Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
This fourth movie in the blockbuster Bourne series offers a new twist. This time around, Jason Bourne is out of the picture. Instead, the movie focuses on a new rebellious agent: Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner.
Cross has been part of a secretive program that gives agents special medication to enhance their mental and physical abilities. When the government decides to shut down the program and kill the agents, Cross goes on the run. What follows is two hours of action, chases, and the question that the Bourne movies always bring up: is the US government the good guy or the bad guy? Hear Mason and Sara discuss this hot new film.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Mason: I was thinking about seeing the new Bourne movie, but then I heard from a buddy of mine that it’s kind of not so great.
Sara: I think you should definitely see it.
Mason: Oh yeah? You caught it?
Sara: Yeah. It’s not, like, high-quality cinema, but if you just want to escape for a couple hours and just watch some chase scenes and some high-action espionage, I would go for it.
Mason: So how would you rank it against the other Bourne movies?
Sara: I’m going to be honest with you and say I’ve only seen the first one and this one, but it was actually great because I could just figure out the plot really easily, without having seen the middle ones.
Mason: Interesting. And so he’s like some rogue agent who’s running away from the FBI or CIA or whatever, and there’s lots of chase scenes…that kind of a thing.
Sara: That kind of thing. You’re not really sure who his allegiance is to, there’s all these question marks throughout it. And, in fact, Matt Damon, Jason Bourne, isn’t even in this one.
Mason: Do you feel like there’s a broader message to it, or is it pretty much just James Bond for the next generation?
Sara: You know I think there’s this feeling that the agent who’s rebelling, or going rogue, has even a higher sense of morality than the government, and that person is being put out as sort of critiquing the government for that reason.
Mason: Ooh!
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Mason says he’s heard that The Bourne Legacy isn’t such a great movie. Sara disagrees. She’s seen it, and she recommends it, particularly if Mason is in the mood for some action.
Mason asks Sara how this movie compares to the others in the series, but she hasn’t seen any others except the first one. Still, she thinks that the plot of this movie is very clear. Like the others, it’s about a rogue agent on the run from the US government.
Given this plot line, Mason asks Sara whether she thinks there’s a political message to the movie. She thinks the fact that the rogue agent is portrayed as having a high sense of morality means that the film is meant to critique the government, at least a bit.
If you’ve seen The Bourne Legacy how do you think it compares to the others in the series? Do you like action movies, in general? Do you like it when movies have a political message?
Comments
South Africa |
Rwanda |
Egypt |
Hong Kong |
Russian Federation |
Philippines |
Ukraine |
Canada |
Canada |
Netherlands |
Morocco |
Ukraine |
Palestinian Territory, Occupied |
Germany |
Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
Japan |
Egypt |
Egypt |
Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
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