The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Runtime: 119 minutes

Directed by: Doug Liman

Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox

From: Universal

Would you believe I've never seen a Bourne flick before?

It's just a coincidence that the past two movies I saw had quite a few elements in common. You see, this is my first watching of any Bourne movie (!) so I only knew the basics beforehand... thus I was surprised when both this and Le Professionnel were about super spies based in Europe who have to assassinate a corrupt African head of state on orders of a democratic government who are meddling in the affairs of other countries for the sake of business, only for things to go wrong and now his employers are after said super spy... only for the lead to outwit and out-muscle his opposition.

What I've heard about the Paul Greengrass sequels were enough to keep me away from the franchise as a whole until now; the imitators of that style have created action that I loathe and were major turn-offs for me. Then again I've watched one of his movies theatrically (Captain Phillips; my second most popular review) and had little complaint with how that was shot... I guess we'll see once we get to those sometime in the future.

As for this movie, its action wasn't shot in the most appealing way to me but at least I usually knew what was going on so I can't carp too loudly. Plus, the action beats were fun to watch and like in Professionnel, there is a fun Parisian car chase. BTW, it is ironic that Clive Owen is in this, as a few days ago someone I know-who isn't on sites like this-asked whatever happened to him. I never responded but it was clear he was like a lot of people and never saw Valerian.

The story itself had some “hey, wait a minute” moments and Paris is a location used too often in movies (although both Zurich and the Czech Republic-where the Swiss scenes were actually shot-are places more unique) but I can say it was pretty good overall. The story is easy enough to follow and both Jason Bourne and his unwitting accomplice Marie Kreutz are likable enough characters, while the villains are easy to hiss at. Matt Damon manages to be believable as a super spy who has many great skills and can easily speak several different languages. The way it was shot was decent and the musical score was, well, interesting, but it manages to work. At times it screams “early 2000's”... to me that's something I can be amused by. Hopefully I can love the sequels like many do, judging by various film sites.