The Bourne Identity
Okay so I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything that I’ve seen Mr. Damon in, so picking this up was a no-brainer. I’m not sure why I hadn’t a) seen this in the theater (except perhaps that it might be because I manage to squeak in about four or five trips to the cinema a year) or b) rented this earlier (of course it could be because of reason a and the backlog of movies I need to see). In any case I grabbed this off the shelf at the local BB and my wife and I made time to view it last night.
Basically Jason Bourne is scooped up from the ocean by a bunch of smelly fisherman and a little (surprisingly bloodless) surgery later the ship’s doctor/captain cuts out two bullets and a laser pointer that supplies Jason with the numbers to a Swiss bank account. Fortunately the captain is an honest man and doesn’t dump our hero back into the sea. The safety deposit box Jason finds waiting for him contains guns, passports, and LOADS of cash in various denominations/currencies. Oh and I failed to mention that is only then that he finds out his name (which he picks from one of the six different passports all with different names) and where he lives. Somehow he manages to pick his “real” name from the list, or at least that’s the name that his CIA bosses call him. He has near total amnesia and remembers how to do things only as it becomes important to the plot.
Just from reading the above paragraph I’m sure you can see that more than a little suspension of disbelief is called for throughout the movie.
He picks up a woman, named Marie, along the way to provide transport and a love interest. She’s played by Franka Potente who is attractive in a thankfully non-blond way. He lucks out and gets someone who’s smart and used to traveling light and below the radar. Lots of luck goes his way and some of that is a little distracting. I suppose the biggest problem I have with the movie is Marie. Jason gives her the opportunity to leave him more than once as things begin to heat up and she sticks by him. I’m not sure that I get why except that Jason is handsome and loaded.
Well I’ll say that the movie is fun, has a bit of action, a cool car chase, a little tension, and two sequels so it does some things right. I would have liked to see more of Chris Cooper and Brian Cox, who play Jason’s handler and a senator respectively. I would also have enjoyed more it if the other agents Jason goes up against were as competent as Jason himself. I feel that both would have let us feel like Jason was in more danger. As it is I feel justified in giving this a solid eight. It left me wanting to see the sequels and glad to see that Franka is in the next one, though my luck she’ll get killed off early on.