October 2002 Volume 83 Number 10 "serving the protectors"
Edited by John Ballantyne

The Bourne Identity

This hugely enjoyable movie is in the best tradition of Hollywood thrillers.

An unconscious man, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon, I, I), is found floating in the Mediterranean Sea.

After he has been rescued, a doctor examines him and discovers two bullet wounds and an implanted device that displays a Swiss bank account number.

With no clue to his identity beyond this code, the amnesiac Bourne travels to Zurich, Switzerland, and gains access to a safe-deposit box containing a gun, thousands of dollars in various currencies, and valid passports from numerous countries – each listing a different identity.

Within minutes, however, Bourne finds himself being pursued by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assassins.

In the midst of all the action, Bourne, to his utter bewilderment, discovers skills he never recalls possessing – a fluency in languages and an almost superhuman proficiency in martial arts.

He falls in with a nomadic young woman Marie (Franka Polente) and pays her $20,000 to help him flee to Paris.

Their situation grows ever more perilous, while both of them try frantically to discover who Bourne really is and why they are being hunted.

Based on Robert Ludlum’s best-selling spy novel, The Bourne Identity is a smart, character-driven story, with some good old-fashioned sleuthing and nail-biting suspense.

The Nugget

This new Australian release is based on a classic fable which has been re-told in many different guises.

The Nugget looks at how a lucky windfall suddenly changes the lives of three ordinary people – not always for the better, but always with hilarious consequences.

Three council workers – Lotto (Eric Bana), Wookie (Stephen Curry) and “Sue” (Dave O’Neil) are mates from way back. They work on the roads in the small country town of Mudgee, New South Wales, and on weekends go out to an old goldmining field hoping to strike it rich.

Suddenly everything changes when they stumble upon the world’s biggest nugget – worth many millions of dollars.

Says writer/producer/director Bill Bennett about The Nugget:

“I have always been fascinated by the ‘greed is good’ ethos and how wealth changes people in terms of bringing out their worst traits.

“I have also been interested in the notion of Australian mateship – what binds people together and what splits them apart.

“I decided I would explore those themes of mateship and greed together . . . in terms of a fable.”

The classic morality tale works brilliantly in this film because of the camaraderie and great sense of comic timing of the actors.

The villains of the piece are the delightfully wicked Ratner (Peter Moon), a sleazy little runt who owns the local car yard, and Dimitri (Vince Colosimo).

Stuart Little 2

The lovable talking mouse Stuart Little (voiced by Michael J. Fox) and his family (played by Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki) are back again for a sequel to the 1999 blockbuster Stuart Little.

Stuart is now a few years older and wiser. He is on the brink of adolescence, but has difficulty making friends.

Just then a lovely bird, Margola (voiced by Melanie Griffith), falls out of the sky into his life.

For the first time, Stuart has a friend who is his own size and who is really for him.

It’s his first adolescent crush.

When Margola mysteriously disappears, Stuart bravely sets out on a journey across New York City in order to save her from the clutches of the villainous Falcon whose lair sits atop one of the tallest buildings overlooking Manhattan.

Some wonderful comic relief is provided by the curmudgeonly family cat Snowbell (voiced by Nathan Lane), whose cynicism ensures that the film does not become too schmaltzy.

Eight-Legged Freaks

From the producers of Independence Day and Godzilla comes a B-grade horror-thriller to beat them all.

A toxic spill outside a nearly bankrupt Arizona mining town causes spiders to mutate and grow to a monstrous size.

It isn’t long before the hideous spiders are terrorizing the townspeople, and causing much running around, screaming, and horrible, lingering deaths.

In this homage to the low-budget B-grade thrillers of the early 1950s and 1960s, no expense has been spared on special effects.

Five breeds of spider scuttle around – the fast-moving jumping spider; the trapdoor spider that pops up in a flash and drags its victim underground; the spitting spider that envelops its prey in sticky webbing; the tank-like 10-foot tarantula; and the orb weaver that swoops down from high-rise buildings and wraps everything up tight as a mummy.

And did we mention sound effects?

The producers have lovingly recreated and amplified that gentle crunch and squelch you hear when you squash a spider on your bedroom wall.

This is a gooey, yucky, gross-out movie that the teenagers will adore.

Special Movie Offer
For your chance to win one of 10 double passes to Eight-Legged Freaks, put your details on the back of an envelope and send it to 8-Legged Freaks Comp, SA Police Journal (168)

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