Tagged: Heckler & Koch USP
Matt Damon in Jason Bourne
Matt Damon in Jason Bourne (2016)
Vitals
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne/David Webb, amnesiac ex-CIA assassin
Athens, Berlin, London, and Las Vegas, Fall 2015
Film: Jason Bourne
Release Date: July 11, 2016
Director: Paul Greengrass
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 50th birthday, Matt Damon! Nearly 15 years after the actor first kicked cinematic ass as the amnesiac assassin, Damon again stepped into Jason Bourne’s globe-trotting boots for one more installment of the spy franchise extolled for its relative realism, intriguing narrative, and expertly choreographed fight scenes.
I remember… I remember everything.
Heat – Neil McCauley’s Gray Double-Breasted Suit
Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley in Heat (1995).
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, professional armed robber
Los Angeles, Spring 1995
Film: Heat
Release Date: December 15, 1995
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
De Niro’s Costumer: Marsha Bozeman
Background
A person’s characteristics are always made plainly visible by his or her attire. Clothing gives signals that all coordinate with the person’s background, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, occupation, and personality.
In Michael Mann’s noirish 1995 masterpiece Heat, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino face off, sharing the screen for the first time (their roles in The Godfather Part II were in completely separate timelines, as you well know). De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional armed robber who remains cool-as-a-cucumber but can be remorselessly ruthless, and Pacino stars as LAPD Lt. Vincent Hanna, the erratic detective tasked with taking him down.
If all a person had to use were images of De Niro in the film, wearing a largely-cut gray suit and an emotionless stare while carrying a state-of-the-art firearm, it would be crystal clear that he was a hardened criminal, respected and feared by both friend and foe, but burdened with a fatal weakness yet to be determined. Continue reading
Collateral – Vincent’s Suit
Tom Cruise as Vincent in Collateral (2004).
Vitals
Tom Cruise as Vincent, professional freelance assassin
Los Angeles, January 2004
Film: Collateral
Release Date: August 6, 2004
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Jeffrey Kurland
Tom Cruise’s Costume Designer: Kendall Errair
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
A year before he jumped up and down on Oprah’s couch, Tom Cruise played a role no one saw coming: a world-weary, cold-blooded, and ruthless paid assassin. In the film, Cruise’s assassin, Vincent, kidnaps a taxi cab driver named Max (played by Jamie Foxx) and forces him to chauffeur him to his various assassinations. Tension grows as Max realizes he is likely to be Vincent’s final kill of the night.
For his look in the Michael Mann flick, a modern take on Cary Grant’s famous North by Northwest suit was developed for Cruise’s character. The choice is an interesting contrast: in North by Northwest, Grant’s character is supposed to be an innocent nobody being chased by assassins… in Collateral, Cruise plays an assassin tormenting an innocent nobody. Continue reading