Matt Damon makes transformation to macho (Macho, Macho Man. Damon's got to be, a macho man)

MSNBC ^ | 3/11/2010 | msnbc

[tobyhill]

It may have required a colossal leap of imagination for moviegoers to accept the actor who played the sensitive, lonely and confused Tom Ripley in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” in the action-packed role of lethal government-trained assassin Jason Bourne. But when director Doug Liman first set out on the casting path for “The Bourne Identity,” the 2002 box office hit that was the first installment in the lucrative franchise, it didn’t take him long to choose Matt Damon as his leading man.

“I wanted to create the thinking man’s action movie,” said Liman, who recently finished shooting “Fair Game,” about the Valerie Plame saga, with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. “Matt comes across as so smart and so cerebral that he was the ideal choice for me. As Jason Bourne, he makes very intelligent choices even as he keeps kicking people’s asses. In fact, the style of fighting that we chose minimizes his own personal energy exertion and uses his opponent’s energy against him.

[Touch Not the Cat]

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Twink.

Traitor twink.

[Nipfan]

I completely agree. Whatever his politics, he’s an exellent actor and a credit to any film he’s in. I recently saw Invictus and he was simply outstanding. His Oscar nomination was well deserved.

[Future Snake Eater]

I loved that scene, too. The whole second movie was just outstanding (though I was kinda confused by the fight scene between Bourne and that other assassin in Munich—seemed like it really didn’t have to happen, but they needed an action scene...).

The third movie was still pretty good, and that fight scene with Desh was the best of the trilogy. Absolutely outstanding work.

I agree about Damon in general. He can be as big a political idiot as he wants (this is America, after all), that doesn’t make him any less of an actor. His work in “Good Will Hunting,” the “Bourne” movies, and “The Departed” were all outstanding. He was good in “Ripley,” but that movie was just plain unsettling, so I couldn’t really stand and applaud (though the last shot in the movie on the ship with all the mirror doors swinging around him was very cool).

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

FSE, based on your comments I’ll give the third Bourne a second try. I do have good memories of the parking-structure scene. But like nipfan, the 2nd movie just blew me away, so maybe my problem was that the 3rd fell short of that mark. Most movies do. It’s a special delight that you folks also noticed that scene in the gendarme’s office! Riveting, perhaps the finest few minutes’ acting I’ve seen. Just a flick of his eyes...

I’m glad to see there are others who can separate the art from the artist. Like all of us, Damon is many things: in his case: a talented writer, on at least one occasion a lout towards a woman, certainly a leftist idiot, and above all a mesmerizing actor— IMHO the best of his generation.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"He was good in “Ripley,” but that movie was just plain unsettling, so I couldn’t really stand and applaud (though the last shot in the movie on the ship with all the mirror doors swinging around him was very cool)."

"Unsettling" is a great term for it. That movie really gets under your skin, doesn't it. Superb work by all involved. I'd personally say Damon's performance well passed "good." IMHO it could not have been better; Ripley and his simmering mental issues were definitive. Throughout the movie you have this swelling sense that things cannot end well... and then... whoa. Edge-of-your-seat stuff, not easily let go after the credits roll.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

As to this, however: “the sensitive, lonely and confused Tom Ripley in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’...”, the reviewer reveals that he has no clue whatsoever about that movie. Ripley wasn’t sensitive, lonely or confused. He was a sociopathic, self-loathing homosexual murderer. Bit of a difference. And Damon nailed it. A magnificent theatrical achievement.

I don't like Damon's politics, but I agree about Mr. Ripley.