TheMovieStory

Cloverfield is a 2008 monster/horror film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard. Before the film’s release Paramount Pictures carried out a viral marketing campaign to promote the film. The campaign included viral tie-ins similar to Lost Experience.[5] The film follows five young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city. First publicized within a teaser trailer in screenings of Transformers, the film was released on January 17 in New Zealand and Australia, on January 18 in North America, on January 24 in South Korea and on February 1 in Ireland, in the UK and in Italy. In Japan, the film was released on April 5.

Plot summary

The film is presented as a video file recovered from a digital hand-held camera by the United States Department of Defense. At the start of the film, it is stated the camera was “found in US-447, area formerly known as Central Park”. The main record of events is interspersed with footage shot on a personal hand-held camera used by various characters prior to the crisis.

On April 27 at 6:42am, Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) awakens after spending a romantic night with longtime platonic friend Beth (Odette Yustman) in her father’s Columbus Circle apartment. They plan to visit Coney Island for the day.

On May 22, Rob’s brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas) prepare a Manhattan apartment for Rob’s farewell party, as he has accepted a job as a vice president in his company’s office in Japan. Rob’s best friend Hudson “Hud” Platt (T. J. Miller) is given a camera by Jason and the responsibility of recording final goodbyes from family and friends at the party, but instead unsuccessfully flirts with his crush, Marlena (Lizzy Caplan). Beth arrives with a date, Travis (Ben Feldman), which upsets Rob. To his dismay, he realizes Hud is taping over footage of him and Beth, including their trip to Coney Island, which shows up intermittently throughout the film. Lily reveals Rob and Beth slept together several weeks previously, which Hud then shares with other people at the party, making the matter worse. Rob provokes Beth and her date into leaving the party.

While Hud and Jason try to talk to Rob, a brief blackout occurs, and the building shakes. A loud guttural roar can be heard emanating from outside as there is a blackout throughout the city. When the power returns, everyone turns on the local news, where the anchor explains that there was an earthquake and an oil tanker has capsized in the bay off Lower Manhattan. Curious partygoers and apartment dwellers go up to the roof to spot the disaster, where they witness an explosion in Lower Manhattan. As fire and debris begin to rain down, the partygoers flee to the street below. The head of the Statue of Liberty, damaged and charred, crashes down into the street beside them. Hud is able to record a glimpse of what seems to be a giant monster moving through the city. The Woolworth Building collapses in its wake, causing Rob, Jason, Hud and Lily to take refuge in a nearby convenience store while the creature passes, causing extensive damage to the streets around the store. After the confusion and panic, the streets fall silent, and the group finds Marlena outside, obviously shaken by the events, who mentions that she saw the monster eating people. They argue with each other then they decide to use Brooklyn Bridge to exit Lower Manhattan.

On the bridge, they see the capsized oil tanker and the Headless Statue of Liberty. Rob, Jason, Hud, Marlena, and Lily leave on foot via the Brooklyn Bridge. While walking across, Rob gets a cell phone call from a distressed Beth, who tells him that she is stuck in her apartment and unable to move. Hud calls out for Marlena and Lily, but Jason, unable to hear them clearly, does not stop walking. The bridge begins to shake as the monster’s tail suddenly appears and crushes the bridge, killing Jason along with countless others. The bridge collapses as the remaining five and thousands more retreat to the Manhattan streets, with Hud managing to film the destruction and collapse of the Brooklyn Bridge.

As Marlena tries to comfort the grieving Lily over the loss of her boyfriend, Hud approaches Rob, who is still stunned at what had just occurred. Suddenly remembering that his phone conversation with Beth had been interrupted, Rob stops at an electronic store that is being looted where he steals a cell phone battery and finishes listening to Beth’s message. Hud sees the Brooklyn Bridge’s full collapse on the news while outside the military engages the monster as it scratches its back against a skyscraper. The soldiers are attacked by parasitic spider/crab-like creatures that fall off the monster. After some arguing, the four proceed to Manhattan streets to find Beth.

As the group is trekking through the largely deserted streets to Beth’s apartment, they are suddenly caught in a crossfire between the monster and the United States Military, who are attacking the creature with various armoured fighting vehicles and infantry units. The friends barely manage to escape into the Spring Street subway station, although Hud is able to catch a glimpse of the monster’s face. After a long while of hiding, the group decides to go through the subway tunnels to reach Beth’s apartment. In the tunnels they are attacked by several parasites; one parasite grabs Hud and tries to drag him away, but Marlena manages to fend it off with a pipe, only to be attacked and bitten by another parasite. The group flees and takes refuge in a Transit Authority office. Marlena and Hud have an intimate conversation when looking at her bites. The group escapes into the abandoned Bloomingdale’s via the 59th Street subway station, and are engaged by Sergeant Pryce and a squad of infantry, who has taken cover inside the department store and set up a field hospital and command center to treat the hundreds of wounded people while coordinating the military response. Marlena begins to bleed from her bodily orifices. When she is revealed to have been bitten, two men in hazmat suits grab Marlena and take her behind a curtain while Lily, Rob and Hud are grabbed by soldiers and taken away. Hud turns to film at the curtains, just in time to see Marlena’s stomach expand and explode. Rob and the others don’t have much time to grieve as Sergeant Pryce allows them back up to the streets, but warns them to report to a military evacuation site before 6:00 a.m., which is when the last helicopter evacuates Manhattan and the military will enact its ‘Hammerdown’ protocol, which will allow for the sacrifice of Manhattan if necessary to kill the monster and its parasites.

The group continues to Beth’s apartment at Time Warner Center, finding her tower partially collapsed into the adjacent building. The three climb the standing tower and cross onto the roof of Beth’s building and work their way down to her apartment. Beth is found trapped, impaled on a piece of rebar. After the painful rescue, they make their way to an aerial evacuation site near Grand Central Terminal and encounter the monster once more, while the military continues to ineffectively attack it. At the landing zone, Lily is raced into a departing UH-1 helicopter without her friends. A few moments later- Rob, Beth and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter. In the helicopter, they see the monster carpet bombed by a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and it appears to be killed. Just as Hud begins hailing victory over the monster, it reaches up out of a cloud of smoke and attacks the helicopter. The helicopter crashes into a grassy clearing in Central Park. A single frame from the 1933 King Kong movie is inserted here, showing the giant ape being attacked by biplanes. The three survive the crash and hear a voice on the helicopter’s radio warning of the Hammerdown protocol being effected in fifteen minutes, with the pilot telling anyone listening that if they can hear the air raid sirens going off, then they’re in the blast zone and have only two minutes to hustle it out. Hud and Beth pull an injured Rob clear of the wreckage, but Hud returns to recover the camera, and as he does so, the monster appears above him. It examines Hud for a few moments before reaching down to eat him. The monster bites Hud in half and spits out his torso and the camera. Rob rushes forward and retrieves the camera before fleeing with Beth.

The pair take shelter under a bridge in Central Park as air raid sirens begin to blare in the distance, indicating that the “HammerDown” protocol is about to be put into effect. Rob and Beth quickly take turns leaving their last testimonies on camera, just as numerous explosions occur outside and the monster can be heard screaming. The bridge collapses and, as debris cover the camera, Rob and Beth can be heard professing their love to one another before another explosion occurs.

The film cuts to Rob and Beth’s Coney Island date, during which a distant object can be faintly and briefly seen falling from the sky into the ocean accompanied by a faint noise similar to that heard when the monster first arrives.[6] After the credits roll, a garbled radio sound clip can be heard. When played backwards, the audio says, “It’s still alive.

Cast

• Michael Stahl-David as Rob Hawkins
• Mike Vogel as Jason Hawkins
• T.J. Miller as Hudson “Hud” Platt
• Odette Yustman as Elizabeth “Beth” McIntyre
• Jessica Lucas as Lily Ford
• Lizzy Caplan as Marlena Diamond

Production

Filming

The casting process was carried out in secret, with no script being sent out to candidates. With production estimated to have a budget of $30 million, filming began in mid-June in New York.[10] One cast member indicated that the film would look like it cost $150 million, despite producers not casting recognizable and expensive actors.[7] Filmmakers used the Sony CineAlta F23 high-definition video camera to film nearly all of the New York exterior scenes.[16] Filming took place on Coney Island, with scenes being shot at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park and the B&B Carousel.[17] Some interior shots were filmed on a soundstage at Downey, California, Bloomingdale’s in the movie was actually filmed in an emptied Robinsons-May store in Arcadia, California while the outside scenes of Sephora and the electronics store were filmed in Downtown Los Angeles [18]

The film was shot and edited in a cinéma vérité style,[19] to look like it was filmed with one hand-held camera, including jump cuts similar to ones found in home movies. T. J. Miller who plays Hud, has said in various interviews that he filmed a third of the movie and mostly half of it made it into the movie.[20] Director Matt Reeves described the presentation, “We wanted this to be as if someone found a Handicam, took out the tape and put it in the player to watch it. What you’re watching is a home movie that then turns into something else.” Reeves explained that the pedestrians documenting the severed head of the Statue of Liberty with the camera phones was reflective of the contemporary period. According to him: “Cloverfield very much speaks to the fear and anxieties of our time, how we live our lives. Constantly documenting things and putting them up on YouTube, sending people videos through e-mail – we felt it was very applicable to the way people feel now.”[21]

Several of the filmmakers are heard but not seen in the film. The man yelling “Oh my God!” repeatedly when the head of the Statue of Liberty lands in the street is producer Bryan Burk, and director Matt Reeves voiced the whispered radio broadcast at the end of the credits.[15]

After viewing a cut of the film, Steven Spielberg suggested giving the audience a hint at the fate of the monster during the climax, which resulted in the addition of a countdown overheard on the helicopter’s radio and the sounding of air raid sirens to signal the forthcoming Hammerdown bombing.[15]

Hancock is a 2008 superhero film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, and Charlize Theron. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Smith), from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars. Eventually one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock’s public image for the better.

The story was originally written by Vincent Ngo in 1996 and languished in development hell in Hollywood for some time. The project has had various directors attached, including Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Jonathan Mostow, and Gabriele Muccino. Hancock was originally intended to be filmed before I Am Legend, also starring Will Smith. Hancock was filmed in Los Angeles with a production budget of $150 million.

In the United States, the film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America after changes were made at the organization’s request in order to avoid a “restricted” (R) rating, which it had received twice before. The film was widely released on July 2, 2008 in the United States and the United Kingdom. Hancock has received relatively poor reviews from critics, with a 36% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, a reviews aggregator website. To date, the film has grossed an estimated $345,234,000 worldwide.

Plot

John Hancock (Will Smith) is an alcoholic man with superhero powers, including flight, invulnerability, and super-strength. Though he uses his powers to stop criminals in his current residence of Los Angeles, his activity inadvertently causes millions of dollars in property damage due to his constant intoxication. As a result, he is routinely jeered at the crime scenes. Hancock also ignores court subpoenas from the city of Los Angeles to address the property damage he has caused.

When public relations spokesperson Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) departs from an unsuccessful meeting pitching his All-Heart logo for corporations who are extraordinarily charitable, he becomes trapped on railroad tracks with an incoming freight train. Hancock saves Ray’s life, but he causes the train to derail and nearly injures another driver. Hancock is jeered by other drivers for causing more damage, but Ray steps in and thanks Hancock for saving his life. Ray offers to improve Hancock’s public image, and Hancock grudgingly accepts. The spokesperson convinces the alcoholic superhero to permit himself to be jailed for outstanding subpoenas so they can show Los Angeles how much the city really needs Hancock. When the crime rate rises after Hancock’s incarceration, the superhero is contacted by the Chief of Police. With a new costume from Ray, Hancock intervenes with a bank robbery, rescuing a cop and stopping the leader of the robbers, Red Parker (Eddie Marsan).

After the rescue, Hancock is applauded for handling the bank robbery. The superhero becomes popular once more, as Ray had predicted. He goes out to dinner with Ray and his wife Mary (Charlize Theron), with whom he reveals his apparent immortality and his amnesia from 80 years ago. After Hancock tucks a drunken Ray in bed, he discovers that Mary also has superhero powers. He threatens to expose her until she explains their origins, and she tells him that they have lived for 3,000 years with their powers, having been called gods and angels in their time. She explains that they are the last of their kind and that their kind are paired. Mary does not tell Hancock the entire truth, and Hancock departs to tell Ray about the conversation. The exchange results in a battle between Hancock and Mary that takes them to downtown Los Angeles, causing significant damage to the area. Ray, downtown in a business meeting, sees and recognizes Mary using superhero powers like Hancock.

Hancock is later shot twice in the chest and wounded when he stops a liquor store robbery. After being hospitalized, Mary enters and explains that as the pair of immortals gets close, they begin to lose their powers. She also explains that Hancock was attacked in an alley 80 years prior, where he obtained amnesia. Mary deserted him then in order for him to recover from his injuries. When he is hospitalized, the hospital is raided by Red Parker, the bank robber, and two men that Hancock had humiliated during his incarceration. Mary, visiting Hancock, is shot in the process. Hancock is able to stop two men but is further wounded by them. When Red attempts to finish Hancock off, Ray comes to the rescue and kills the bank robber with a fire axe. With Mary nearly dying, Hancock flees from the hospital so their parting would allow her to heal with her powers. He later winds up in New York City, working as a superhero. Ray is seen walking with Mary discussing historical events such as the reign of Attila the Hun in a jovial manner. As gratitude to Ray, Hancock paints Ray’s All-Heart logo on the moon and calls the spokesperson to look up to the worldwide advertisement.

Cast

• Will Smith as John Hancock, an alcoholic, down-and-out, incredibly sarcastic superhero.[1] He is invulnerable, possesses superhuman strength, and can fly at supersonic speeds.[2] To give a realistic appearance of superhero flight, Smith was often suspended by wires 60 feet above the ground and propelled at 40-50 miles per hour.[3]
• Jason Bateman as Ray Embrey, a corporate public relations consultant whose life Hancock saves. Bateman said, “[It] was a fun thing to play, a very idealistic guy that’s trying to build up this suicidal, homeless alcoholic that then ends up hitting on my wife. It was a fun thing. To play the victim is funny.”[4]
• Charlize Theron as Mary Embrey, Ray’s wife.
• Eddie Marsan as Red Parker, a bank robber.
• Jae Head as Aaron Embrey, Ray’s young son.

Production

Development

Screenwriter Vincent Ngo wrote the spec script Tonight, He Comes in 1996. The draft, about a troubled 12-year-old and a fallen superhero, was initially picked up by director Tony Scott as a potential project.[5] Producer Akiva Goldsman came across the script, which he had considered a favorite,[6] and encouraged Richard Saperstein, then president of development and production at Artisan Entertainment, to acquire it in 2002.[5] Director Michael Mann was initially attached to direct Tonight, He Comes, but he instead opted to direct Miami Vice (2006).[6] Eventually, Artisan placed the project in turnaround, and it was acquired by Goldsman.[7]

Screenwriters Vince Gilligan and John August performed rewrites of Ngo’s script,[8] and Jonathan Mostow was attached to direct the film. Under Mostow’s supervision, a 10-page treatment was written to be pitched to actor Will Smith to portray the lead role in the film. Both Mostow and Smith were not yet committed to make the project an active priority at the time. Several studios pursued the opportunity to finance the film, and Columbia Pictures succeeded in acquiring the prospect in February 2005. A second draft was scripted by Gilligan following the finalization of the deal with Columbia. The film was initially slated for a holiday 2006 release.[7]

In November 2005, Mostow and Smith committed to Tonight, He Comes, with production slated to begin in Los Angeles in summer 2006.[6] Smith had set up a pay or play contract to film I Am Legend (2007) under Warner Bros. after completion of Tonight, He Comes.[9] Mostow eventually departed from the project due to creative differences.[10] Italian director Gabriele Muccino filled Mostow’s vacancy in May 2006. Since Muccino was busy editing The Pursuit of Happyness starring Smith, which Muccino had directed, Smith switched projects to film I Am Legend first for its December 2007 release, and then film Tonight, He Comes afterward.[11] Later in the month, Muccino left the project because of an incompatibility with filming the story. Since Muccino was preparing The Pursuit of Happyness, the studio had delayed the production start for Tonight, He Comes to summer 2007, enabling Warner Bros. to begin production of I Am Legend with Smith.[10]

Filming

In October 2006, Peter Berg was attached to direct Tonight, He Comes with production slated to begin in May 2007 in Los Angeles, the story’s setting.[12] Berg was midway through filming The Kingdom when he heard about the film and called Michael Mann, who had become one of its producers.[13] The new director compared the original script’s tone to Leaving Las Vegas (1995), calling it “a scathing character study of this suicidal alcoholic superhero”. The director explained the rewrite, “We thought the idea was cool, but we did want to lighten it up. We all did.”[14] Before filming began, Tonight, He Comes was retitled John Hancock,[1] and it was eventually shortened to Hancock.[15] Filming began on Hancock on July 3, 2007 in Los Angeles,[16] having a production budget of $150 million.[8] Locations like Hollywood Boulevard were designed to look damaged, having rubble, overturned vehicles, and fires.[17] Smith’s character is also an alcoholic, so for scenes in liquor stores, the art department designed fake labels such as Pap Smear Vodka for the bottles because “brown-bag brands” like Thunderbird and Night Train refused to lend their names.[18]

Hancock was Peter Berg’s first film with visual effects as critical cinematic elements.[13] He considered the computer-generated fight his least favorite part of the film, citing limited control in making the scene successful. According to the director, “Once the fight starts, you’re very limited and you’re at the mercy of your effects guys… unless they’re really technically oriented, that it’s definitely the time we have the least amount of control as directors.” He and other filmmakers worked to cut down on the fight scene, believing that the film’s success would come from the character study of Smith’s character, John Hancock, similar to Robert Downey Jr.’s acclaimed portrayal of Tony Stark in the previous May’s release, Iron Man.[14] The director said if Hancock pulls in as much business as predicted, a sequel, Hancock 2, would likely follow.[13]

Theatrical run

Hancock had its world premiere as the opener at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival on June 19, 2008.[20] To avoid copyright infringement, organizers undertook “unprecedented” steps to prevent illegal reproduction of the film.[21]

For the film, Sony created a digital camera package (DCP) having 4K resolution, containing four times more information than the typical DCP that possessed 2K resolution. Projectors for the higher-resolution package have been installed in 200 theaters in the United States with two dozen in evaluation. The impact of the package has been debated, with one argument being that the difference is not noticeable and the counter-argument being that the higher resolution has future value.[22]

Prior to the film’s opening five-day weekend in the United States and Canada, predictions for its weekend performance ranged from as low as $70 million to as high as $125 million.[23][24] According to CinemaScore, Hancock was given a B+ grade by audiences.[25] The film was shown in advance screenings on July 1, 2008 in 3,680 theaters in the United States and Canada, grossing $6.8 million. The film was widely released on July 2, 2008, expanding to 3,965 theaters.[26] At the conclusion of the five-day weekend, Hancock took top placement at the box office in the United States and Canada, grossing an estimated $107.3 million. The film had the third-biggest opening 4th of July weekend after Transformers (2007) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). Hancock was Will Smith’s fifth film to open on a 4th of July weekend and was his most successful opening to date. The film was also Smith’s eighth film in a row to take top placement in the American and Canadian box office and the twelfth film in Smith’s career to lead the box office.[27][28] Hancock was also Peter Berg’s strongest opening of his directing career to date.[29]

Outside of the United States and Canada, Hancock grossed $78.3 million in its opening weekend, drawing from 5,444 screenings across 50 markets, ranking it the third highest international opening of 2008 after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Iron Man.[30] Hancock averaged $14,382 per screen. It placed on top in 47 of the 50 markets in which it opened;[31] its strongest openings were the United Kingdom with $19.3 million, Germany with $12.4 million, South Korea with $8.5 million, Australia with $7.3 million, and China with $5.5 million. The Chinese opening was the fourth-biggest opening to date for the country. Other international performances included $3.4 million in Brazil and $3.1 million in Taiwan.[30] In Hong Kong, the film opened in first place with $1.3 million, averaging $37,300 across the 35 venues.[32] The film’s overall gross for its opening five-day weekend worldwide is $185.6 million.[31]

In the following weekend of July 11-13, 2008, Hancock fell to second place in the United States and Canada behind Hellboy II: The Golden Army, grossing an estimated $33 million, a “modest” 47% drop in revenue.[33] Overseas, Hancock expanded to 8,125 screens across 67 markets, ranking first at the box office again in 30 markets. The film’s top opening grosses for the weekend included $11.4 million in Russia (589 screens), $9.9 million in France (739 screens), $4.6 million in Mexico (783 screens), $2.2 million in India (429 screens), $1.7 million in Holland (90 screens), $1.3 million in Belgium (69 screens), and $1 million in the Ukraine (81 screens). In territories playing Hancock for a second weekend, the United Kingdom dropped 45% to total $33.4 million to date, Germany 37% to total $24.2 million to date, Korea 38% to total $14.7 million to date, and Australia 47% to total $14.4 million to date.[34] For the second weekend, with the 67 markets, Hancock accumulated an estimated $71.4 million in the international box office, only a $7.2 million drop from the previous weekend in territories outside the United States and Canada.[35] To date, Hancock has grossed $171,434,779 in the United States and Canada and an estimated $179,814,933 in other territories for an estimated worldwide total of $351,249,712.[36]

Troy is a movie released on May 14, 2004 concerning the Trojan War. It is loosely based on Homer’s Iliad, but includes material from Virgil’s Aeneid and other sources, and sometimes diverges from myth. The film has the following cast of actors prominent at the time of its release: Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Rose Byrne as Briseis, Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, Peter O’Toole as Priam, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, and Tyler Mane as Ajax. Troy was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. It received an Oscar nomination for its costume design.

Plot

Agamemnon of Mycenae and his army are in Thessaly, Greece, looking to expand his military might and empire. His army prepares to engage in combat against a host of soldiers under the Thessalonian king, Triopas. Rather than suffer great losses, Triopas agrees to Agamemnon’s proposal to settle the matter in the traditional way - through a decisive match between the heroes of the opposing armies. Achilles, summoned by Agamemnon, arrives, after being woken by a messenger boy, and kills the greatest and most accomplished warrior of Thessaly, Boagrius. Accepting defeat, Triopas presents Achilles with a scepter as a token for his king, which Achilles refuses, saying “He’s not my king.”

In Sparta, Prince Hector and his young brother Paris negotiate an end to the war between the outlying kingdom of Troy and Sparta. On the last day of a week long peace festival, Paris smuggles his love Helen back to Troy with him. Menelaus, Helen’s husband, vows revenge on Paris. Meanwhile, Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, who had for years harbored plans for conquering Troy, decides to use his brother’s situation as an excuse to invade. He is advised by his general, Nestor, to call upon Achilles to fight for the Greeks in order to ensure they can rally enough troops to the cause, knowing that with Troy under his control, Agamemnon would have complete control over the Aegean.

When they arrive in Troy, Hector and Paris, along with Helen, are warmly welcomed and received by their father, King Priam, who says nothing of his younger son’s betrayal. Shortly afterwards, Hector urges their father to put Helen on a ship back to Sparta, in order to avoid a colossal war between Troy and Agamemnon, who now controls all of Greece. Priam refuses, choosing to put his faith in his high priests and their interpretation of how Apollo would react, as well as his conviction that Paris is truly in love with Helen.

Agamemnon and the Greeks amass the largest naval force ever known to man - 1000 ships each containing 50 men - and set sail for Troy. Agamemnon sends Odysseus to convince Achilles to join, but he refuses as he utterly despises Agamemnon and only fights for personal glory, not the power of others. Odysseus hints that the warriors who would fight in this war shall receive immortality in history, but he still refuses. Later, Thetis, Achilles’ mother, tells Achilles of the prophecy she had learned of even before he was born, which foretold that if Achilles does not go to the war, he will find peace, love and a family of his own, but he will eventually be forgotten as time passed. But if he chooses to go to Troy, his name would become immortal, at the cost of his life. Achilles, unable to resist such fame and glory, heads for Troy.

The Trojan Horse prop from the film, preserved on the seafront at Çanakkale, Turkey

The Greeks land at Troy and are able to take control of the beach on the first day of the war. Achilles and the Myrmidons are able to defeat many Trojans but also desecrate the Trojan temple of Apollo and kill the unarmed priests that reside there. Briseis, a member of the Trojan royal family who has chosen to dedicate her life to service to the gods, is captured and taken as a prize by Achilles. However, he treats her with kindness, which makes her initially leery. In the course of the battle, Achilles and Hector meet but do not fight, and Hector is allowed to leave.

After the battle, Achilles is annoyed that, though he and his Myrmidons spearheaded the battle, the other kings who serve Agamemnon pay him tribute in honor of Agamemnon’s great victory. Offended by Achilles’ disrespectful and disobedient attitude, Agamemnon takes Briseis from him. Only Briseis’ contemptuous pleas stop Achilles from slaughtering Agamemnon and his men, and Agamemnon taunts him for listening to a mere slave girl. Achilles leaves in a rage, but promises Agamemnon he will see him dead before his own life ends.

When the Greek army marches upon Troy, Achilles refuses to fight or allow the Myrmidons to fight until Agamemnon regrets belittling him. Instead, Achilles and his Myrmidons watch the events from a distance, Achilles pacing back and forth in anger at Agamemnon’s mistakes. With the Trojan army beneath the walls of Troy and the Greek army surrounding it, Paris, feeling guilt for having brought the threat of war upon Troy, challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees, knowing he is the better warrior, but Agamemnon decides he will attack afterwards anyway. Paris, severely outmatched, is easily defeated. Terrified of dying, he crawls back to Hector’s feet. Menelaus approaches and moves to finish Paris, but Hector steps in to protect his brother and kills Menelaus. A shocked and distraught Agamemnon orders his army to charge the Trojans.

During the battle, Ajax leads the fight and is unstoppable while he causes mayhem with a great hammer of war. Hector, recognizing the threat, faces Ajax and they fight. At first Ajax almost kills Hector, who can only shelter behind his shield as it is smashed to pieces. Hector only just manages to overpower and kill Ajax despite being almost throttled to death by him. The increasingly energized Trojans press their attack against the uncoordinated Greeks. The Greeks move too close to the walls and Trojan archers rain arrows down on them, killing Greek soldiers by the hundreds. Without Ajax or Achilles and his Myrmidons, and with the Trojan archers upon the walls of Troy free to shower arrows upon the Greeks, the battle quickly turns against the Greeks. With command of the battle lost, Agamemnon grudgingly bows to Odysseus’s pleas to withdraw, and the Greeks retreat to the beach.

Briseis is given to some men by the king after their poor performance in battle as a “morale booster”. Before she is branded and raped, Achilles arrives in the nick of time to save her, attacking her assailants and carrying her back to his tent. Later that night, as Achilles sleeps, Briseis contemplates killing him and kneels beside him to press a knife to his throat. He wakes but only challenges her to do it and says that dying now isn’t so different than dying fifty years from now, causing her to hesitate at his calmness in the face of death. The next evening, the two lie in bed and Achilles tells her he is sailing in the morning, having been convinced that perhaps the life of an infamous warrior is not all for him. She is slightly skeptical and asks him if he could really leave it all behind, inducing him to ask if she could bring herself to leave Troy.

A debate takes place within the Trojan palace. The priests say that the gods are on their side and they should attack the Greeks while they are weak. Hector points out that the Myrmidons did not fight and that the Greeks are dispirited. If they attack, it might be the thing to roust and unify the Greeks. He argues for leaving them alone and perhaps they will leave on their own accord. Priam disregards this and goes with the assurances of his priests, and a reluctant Hector leads them.

The Trojans attack the Greek camp at dawn. As the Greeks appear to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles’ appears and the Myrmidons join the battle. He brings courage to the Greeks, and eventually fights man-to-man against Hector, until his throat is cut: this energizes the Trojans and dismays the Greeks, until Hector pulls Achilles’ helmet off and finds it is Patroclus, Achilles’ cousin. Grieved at having slain a boy so young, Hector gives him a killing blow out of mercy. Odysseus informs Hector of the boy’s identity and they agree to cease hostilities for the day. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is informed by the Myrmidons of the incident; they had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles. Consumed by grief and rage, Achilles beats Eudorus and walks toward the beach. A distraught Achilles leads the ceremony, complete with funeral pyre, while a grinning Agamemnon tells Odysseus “That boy just saved this war.”

The next day, Achilles approaches the gates of Troy and demands Hector come out and face him. Hector stops the city’s archers from opening fire and goes down to face Achilles. Hector requests a pact that the loser be given proper funeral rites by the winner. Achilles denies him, saying that “There are no pacts between lions and men”. The two fight ‘in a God-like manner’, bravely and arduously, Hector proving almost equal to Achilles, but ultimately Achilles wins. He then ties Hector’s body to the back of his chariot and drags it along the dirt. That night, King Priam, aided by the dark, goes to the Greek army’s camp to get Hector’s body back. After an emotional and mortifying talk given to him by Priam, Achilles breaks down into tears near Hector’s slain body. He lets Priam take Hector’s body back, promising him that no Greek will attack them on the way back. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well. He assures Priam that the Greeks will honor Prince Hector’s death, and that no Greek will attack Troy for 12 days. This temporary ceasefire angers Agamemnon who sees it as golden opportunity to attack Troy while they are leaderless.

During the 12 days that Troy mourns Hector’s death, the Greeks plan to enter the city using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Odysseus. The Greeks leave the horse just outside the city gates, then withdraw to the beach hiding in the remains of their camp in the ships. Paris warns Priam about the horse and says they should burn it to the ground, but Priam neglects his warning, blinded by the priests’ talk of the horse being a “peace offering by the Greeks” in order to appease the Sun-God Apollo for the desecration of his temple by Achilles earlier. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. A Trojan scout sees the Greeks still at the bay but gets killed by an archer. The Trojans celebrate their victory and the whole of Troy is in drunken stupor when several Greeks, hidden inside the horse, launch a surprise attack and open the gates of Troy to allow the Greek army inside the city walls. Paris refuses to leave and hands the sword of Troy to Aeneas, quoting his father by telling Aeneas that “So long the sword of Troy remains in the hands of a Trojan, our people have a future”. Priam yells to the Greeks who break statues in the temple and says “Have you no honor?” but before he can act he is killed by Agamemnon.

Achilles frantically searches for Briseis, who is at the shrine of Apollo being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved from being stabbed to death by Agamemnon’s guards when Achilles reaches her. Paris manages to find Achilles and shoots an arrow that goes straight through Achilles’ heel. Crippled, he is then hit in the chest by several more arrows, but is able to remove them, though the wounds are fatal. Achilles tells Briseis, “You gave me peace in a lifetime of war,” and urges her to leave the city with Paris. After watching them leave, he collapses with one arrow remaining in his heel, just as the Greek soldiers find him.

After a last disorganized and futile attempt by surviving Trojan soldiers to repel the invaders, the battle ends and the Greeks storm the inner palace only to find that Achilles has died just a few moments earlier. They perform the funeral rituals for him the next morning. Odysseus delivers the final words, “If they ever tell my story, let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say that I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles….”

Awards

2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

• Won - Top Box Office Film — James Horner

2005 Academy Awards (Oscars)

• Nominated - Best Achievement in Costume Design — Bob Ringwood

2005 Japanese Academy Prize

• Nominated - Best Foreign Film

2005 MTV Movie Awards

• Nominated - Best Fight — Brad Pitt, Eric Bana
• Nominated - Best Male Performance — Brad Pitt

2005 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award)

• Nominated - Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features — Wylie Stateman, Martin Cantwell, James Boyle, Harry Barnes, Paul Conway, Alex Joseph, Matthew Grime, Steve Schwalbe, Howard Halsall, Sue Lenny, Simon Price, Nigel Stone

2005 Teen Choice Awards

• Won - Choice Movie Actor - Drama/Action Adventure — Brad Pitt
• Nominated - Choice Breakout Movie Star - Male — Garrett Hedlund
• Nominated - Choice Movie - Drama/Action Adventure
• Nominated - Choice Movie Fight/Action Sequence

Cast

Alexander is a 2004 epic film, based on the life of Alexander the Great. The film was directed by Oliver Stone, who contended that the theatrical release was based on historical events.

The film was based mostly on the book Alexander the Great, which was written by historian Robin Lane Fox in the 1970s. He gave up his screen credit in return for being allowed to take part in the epic cavalry charge during the film’s recreation of the Battle of Gaugamela.

The film proved controversial. It was critically derided upon its release and failed at the American box office, grossing only US$34 million domestically, while costing $155 million to produce. It did better internationally, however, grossing a total of $133 million in overseas revenues.^[1]

The two earlier DVD versions of Alexander (”director’s cut” version and the theatrical version) had sold over 3.5 million DVDs in the U.S. alone.^[2]

Plot

The film is based on the biography of Alexander the Great, the King of Macedon, the first Macedonian Emperor who conquered Asia Minor, Persia and eventually reached modern day Pakistan. It provides a glimpse into some of the key moments of Alexander’s youth, and his invasion of the mighty Persian Empire, until his death. It also outlined his early life, including his difficult relationship with his father, Philip II of Macedonia, the conquering of the Greek city-states under the League of Corinth, and the conquest of the Persian Empire in 331 BC. It also details his new plans to reform his empire, and the attempts made to reach the end of the world.

The storyline begins in 356 BC with Ptolemy I Soter, who narrates the story throughout the film. In lavish sets and images Stone shows his vision of Alexander’s daily life in the court of his father, Philip, and portraying the strained relationship between his parents.

Alexander grows up with his mother Olympias and his tutor Aristotle, where he finds interest in love, honour, music, exploration, poetry and military combat. Late on, his relationship with his father is destroyed when Philip marries Attalus’ niece, Eurydice.

Thereafter Philip is assassinated and Alexander becomes king of Macedonia, including Greece. After a brief mentioning of his punitive razing of Thebes and burning of Persepolis, Ptolemy gives an overview of Alexander’s west Persian campaign, including his declaration to be the son of Zeus by the Oracle of Amun at Siwa Oasis, his great battle against the Persian Emperor Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela, and his eight-year campaign at Hydaspes against Porus in modern day Pakistan), both of which are shown in the film.

The plot also illustrates Alexander’s private relationship with his childhood friend, Hephaistion, and later his wife Roxanna until his death.

Before succumbing to an unknown illness or poison (it is never revealed which and both are suggested) Alexander distanced himself from his wife Roxannan despite her being pregnant, believing she has killed his childhood friend and lover Hephaistion. The film accurately places Hephaistion in a far closer position than his first wife Roxanna. It is suggested in the film that Alexander died in part due to the loss of Hephaistion, which occurred less than three months earlier. Early in the film Hephaistion compares Alexander to Achilles, to which Alexander replies that if he is Achilles then Hephaistion is his Patrocles (Achilles’ lover). Hephaistion mentions that Patrocles died first and then Alexander pledges that if he should die, he would follow him into the afterlife. A promise Ptolemy himself says Alexander apperentely kept when he died shortly after Hephaistion.

In the film after conquering Babylon Alexander admits that Hephaistion is the only person he loves. During the film Hephaistion shows extensive jealousy when seeing Alexander with Roxanna and deep sadness when Alexander marries her, going so far as to attempt keeping her away from Alexander after the former murdered an old friend in India.

The film also focuses intensively on the close and warped relationship Alexander shared with his mother Olympias (going as far as too suggest a certain degree of incest).

Director’s cut

Oliver Stone’s director’s cut was re-edited before the DVD release in later 2005. Stone removed 17 minutes of footage and added 9 minutes back into the film. This shortened the running time from 175 minutes to 167 minutes.

The differences between the “director’s cut” version and the theatrical version are:

• Dates in the flashbacks and flashforwards use normal historical figures such as 323 BC and 356 BC, as opposed to referring to time lapses, e.g. “30 years earlier”. In the commentary, Oliver Stone explained that for the theatrical release in the United States he had to refrain from using regular “BC” dates, since (according to data collected from test screenings) there was a significant number of viewers who did not know 356 BC was an earlier historical period than 323 BC.
• Ptolemy’s backstory at the beginning is shortened.

Alexander the Great at the Battle of Gaugamela.

• The two flashbacks with the arrival of Eurydice to the court and the wedding feast are shifted into the eastern campaign, enveloping the trial of Philotas and assassination of Parmenion.
• The scene with Aristotle (Christopher Plummer) giving a lesson to young Alexander and his friends has been re-edited and extended by a few seconds.
• Ptolemy’s narration leading to the Battle of Gaugamela has no reference to the razing of Thebes and burning of Persepolis. He mentions the official Macedonian accusation, that Darius assisted the assassination of Philip (in both versions, it is also mentioned when Alexander rallies the troops), and the proclamation by the Oracle of Amun is moved to later part of the narration.
• There is no scene of the night before the Battle of Gaugamela or the omen reader looking into the intestine of the ox-sacrifice before the Battle.
• Directly after Alexander mourning the dead after the Battle of Gaugamela, there is an additional flashback with Philip explaining the Titans to Alexander.
• In the theatrical version, during Roxanna’s dance, Perdiccas can be seen breaking up a fight between Hephaistion and Cleitus, removed in the director’s cut.
• The bedroom scene has been shortened. Roxanna’s attempt to kill Alexander (after her discovery of his relationship with Hephaistion) was cut. More explicit footage of Alexander and Roxanna having sex has also been added.
• When Alexander stumbles across the Page’s Plot, the director’s cut features a scenelet in which Perdiccas goes to arrest Hermolaus, who falls on his sword with the words “death to all tyrants”.
• There is no narrative explanation by Ptolemy during the trial of Philotas.
• There is no scene of Alexander mourning Cleitus.
• The flashback of Alexander questioning Olympias is not immediately after the flashback of Philip’s assassination, but moved after Alexander being badly wounded in the Battle of Hydaspes.
• The scene of Roxanna being prevented from entering Alexander’s tent by Hephaistion has been removed. This was the last remnant of a Roxanna/Cassander subplot that was filmed, but not included.
• Between the scene where Alexander smashes the “rebellion” within the ranks and the final battle, there is an additional scene where Alexander reads a letter from Aristotle, with Christopher Plummer featured in the scene dictating the letter to an unseen scribe.
• Ptolemy’s narration of the march through the Gedrosian desert additionally mentions the helplessness of Alexander watching his broken army die due to natural causes and harsh conditions in the desert, and he does not mention either Alexander’s new marriages in his final years, or that the march across the Gedrosian desert was the “worst blunder of his life”. The scene of the army returning to Babylon is also shortened.
• The scene of Olympias receiving the omen of Alexander’s death is shortened.

Final cut: “Alexander Revisited”

Stone also made an extended version of Alexander. In an interview with Ropeofsilicon.com, Stone stated that “I’m doing a third version on DVD, not theatrical. I’m going to do a Cecil B. Demille three-hour-forty-five-minute thing, I’m going to go all out, put everything I like in the movie. He was a complicated man, it was a complicated story and it doesn’t hurt to make it longer and let people who loved the film and see it more and understand it more.”

The extended version of the film was released under the title of Alexander Revisited: The Final Unrated Cut on February 27, 2007. The two-disc set featured a new introduction by Stone. Says Stone, “Over the last two years I have been able to sort out some of the unanswered questions about this highly complicated and passionate monarch – questions I failed to answer dramatically enough. This film represents my complete and last version, as it will contain all the essential footage we shot. I don’t know how many filmmakers have managed to make three versions of the same film, but I have been fortunate to have the opportunity because of the success of video and DVD sales in the world, and I felt if I didn’t do it now, with the energy and memory I still have for the subject, it would never quite be the same again. For me, this is the complete Alexander, the clearest interpretation I can offer.”^[3]

The film is restructured into two acts with an intermission. Alexander: Revisited takes a more in-depth look at Alexander’s life and his relationships with Olympias, Philip, Hephaistion, Roxanne and Ptolemy.

The film has a running time of 3 hours and 34 minutes (214 min) and is presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio. Beyond the new introduction with Stone, there are no other confirmed extras, except for a free coupon to the movie 300.^[4]

Production details

Locations

• Library of Alexandria – Shepperton Studios, London, England
• Pella/Babylon/Indian palaces and myths cave – Pinewood Studios, London, England
• Alexandria (effect back plate) – Malta
• Temple of Pallas Athena, Mieza and Macedonian horse market – Essaouira, Morocco
• Gaugamela – desert near Marrakech, Morocco
• Babylon gates – Marrakech, Morocco
• Bactrian fortress – Lower Atlas Mountains, Morocco
• Hindu Kush (effect back plate) – Himalayas, India
• Macedonian amphitheater – Morocco
• Hyphasis – Mekong, northeastern Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand.
• Hydaspes – Central Botanical Garden, Amphoe Mueang, Saraburi Province, Thailand

Cast

The Bourne Identity is a 2002 spy film loosely based on Robert Ludlum’s novel of the same name.

It stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, an amnesiac attempting to discover his true identity amidst a clandestine conspiracy within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to track him down and arrest or kill him for inexplicably failing to carry out an officially unsanctioned assassination and then failing to report back in afterwards. Along the way he teams up with Marie, played by Franka Potente, who assists him on the initial part of his globe-trotting journey to learn about his past and regain his memories. The film also stars Chris Cooper as Alexander Conklin, Clive Owen as The Professor, Brian Cox as Ward Abbott, and Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons.

The film was directed by Doug Liman and adapted for the screen by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron from the novel of the same name written by Robert Ludlum, who also produced the film alongside Frank Marshall. Universal Studios released the film to theaters in the United States on June 14, 2002 and it received a positive critical and public reaction. The film was followed by a 2004 sequel, The Bourne Supremacy, and a third part released in 2007 entitled The Bourne Ultimatum.

Plot

During a stormy night, a group of Italian fishermen find a man (Damon) floating in the Mediterranean Sea off Marseille, with two gunshot wounds in his back and a device with the number of a Swiss bank account embedded in his hip. Suffering from retrograde amnesia, he finds he is versed in several European languages and can perform uncommon tasks such as sea navigation and tying exotic knots in the ship’s ropes, but he cannot remember anything about himself or how he got there. When the ship docks in Oneglia, he sets off for Zürich to investigate the bank account.

At CIA headquarters in Langley, Deputy Director Ward Abbott finds out about a failed assassination attempt on deposed African dictator Nykwana Wombosi. Meanwhile, the mysterious man finds out he is curiously proficient in hand-to-hand combat and firearms usage when he subdues two Swiss police officers in an unthinking reflex action of self-defense. At the bank in Zürich, the man opens his safe deposit box to find several passports containing his picture, large amounts of assorted currencies, and a 9mm handgun. Still with no idea what his real name is, he assumes the one from the first US passport, Jason Bourne. When American and Swiss authorities attempt to capture him at the US Consulate, he offers Marie Helena Kreutz $20,000 to take him to Paris, the city of the address on his Jason Bourne passport. In the meantime, Alexander Conklin, the head of the black ops group Operation Treadstone, assures Abbott that he will destroy any evidence connecting them to the field agent responsible for the operation. He activates three “assets” to take down their fellow operative: Castel, Mannheim, and the Professor.

When Bourne arrives at the address on his passport, he is immediately recognized by the building superintendent, and based on the contents of his apartment, he concludes he is in the shipping business. In search of more clues, he hits redial on his phone and is connected to the Hotel Regina, who recognize one of his aliases, John Michael Kane. They tell him that Kane was a guest who died two weeks before in a car crash. A few moments later, Castel blasts through a window and engages Bourne in hand-to-hand combat. After Bourne subdues him he attempts to interrogate him, but Castel jumps out the window, preferring suicide (to interrogation by Bourne for information). Marie finds wanted posters in Castel’s bag with both hers and Bourne’s pictures on them.

Bourne continually advises Marie to leave him as he’s trying to figure out who he is and why people are after him. He tells her to go to the police and explain everything to them; she chooses to remain with him and encourages him to figure it out. After eluding the Paris police and spending the night, they follow the trail to the Hotel Regina. There, Marie asks for John Michael Kane’s hotel records. Meanwhile, Conklin plants a body in the Parisian morgue to fool Wombosi into thinking Kane is dead, but Wombosi knows that the body is not his assailant, and Conklin has Wombosi killed in his home by the Professor. Bourne investigates the incident, the previous assassination attempt, and John Michael Kane’s contacts, and concludes that he is the failed killer. He and Marie escape the city into the country to stay at Marie’s ex-lover’s house, where Jason decides that he no longer wants to know about his past.

In the morning, the Professor comes for Jason. Bourne uses a double-barreled shotgun to blow up the home’s fuel tank to distract the Professor (who was on a hilltop overlooking the home, armed with a SIG 552 modified to be a sniper rifle) and he runs to the woods. Bourne ultimately shoots the Professor twice with the shotgun and interrogates him briefly, revealing their connection to Operation Treadstone. The Professor dies almost immediately from blood loss, saying, “Look at this. Look at what they make you give.” Keeping $30,000, he sends Marie away with the rest of the money for her own safety. He uses the Professor’s phone to arrange a meeting with Conklin on the Pont Neuf, which he uses as a distraction to plant a tracking device on Conklin’s vehicle to discover the location of Operation Treadstone’s safe house in Paris.

Bourne uses an electronic device to trigger the car alarms of all the cars parked on the street, and when the noise distracts the guards, he climbs into the operations safe house where Nicky Parsons and Conklin are.

When he meets Conklin, he begins to remember his last mission. He had backed out of the (officially unsanctioned) Wombosi assassination after seeing Wombosi’s children. He realized that if he killed Wombosi he would have to do it right there in front of the children and even might have to kill all the children as potential witnesses, since Wombosi’s murder was supposed to look like it had been carried out by members of his own cartel. Bourne was then shot while escaping the fast-moving boat and left behind for dead in the water. He tells Conklin that he is leaving Treadstone and not to try to find him. He then realizes Conklin silently triggered an alarm and has backup on the way. Bourne leaves Nicky unharmed, has a shootout with several CIA agents, and escapes into the night. Abbott decides that Treadstone should be closed down and has the last operative murder Conklin. He goes before an Oversight Committee and glibly explains Treadstone away as an ineffective assassin-training program then immediately shifts the focus of the hearing to an idea for a new project codenamed “Blackbriar.” Some time later, Jason finds Marie in Mykonos, renting out scooters to tourists, and the two reunite as the film ends with Moby’s “Extreme Ways” playing.

Production

Director Doug Liman stated that he had been a fan of the source novel by Robert Ludlum since he read it in high school. Near the end of production of Liman’s previous film Swingers, Liman decided to develop a film adaptation of the novel. After more than two years of securing rights to the book from Warner Brothers and a further year of screenplay development with screenwriter Tony Gilroy, the film went through two years of production.[3] From the onset of filming, difficulties with the studio slowed the film’s development and caused a rift between the director and Universal Studios, as executives were unhappy with the film’s pacing, emphasis on small scale action sequences, and the general relationship between themselves and Liman, who was suspicious of direct studio involvement.[4] A number of reshoots and rewrites late in development and scheduling problems delayed the film from its original release target date of September 2001 to June 2002 and took it $8,000,000 over budget from the initial budget of $52,000,000; screenwriter Tony Gilroy faxed elements of screenplay rewrites almost throughout the entire duration of filming.[4] A particular point of contention in regards to the original Tony Gilroy script were the scenes set in the farmhouse near the film’s conclusion. Liman and actor Matt Damon fought to keep the scenes in the film after they were excised in a third-act rewrite that was insisted upon by the studio. Liman and Damon argued that, though the scenes were low key, they were integral to the audience’s understanding of the Bourne character and the film’s central themes. The farmhouse sequence consequently went through many rewrites from its original incarnation before its inclusion in the final product. Other issues included the studio’s desire to substitute Montreal or Prague for Paris in order to lower costs, Liman’s insistence on the use of a French-speaking film crew, and poor test audience reactions to the film’s Paris finale. The latter required a late return to location in order to shoot a new, more action-oriented conclusion to the Paris story arc.[5] Damon described the production as a struggle, citing the early conflicts that he and Liman had with the studio, but denied that it was an overtly difficult process, stating, “When I hear people saying that the production was a nightmare it’s like, a ‘nightmare’? Shooting’s always hard, but we finished.”

Liman’s directorial method was often hands-on. Many times he operated the camera himself in order to create what he believed was a more intimate relationship between himself, the material, and the actors. He felt that this connection was lost if he simply observed the recording on a monitor. This was a mindset he developed from his background as a small-scale indie film maker.

A wide range of actors were approached by Liman for the role of Bourne, including Russell Crowe and Sylvester Stallone, before he eventually cast Matt Damon. Liman found that Damon understood and appreciated that, though The Bourne Identity would have its share of action, the focus was primarily on character and plot.Damon, who had never played such a physically demanding role, insisted on performing many of the stunts himself. With stunt choreographer Nick Powell and trainer Jeff Imada, Damon underwent three months of extensive training in stunt work, the use of weapons, boxing, and eskrima. Damon eventually performed a significant number of the film’s stunts himself, including hand-to-hand combat and climbing the safe house walls near the film’s conclusion.[7] Franka Potente’s performance in Run Lola Run prompted Liman to approach her for the part of Marie Helena Kreutz. Liman desired to cast an actress who was unfamiliar to American audiences yet would be a suitable opposite for the Bourne character. Filming took place in Prague, Paris, Imperia, Rome, Mykonos, and Zürich; several scenes set in Zürich were also filmed in Prague.

The acclaimed car chase sequence was filmed primarily by the second unit under director Alexander Witt. The unit shot in various locations around Paris while Liman was filming the main story arc elsewhere in the city. The finished footage was eventually edited together to create the illusion of a coherent journey. Liman confessed that “anyone who really knows Paris will find it illogical,” since few of the locations used in the car chase actually connect to each other. Liman took only a few of the shots himself; his most notable chase sequence shots were those of Matt Damon and Franka Potente while inside the car.

The inner workings of the fictitious Treadstone organization were inspired by Liman’s father’s job in the National Security Agency (NSA) under President Ronald Reagan. Of particular inspiration were Liman’s father’s memoirs regarding his involvement in the investigation of the Iran-Contra affair. Many aspects of the Alexander Conklin character were based on his father’s recollections of Oliver North. Liman admitted that he jettisoned much of the content of the novel beyond the central premise, in order to modernize the material and to conform it to his own beliefs regarding United States foreign policy. However, Liman was careful not to cram his political views down “the audiences’ throat”. There were initial concerns regarding the film’s possible obsolescence and overall reception in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, but these concerns proved groundless.

Cast

• Matt Damon as Jason Bourne: an amnesiac assassin out of Paris who is being pursued by his former employers. Main protagonist.
• Franka Potente as Marie Helena Kreutz: a Bohemian German traveller helping Bourne, who in the middle forms a relationship with him.
• Chris Cooper as Alexander Conklin: the coordinator of Treadstone and Bourne’s immediate superior.
• Brian Cox as Ward Abbott: a CIA Deputy Director and Conklin’s immediate superior.
• Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons: a CIA field operative coordinating logistics for agents; she operates out of Paris.
• Clive Owen as The Professor: a Treadstone operative based out of Barcelona.
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nykwana Wombosi: a deposed African dictator who was Bourne’s last target prior to his amnesia.
• Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn: Conklin’s assistant and a key member of Operation Treadstone’s control team.
• Nicky Naude as Castel: a Treadstone operative based out of Rome.
• Russell Levy as Manheim: a Treadstone operative based out of Hamburg.

Awards

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is an epic fantasy film co-written, co-produced and directed by Peter Jackson. It is primarily based on the third volume of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (but also includes material from the second volume), and it is the concluding film in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. It follows The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers and was filmed simultaneously with them.

As Sauron launches the final stages of his conquest of Middle-earth, Gandalf the Wizard, and Théoden King of Rohan rally their forces to help defend Gondor’s capital Minas Tirith from the looming threat. Aragorn finally claims the throne of Gondor and summons an army of ghosts to help him defeat Sauron. Ultimately, even with full strength of arms, they realise they cannot win; so it comes down to the Hobbits, Frodo and Sam, who face the burden of the Ring and the treachery of Gollum, and finally destroy the One Ring in Mordor.

Released on December 17, 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King became one of the most critically acclaimed films and greatest box-office successes of all time. It won all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for, which ties it with only Titanic and Ben-Hur for most Academy Awards ever won. It also won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the only time in history a fantasy film has done so. It also became the second highest grossing movie worldwide of all time behind Titanic, unadjusted for inflation and the most successful film in the series.[1] The Special Extended Edition, containing an additional 50 minutes of footage, was released on DVD on December 14, 2004.

Plot

The film begins with a flashback of Sméagol acquiring the One Ring, by murdering his friend Déagol and his slow evolution into ‘Gollum’, taking Frodo and Sam to Minas Morgul. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Théoden and Éomer travel to Isengard where they are reunited with Merry and Pippin who tell them Treebeard and the Ents’ are now in control. Pippin finds a palantír and reluctantly gives it to Gandalf at his behest. Back at Edoras, the kingdom honor the victorious dead as Éowyn falls in love with Aragorn. Later against Merry’s warnings, Pippin’s satisfies his curiosity and gazes deeply into the palantír. The sorcery of Sauron causes Pippin intense pain as he foresees a brief glimpse of the enemy’s impending plan to attack the city of Minas Tirith. So that he may not cause any more mischief, Pippin accompanies Gandalf as the two set out to alert and prepare the White City of Gondor. On her way to the ships that lead to the Grey Havens, Arwen has a vision of Aragorn and her future son. She quickly returns to Rivendell and tells her father that she has forsaken the gift of immortality to be with Aragorn and to reforge the shards of Narsil so that Aragorn may reclaim his birthright. Elrond realizes that Arwen’s fate now rests with the outcome of the war.

Elsewhere, Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith to find the steward Denethor mourning over his dead son Boromir. Grief and guilt stricken, Pippin foolishly offers his life in exhange and swears loyalty to him. To defend the city, Gandalf advises Denethor (who scoffs at the idea) to call Théoden for aid by lighting the beacons and renew the alliance of Gondor and Rohan. Meanwhile, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum take a small path of winding stairs narrowly avoiding the immense army of Orcs that are dispatched out of Minas Morgul by the most powerful of the nine Ringwraiths, the Witch-king. In Osgiliath, the Morgul army ambush the Gondorians by boat as they overrun and take the city. Faramir and his men are forced to flee to Minas Tirith as the Nazgul attack, but are driven away with help of Gandalf. Denethor, bitter over Boromir’s death and Faramir’s perceived failure, commands his last son to retake Osgiliath. To prove his worth to his father, Faramir reluctantly obeys and sets out on his hopeless mission full aware that he may not return. Near Minas Morgul, the burden of the ring slowly drains Frodo as Gollum poisons his mind to believe that Sam desires the Ring. Framed by Gollum, a reluctant Sam is urged to return home by a paranoid Frodo. Realizing Denethor will remain idle, Gandalf secretly allows Pippin to light the first of the beacons that will signal Edoras. Aragorn subtly convinces Théoden to respond as Rohan rides to Dunharrow to gather The Rohirrim and prepare for war. Elrond later arrives in Dunharrow to present Aragorn the newly reforged sword Andúril - Flame of the West. Elrond convinces Aragorn to accept his kingship and take the path to the Dimholt to summon aid. Reluctantly forced to leave and convincing Éowyn to love another, Aragorn leaves with Legolas and Gimli to brave the Paths of the Dead and command the cursed Army of Dead to fulfill their vow to the king of Gondor. Théoden departs Dunharrow and rides off to war with six thousand riders, unaware that Éowyn and Merry are secretly amongst the army.

In Minas Tirith, a sole-surviving and unconscious, arrow-impaled Faramir returns being dragged by horse. The Morgul forces begin the siege of the White City, while the Witch-king and the other Ringwraiths on their Fell Beasts attack from above. The army of Orcs use an enormous battering ram Grond to break into the city. Elsewhere, Gollum convinces Frodo to enter a dark cave and abandons him to the large spider Shelob. Losing Sting and the Phial of Galadriel, Frodo manages to escape and is later attacked by Gollum who is thrown over a cliff to his perceived doom. In regret, Frodo attempts to continue his task alone but is ambushed by Shelob and prepared to be devoured by the giant spider. Sam returns with the Phial of Galadriel and Sting in hand to fend the spider away. Hearing nearby Orcs from the Tower of Cirith Ungol and believing Frodo to be dead, he takes the Ring and hides but is surprised to overhear that Frodo still lives. Back at Minas Tirith, a remorseful Denethor believing Faramir to be dead, goes mad and prepares a funeral pyre for himself and his unconscious son. Gandalf and Pippin arrive just as the pyre flames are lit and manage to save Faramir, however Denethor plunges to his burning death. Théoden and Rohan arrive and bravely charge into the the Morgul army cutting down Orc after Orc. Despite this slight victory, the forces of Harad and their the immense Mûmakil appear as reinforcements against the Riders of Rohan. Unbeknownst, Aragorn with the help of the Army of the Dead, suddenly appears with the captured ships of the Corsairs of Umbar to a startled Orc army and proceeds to annihilate the enemy. Théoden is attacked the Witch-king and mortally wounded as Éowyn stands over him to protect. Based upon being a woman and with the help of Merry, Éowyn slays the Witch-king. Éowyn grieves as Théoden dies. Aragorn, much to the dismay of Gimli, releases the Dead Army’s curse and holds their oaths fulfilled.

In Cirith Ungol, Frodo awakens to find an Orc and Urak-hai fighting over Frodo’s shirt of mithril. As the fight turns into civil war, Sam capitalizes on the empty fortress and rescues Frodo, but not before dispatching three guards on his own. Sam reveals the Ring from his pocket and returns it to Frodo as they begin the long trek across Mordor to Mount Doom. Back at Minas Tirith, Gandalf realizes ten thousand Orcs stand between Frodo and Sam and Mount Doom. Aragorn plans to draw the enemy away from Frodo, towards him and sets out leading the remaining soldiers to the Black Gate. The weakened Hobbits collapse and by sheer strngth of will, Sam carries Frodo upon his shoulders up to Mount Doom. Gollum now reveals himself and attacks the two just as the Men of the West furiously battle the Orcs. While Sam preoccupies Gollum, Frodo escapes to Crack of Doom. Later inside, Sam urges Frodo to cast the ring into the fire, but Frodo succumbs to its power and places it on his finger, disappearing from sight. Gollum uses a stone to render Sam unconscious and seizes Frodo’s finger, biting it off. A joyful Gollum reunites with “his precious” and Frodo attempts to wrestle the Ring away as both fall over the edge. Falling into the lava fire, Gollum smiles as he clutches the One Ring, while Frodo hangs onto the edge of the cliff. Sam rescues Frodo as the Ring finally sinks into the lava and is destroyed. The Barad-dûr collapses and the Orcs are killed in the ensuing shockwave of earthquakes. Frodo and Sam manage to escape, but strand themselves in the lava flow, on an island of rock. Feeling despair, Sam recalls his life and what could have been. Gandalf arrives with the Eagles and saves them. Frodo later awakens in Minas Tirith to the sight of a smiling Gandalf and a happy group of friends.

Aragorn is later crowned King Elessar of Gondor, heralding a new age of peace and is surprised to be reunited with Arwen. Éowyn and Faramir have now fallen in love as Éomer is now Théoden’s successor as king of Rohan. The new King and his kingdom all kneel before the four hobbits in honor of their bravery to Middle-Earth. Unbeknownst to the town-folk, the quartet return to the Shire as heroes and things resume back to as they were. Sam finds the courage to speak with the lovley barmaid Rosie Cotton and ultimately Sam marries her. Frodo, having finished writing the story of the Lord of the Rings and still exhausted from his quest as the Ring-bearer, secretly decides to leave Middle-earth for the Grey Havens with Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond, and Galadriel. Upon realizing this, a heartfelt goodbye is shared between the four hobbits as Frodo departs into the sunset. Sam returns and realizes Frodo leaves his account of the story to Sam, who peacefully continues his family life.

Cast

• Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: The Hobbit who continues his quest to destroy the Ring, which continues to torture him.
• Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee: Better known as Sam, he is Frodo’s loyal Hobbit companion.
• Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: He must finally face his destiny as King of Gondor.
• Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White: The Wizard who travels to aid the Men of Gondor.
• Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck: Better known as Merry, the Hobbit who becomes an esquire of Rohan.
• Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: Better known as Pippin, a Hobbit who looks into the palantír and becomes an esquire of Gondor.
• Orlando Bloom as Legolas: An Elven archer and one of Aragorn’s best friends.
• John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: The warrior Dwarf who continues his friendly rivalry over Orc kills with Legolas. Rhys-Davies also voices Treebeard the Ent leader.
• Andy Serkis voices and provides motion capture for Gollum: The treacherous Hobbit who guides Frodo and Sam into Mordor. His life as Sméagol is glimpsed in the beginning of the film, and how he murdered his cousin Déagol for the Ring before an eternity of loneliness. Serkis also plays Sméagol, and voices the Witch-king of Angmar.
• Bernard Hill as Théoden: King of Rohan. He is preparing his troops for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
• Miranda Otto as Éowyn: Théoden’s niece, who wishes to prove herself in battle. She also starts to fall in love with Aragorn who did not correspond her. In the extended version, she then starts to fall for Faramir.
• Karl Urban as Éomer: Éowyn’s brother, and Chief Marshal of the Riders of Rohan.
• Hugo Weaving as Elrond: The Elven lord of Rivendell who must convince Aragorn to take up the throne.
• Liv Tyler as Arwen, daughter of Elrond, who loves Aragorn. She becomes sick with grief.
• David Wenham as Faramir: The head of the Gondorian Rangers defending Osgiliath.
• John Noble as Denethor: Steward of Gondor and Faramir’s father. He has fallen into madness as he lost hope.
• Bruce Hopkins as Gamling: Right hand man of Théoden and a skilled member of the Royal Guard of Rohan.
• Paul Norell as The King of the Dead: The cursed leader of the Dead Men at Dunharrow, from whom Aragorn must seek help.
• Lawrence Makoare plays the The Witch-king of Angmar, the Lord of the Nazgûl, he leads Mordor’s assault on Minas Tirith. He also plays Gothmog, an Orc commander who is voiced by Craig Parker.[2]
• Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins: Frodo’s elderly uncle.
• Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: Elven lady of Lórien. She is aware the time of the Elves is at an end.
• Sarah McLeod as Rosie Cotton: The girl of Sam’s dreams.
• Sean Bean as Boromir: Faramir’s brother, in a flashback to his death at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and in the extended cut when Denethor has a hallucination.

The following only appear in the Extended Edition

• Christopher Lee as Saruman: The former head wizard now trapped by Treebeard.
• Brad Dourif as Gríma Wormtongue: Saruman’s sycophantic, treacherous servant.
• Bruce Spence as The Mouth of Sauron: Sauron’s emissary at the Black Gate.

There are also cameos from Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Gino Acevedo, Rick Porras and Andrew Lesnie on the Corsair ship, although all of them but Jackson only appear in the Extended Edition. Jackson also has another unofficial cameo, as Sam’s hand stepping into view when he confronts Shelob. Sean Astin’s daughter played Sam’s daughter Elanor in the last scene of the movie. Jackson’s children also cameo as Gondorian extras, whilst Christian Rivers played a Gondorian soldier guarding the Beacon Pippin lights, and is later seen wounded. Royd Tolkien cameos as a Ranger in O