This is the second-to-shortest of the half a dozen featurettes on the DVD of The Bourne Ultimatum, and thus part of the "explosive bonus content" that the back of the cover lures you into the very worthwhile purchase(if you like the film and/or the series). It consists of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with cast and crew alike and a couple of clips of the movie(if you haven't already seen it, you should not watch this, even though it doesn't hold as many spoilers as some of these documentaries), that particular scene. In five minutes, you see material of the rehearsals and practicing that went into the awesome and unforgettable fight, and they get into how they made it safe for them, with the props and such. It's all well-edited, with everything kept concise and brief. This has some really cool martial arts, shown and talked about. It's well-paced and things are explained nicely. And you get to see Damon and Ansah each do an Arnie impression lasting all of a few seconds, if that makes any difference to your decision on whether or not to pursue this. I recommend this to anyone who enjoyed that part of the flick. 7/10
2 Reviews
Towel vs Razor
Chip_douglas14 January 2009
We start of in Marocco on 'Desh's day off'. This is of course Jason Bourne's fittest adversary yet as played by Joey Ansah, seen here practicing Capoeira moves and other martial arts tricks on the beach. From there we move over to Pinewood studios, where the actual four piece fight scene was photographed over the course of two and a half exhausting days.
As always, fight choreographer Jeff Imada came up with some intriguing common house hold objects for the two top agents to grab and beat each other up with. Naturally Bourne, being the good guy putting the emphasize on common while Desh prefers to go for dangerous. First Jason hits Desh in the Adam's apple with a hard bound cookbook while Desh swings back at him with an ornate pedestal ashtray. As the fight moves into the bathroom, Desh tries to cut Bourne with a straight razor, Jason protects himself with a towel. Prop man (sorry, Breakaway and Safety prop man) Thomas Jones shatters the illusion by showing the world that these potential murder weapons are specially prepared soft replicas.
Matt Damon also pipes in, telling the camera that he studies balance and learns it like a dance rather than try to compete with the actual martial artists. After all, his character is basically fighting a younger, leaner, more improved version of himself (according to Imada). Still, at the the end of the day just like all the other guys at the gym, Mattie and Joey can't resist doing a little Hanz & Franz impersonation of Gov. Arnie. Boys will be boys, after all.
7 out of 10
As always, fight choreographer Jeff Imada came up with some intriguing common house hold objects for the two top agents to grab and beat each other up with. Naturally Bourne, being the good guy putting the emphasize on common while Desh prefers to go for dangerous. First Jason hits Desh in the Adam's apple with a hard bound cookbook while Desh swings back at him with an ornate pedestal ashtray. As the fight moves into the bathroom, Desh tries to cut Bourne with a straight razor, Jason protects himself with a towel. Prop man (sorry, Breakaway and Safety prop man) Thomas Jones shatters the illusion by showing the world that these potential murder weapons are specially prepared soft replicas.
Matt Damon also pipes in, telling the camera that he studies balance and learns it like a dance rather than try to compete with the actual martial artists. After all, his character is basically fighting a younger, leaner, more improved version of himself (according to Imada). Still, at the the end of the day just like all the other guys at the gym, Mattie and Joey can't resist doing a little Hanz & Franz impersonation of Gov. Arnie. Boys will be boys, after all.
7 out of 10
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
