The Bourne Conundrum

The critics were split on the release of the latest Jason Bourne movie, called, well, it was called Jason Bourne.  It was the return to the franchise by both Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass, and opened to an encouraging $60 million.  That makes it the second highest opening weekend for a Bourne movie, putting it only nine million behind the opening take of 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum.

While my podcast co-host Christopher enjoyed the movie enough to recommend it, the key fault that kept me from going that far was the camera style.  It was incredibly shaky throughout, and I felt that it led to the film being overwhelmed by the one technique.  Shaky works at times, but when it is used for all shots, be them action or subtle scenes of dialogue, it looses its power.

On top of that, it made some of the brilliant chase scenes feel as though they were not allowed to shine.  There was a great deal of attention paid to coordinating and executing these sequences, with a lot happening in the background.  Because of the shaking camera and super fast edits, it was difficult to take any of it in and really experience what the characters were going through.

Thank goodness it wasn't in 3D...

At least, that was the case in North America.  The movie has begun its Asian rollout, and some people are not extremely happy with the fact that it is playing primarily in the third dimension.  That's right.  A movie with insanely fast edits and a shaky style (which, as mentioned, can work at times) has been converted to 3D, something that audience members in China say are ruining the experience.

There has even been a protest over it.  Movie goers got together to demand a refund on their ticket purchases, claiming that the film was difficult to sit through in 3D.  I could only imagine the pain of the experience.  Not everything is equal when it comes to adaption for 3D.

While it was only a small group of people protesting, it shows the side of Hollywood that is all about the money instead of the art form.  The Asian markets were selected for the conversion because of their previous acceptance and love for the format in other action films.  The difference is that those action films were shot with 3D in mind.  This one was not.  It is a move to exploit higher ticket prices from the public by cramming Jason Bourne into something that it is not meant to be.

In North America, at least in Canada, where I am located, bumping up to paying the admission price of a 3D movie is usually the difference of three dollars or so.  That is not the case in China.  The ticket prices for 3D movies are roughly twice what it costs to see it in two dimensions.  That is quite the price hike, especially for something that the rest of the world gets to see in its intended format.

Having 3D as an option is not a bad idea, but that is not really the case in the Asian markets.  In Beijing, eight out of one hundred and forty nine theatres ran the 2D option.  It's worse in Shanghai where only 9 out of 174 theatres screened the film in 2D.  Those screenings are said to have been in remote areas or during non-prime movie going hours.  Universal has responded by saying that it will release more screenings in 2D.

So, what's the point?  Well, it has felt like this summer, more than before, that theatres were making seeing a two dimensional offering of a 3D film more difficult.  In Brantford, where I live, the only screenings that were in 2D were between the hours of 4 and 5pm.  Not early enough in the day to be home for supper, and not late enough in the day to have a complete afternoon.  It was obvious that the exhibitors were making all of the efforts possible to keep people paying the money to see the films in 3D.

Even though I thought we had it bad, it is not close to the same situation over seas.  This episode with Jason Bourne shows that the main driving force in the end product is about money, and not about the quality of the film.  Anyone who has seen Jason Bourne, whether they liked it or hated it, will most likely tell you that they were thankful it was not a 3D movie.  It just was not built that way, and we are seeing that the drive to get double the ticket prices in an expanding market outweighs the measure of the product that is being sold.