch Rapp, written by Vince Flynn in 1999. It was actually his second book, a quasi-follow-up to the novel Term Limits, which features some of the characters that would appear throughout the Mitch Rapp series, but not Rapp himself. In chronological order, this is the third book in the series, following American Assassin and Kill Shot, which were prequel novels that Flynn wrote after having written several novels involving the older, more experienced Rapp. In this book, Rapp is 31 years old and a seasoned terrorist hunter, so the events in this book are probably set around 6-7 years, give or take, after the events of the novel Kill Shot.

The book starts out with a team of CIA agents led by Mitch Rapp capturing a terrorist in Iran, only to discover a potential terrorist attack on Washington D.C. The attack involves a terrorist named Rafique Aziz and a team of terrorists capturing the White House, with the intention of taking the President (a fictional President named Hayes) hostage. Rapp has to infiltrate the White House which is under terrorist control and attempt to save the President and several other people being held hostage, all while having to deal with the political machinery with politicians, the military, and law enforcement all trying to figure out how to resolve the crisis.

For those who read American Assassin and Kill Shot first, this novel does not resolve things that were left open at the end of Kill Shot. Of course, at that time Flynn had not come up with those stories (just Rapp's backstory) and there is no mention of Stan Hurley and some of the other characters that appear in the first two novels. Although Irene Kennedy and Thomas Stansfield are prominently featured in this book. And we know that Rapp has been single for several years, so something happened to end his relationship with Greta. I have not read the novels that were written after Kill Shot (that resumed the story with an older Rapp), so I am not sure if there are tiebacks to either American Assassin or Kill Shot to fill in a bit of that time jump, but if you are reading the novels in publication order, it is not really an issue.

The book is a moderate length, just under 400 pages, but like American Assassin and Kill Shot, it reads fairly easily and quickly. It has a good blend of action and suspense and even a new love interest (new if you have read American Assassin and Kill Shot) for Rapp. It does seem that Flynn was still developing his writing style (which makes sense since this was the second novel he had ever written), but it is similar in style and tone to the later books.

And for those who may be curious, while Flynn was a fairly prominent conservative, his political leanings (beyond his general dislike for politicians as a whole) do not really come through in the book. In real-life Flynn was friends with Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, two of the most worthless pieces of shit ever in my opinion, but having heard Flynn interviewed on a local radio station here in the Twin Cities on a show that he appeared on regularly with a guy who was not a right-wing nut job, Flynn came off as a reasonable, more moderate conservative than the whack jobs that have taken over the Republican party. But, like I said, the book is more of an action and suspense thriller than it is a political novel (although there is some political intrigue and backbiting in the book). Unfortunately, since the American Assassin movie flopped, this story will probably never make it to the big screen, but a version of the storyline was adapted in the seventh season of 24. Even though Flynn was no longer a consultant on 24 at that point, it is clear that this novel served as inspiration for that storyline, as the character of Mitch Rapp did for the character of Jack Bauer, overall. So, if you are a fan of spy novels, this is a good one and is even a bit prophetic given things that happened in the lead-up to, and including the 9/11 attacks.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Atomic Blonde

 

Atomic Blonde is a spy thriller starring Charlize Theron and James McAvoy. The movie is set in Berlin, in 1989 on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall, when every spy in the city is at risk of being when an MI6 agent is killed by a KGB agent and a list of every agent operating in the city is stolen. Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, a high-ranking MI6 field agent, and McAvoy plays MI6's Berlin station chief. The plot of the movie is about agents from various spy agencies, including MI6, the CIA, KGB, and the French intelligence service trying to track down the list, but that is mainly filler between the fight scenes. The movie is based on a graphic novel and the violence is definitely very over-the-top as it tends to be in many of the film adaptations of graphic novels.  There is also some sexual content, including a sex scene between Theron and Sofia Boutella. 

For those who get the 4k set, as usual, you get a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the 4k disc is very good, although neither is what real A/V wonks would call reference quality. The only extra on the UHD disc is a commentary track on the movie by the director and the editor. The rest of the bonus content is on the regular blu-ray, and those include deleted and extended scenes totaling about seven minutes, a handful of making-of featurettes that total about twenty-two minutes with the shortest being about four minutes and the longest being just under eight minutes. Then there is a short storyboard sequence for a couple of the action scenes.

The movie is a good action spy thriller. Theron has proven she has the chops for action movies multiple times over the course of her career, but the fact that she can pull off an action lead in her 40s and do as well as she did in her early 30s is impressive. The movie is definitely not appropriate for young kids as it has a lot of violence, swearing, and sexual content. But otherwise, if you are in the mood for a good action movie that you do not have to pay constant attention to in order to follow what is going on, this is a good one.

DVD/TV Series Review: Hunted

 

Hunted is a 2012 series starring Australian Actress Melissa George, who is probably best known (at least in the US) for her role in the series Alias from 2003-2004. The series is short, with just eight episodes on two discs. 

In the series, George plays Samantha (Sam) Hunter, who is a spy for a private espionage firm named Byzantium. While on a mission in Tangiers she is attacked and shot. Believing that she was set up by someone in Byzantium, she goes off the radar for a year she returns to the agency determined to figure out who set her up. She is also tasked with a new mission to go undercover as the nanny/tutor of the son of a former high-level criminal who is bidding on a Dam in Pakistan. 

For those who get the DVD set, it is just a MOD set with the episodes only. There are no extras or bonus material. The show has a good mix of action and suspense, with some twists and turns along the way. Because it got canceled pretty early into its run, not everything gets wrapped up in a nice bow by the end. Although, it does not end on a major cliffhanger either. There is brief nudity in the first episode, but after that, there is not a ton of sexual content (especially for a series that ran on Cinemax). George does a good job as the series lead and the show has a good supporting cast including Adam Raymer and Stephen Dillane. 

The series is good but was really never given a chance to find its footing. So the fact that it ends with a lot of open and unresolved questions may prevent some people from really enjoying it. There were rumors in the years after the show was canceled about a season two or a movie to at the very least bring back the character of Sam, but those never came to fruition. So just be aware, if you watch this, that the series just kind of ends without much of a payoff. 

DVD/TV Series Review: The Americans: Season 5

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from prior seasons, but no major season 5 spoilers+++

The fifth season of The Americans, which is the second to last season, served to both tie up or advance older storylines, and set up the storylines going into the final season. Phillip and Elizabeth (Matthew Rhys and Kerri Russell) are dealing with the fallout of Paige telling Pastor Tim their true identities, and are trying to keep him from ratting them out while debating how to deal with him without hurting Paige. Oleg (Costa Ronin) is back in Moscow, still grieving Nina's death, but trying to move on in his new job investigating food chain corruption. Paige (Holly Taylor) is getting more and more entrenched in her parent's spy life and having a hard time adjusting, while Henry (Keidrich Sellati) is still in the dark hoping to go to a prestigious boarding school. 

As in past seasons, there are a couple of big themes that run throughout the season. The main one involves an agriculture program that threatens the Soviet Union's food supply, and the second is a continuation of the prior season's biological warfare story arc, and the threat of weaponizing Lassa fever. Toward the end of the season, Phillip's mission involving Kimmy (Julia Garner) picks up again, and he is again put in a very uncomfortable position trying to keep Kimmy on the hook. 

The DVD set is what I would describe as a MOD plus set. The A/V transfer is mediocre, at best, and it only has a few extras. Those are a handful of deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the TNT First Look for the new season. The extras are not nearly as extensive as the season one blu-ray release got, and the DVD video transfer is nowhere near the season one blu-ray transfer quality. So, the only big reason to get the DVD set versus just streaming the show is to keep a collection complete.

The show continues to be well-written and very well-acted. There is still a lot of violence and sexual content, so it is definitely not a family-friendly show. The series definitely seems to be setting up Stan to figure things out, but the big question is going to be how will he do so. There are some good new additions to the cast, including Peter Jacobson (who was a series regular in the middle seasons of the series House) as a new member of the FBI team and Laurie Holden as a new love interest for Stan, brought back Allison Wright for a small side story, and included the great recurring characters of Gabriel and Claudia, played by Frank Langella and Margo Martindale. If you liked the prior seasons, then this one is definitely worth watching.

Book Review: Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp Series Book 2 Chronological Order; Book 12 Publication Order)

 

Kill Shot is the second book in the Mitch Rapp series of spy novels written by the late author Vince Flynn (if you read them chronologically). If you read the books in publication order it is the twelfth book in the series. The events in the book are set a year after those in the American Assassin novel, and the majority of the action in this novel takes place in Paris. We find that Rapp has been working his way through a list of terrorists involved in the planning and execution of the Pan Am 103 bombing, in which his ex-girlfriend was killed. While taking out a person on the list, he is ambushed and quickly concludes that he was set up by someone and tries to discover, of the small number of people who knew the targets on the list, and in what order Rapp would go after them, who set him up.

So far, I have only read one other book in the series, American Assassin, and found the tone and pacing of this novel to be very similar. Flynn balances out the action and suspense with some excellent detective work by Rapp, throws in some sex between Rapp and his love interest from the first novel, Greta, and bounces between what Rapp is doing in Paris with what the CIA characters like Irene Kennedy, Stan Hurley, and Thomas Stansfield are doing in Virginia trying to figure out if Rapp has gone Rouge. There are definitely tie-ins with the story from American Assassin and a side plot that involves a French police officer and a member of France's DGSE (Directorate General for External Security), their equivalent of the CIA.

This book, published in 2012, would be the second to last full novel that Flynn would finish before his death in 2013. In fact, in the forward, he discusses his treatment and thanks his medical team, and dedicated the book to his doctors and his wife. As most know, Flynn started writing the Mitch Rapp character in the novel Transfer Of Power (which was technically the second novel of Flynn's career published in 1999), when Rapp was well into his career as a terrorist hunter for the CIA. American Assassin and Kill Shot were prequel novels that Flynn wrote when fans started clamoring for a Rapp origin story.  While I cannot say that everyone who likes or loves the original novels (because, as I have said, I have not read them yet) centered around the older version of Rapp, I can say that if you liked the American Assassin novel then you will probably like this one. 

DVD/TV Series Review: The Americans: The Complete Fourth Season

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major season 4 spoilers+++

The fourth season of The Americans continues some of the storylines from prior seasons (tying some of them up completely and shifting others) and introduces new storylines. The big new storyline involves bioweapons and brings in the great character actor Dylan Baker as another soviet living in the US and working as a biochemical scientist. The storyline with Martha, after Phillip revealed his real identity to her in the prior season, takes a prominent role this season and both he and Martha are in constant danger of being discovered by the FBI. Phillip and Elizabeth also have to deal with the fallout of Paige telling Pastor Tim about her parents, trying to figure out whether to kill him and risk alienating Paige further.

For those who get the DVD set, the A/V quality is definitely not as good as it could be, and one of those where the streaming quality (in HD) is better than what you get on the physical discs. The extras are very bare bones, just some deleted and extended scenes. There are no behind-the-scenes features or commentary tracks as there have been in prior seasons. So, this basically amounts to little more than an MOD set, and one of those series that Fox (which has heavily preferred steaming) only puts out a bare-bones set. So really, the only reason to get the DVDs is that you want to keep your collection current.

Overall, the season is very good. There are definitely twists and turns throughout the season, and the series ratches up the tension as Phillip and Elizabeth are always in danger of being caught. The cast is top-notch, not only the main cast but the supporting characters as well. Margo Martindale and Frank Langella are great as Philip and Elizabeth's handlers, and Julia Garner does a great job as Kimmy in her limited role. Matthew Rhys gives a standout performance this season playing Phillip as very conflicted and torn between being a good Soviet and an American becoming more and more disillusioned with his real job. There is a lot of violence and some sexual content as there has been in every season, although I would say that the sex is a bit toned down in this season. If you have been a fan of the series up to this point, it is definitely still worth watching. If you are looking for a new series to watch, start this at season one and enjoy.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service

 

Kingsman: The Secret Service is a 2014 movie starring Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, and Sofia Boutella. It is an action-spy movie with some comedy (mostly dark humor) mixed in. The storyline revolves around Gary "Eggsy" Unwin's (played by Taron Egerton) recruitment by Harry Hart (code name Galahad, played by Colin Firth ) and training in a secret spy organization. His first mission is to bring down an eco-terrorist, Richmond Valentine, who is played wonderfully by Samuel L. Jackson. Valentine wants to reverse climate change by wiping out almost all humans on Earth. There is a strong supporting cast including Sofia Boutella, who plays Valentine's assistant Gazelle and is a double amputee with sharp blades for feet, Mark Strong as Hamish Mycroft / Merlin, Sophie Cookson as Roxanne "Roxy" Morton / Lancelot, Michael Caine as Chester King / Arthur, and even has Mark Hamill in an extended cameo role.

For those who get the blu-ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. There are only a handful of extras, the most extensive of which is a six-part behind-the-scene feature titled Kingsman: The Secret Service Revealed. Then, there are image galleries, the theatrical trailer, and previews for other movies. So, while there are not a ton of extras, the making-of documentary is very well done.

Overall, the movie is a very good, over-the-top blend of action and comedy. The action sequences are very violent and gory but in a tongue-in-cheek way (similar to those in Kill Bill) as opposed to the gore in movies like Saw. The acting is wonderful all around. Jackson Hams it up constantly, Firth is great as a buttoned-down English gentleman, and Taron Egerton does a great job as the lead. There is not much in the way of sexual content (aside from innuendo) or nudity until the very end, which is basically a joke that closes out the movie. That said, it is definitely not something that is appropriate for young kids, if nothing else, because of the violence. So, if you are looking for a fun action movie that you put on to kill a couple of hours without having to watch every second of it to be able to follow what is going on, this is a good one.