The Bourne Identity

The new Die Hard of cable and satellite as you just can’t turn it off when it comes on, The Bourne Identity is just one butt-awesome and ultra-cool flick!!!

RATING: 5 out of 5

Now why, oh why, is Tee reviewing a film that is over two years old?

Keep reading and you’ll understand the method behind the madness…

What sold me on The Bourne Identity was listening to Matt Damon on NPR talk about this movie and the radio spot where Jason Bourne was heard saying “I can tell you the license plates of all six cars outside. I can tell you our waitress is left handed. I can tell you the guy at the bar is 265 pounds and knows how to take care of himself…now how can I know all that, and not know who I am?” Something just caught me about that. And as I said, Damon chatting about it on NPR…the guy just came across really, really well…

My wife reluctantly said “Yes.” My mom-in-law said “Sure, why not.” And so we got our tickets and went to a matinee…

WOW!!!

While The Bourne Identity takes liberties with Robert Ludlum’s book, the movie does stay true to the character and the “feel” of this super-spy. Even if you’ve never read a word of Jason Bourne’s dossier, no need to worry — this movie just rocks on all levels!

First off, what an incredible opening for a flick. The camera is slowly panning up, and brief flickers of lightening reveals you are looking up from underneath the ocean’s surface. Beautiful and haunting images here.

Standing out from the flash of the raging storm above is a steady strobe-light…a signal of distress coming from what appears to be a lifeless body floating on the surface. A fishing boat picks up the corpse, thinking it’s the “right thing to do”…and then the corpse moves.

The body is whisked down to the warmer, safer belly of the ship and the on-board doctor cuts away the wetsuit and works on the near-dead stranger. He fishes out a couple of slugs out of his back and a tiny laser-pointer out of his hip. The laser-pointer has a Swiss Bank location and account number. And if this poor guy couldn’t step any deeper into this enigma, the body comes to and nearly kills him. After a few tense moments, the ship’s medic introduces himself and asks the “once-corpse-now-breathing-stranger” a whopper of a question: What is your name?

The stranger doesn’t have the foggiest idea.

So our stranger, armed only with his laser pointer, grabs the first train for Geneva, hoping the bank account will explain some things. He is spotted some cash from the Greeks (nice guys, those Greeks…), but it’s enough to get him to Geneva, not a hotel. He tried to grab some winks on a park bench, but a pair of Swiss cops come by and try to arrest him for loitering.

Note, I said, try.

As if its second nature, our nameless stranger disarms both cops, knock them both out, and dismantles the weapon he took from them. Freaky? Yeah, the stranger and the Swiss thought so, too.

Well, the stranger manages to stay awake and alert until morning where he goes into the Swiss Bank and submits the account number. He goes into his private room and is left with his strongbox and his hopes that something will reveal itself.

Be careful what you wish for.

The stranger finds a passport with a name: Jason Bourne. So, he’s got a name. Great! And while he’s got a US Passport, he lives in Paris. Dual citizenship. Cool. There is also a second compartment to this strongbox, so the stran–er, Jason–pulls the panel back to find a .45 automatic (loaded), several hundred thousand in various currencies, and a plethora of passports, all with various names and nationalities, but the same picture…his.

One is missing: John Michael Kane.

So this situation has gone from bad to worse to out-of-control as Jason tries to find asylum in the American Embassy, is called to the mat concerning the assault on the Swiss cops, and then buys a ride from a nice German named Marie. Sadly, she has no idea what she has stepped into, but it’s okay because neither does he…

Now all this is pretty intense, huh? Guess what — this is the first thirty minutes of a two-hour-plus film. If you think things calm down once Jason and Marie reach Paris, think again. The mystery surrounding Jason Bourne, Michael Kane, and what these two have in common only deepens…

You can’t help but be pulled into the plight of Jason Bourne, and Matt Damon (in his first top-billing lead role) plays the “deer-in-the-headlights” look brilliantly along with his “don’t-do-that-if-you-want-to-live” look. And while the spotlight on the film belongs to Damon, the rest of the cast is just as top notch. American Beauty’s Chris Cooper reinvents “the bad guy” with his portrayal of the relentless head of “Treadstone”. Brian Cox turns in a reliable performance (as always). Finally the supporting crew of Clive Owen, Julia Stiles, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (whom you might recognize from The Mummy Returns) are all giving their 100%, and then you have two other actors who never speak a word, but as members of Treadstone they speak volumes!

Damon’s spotlight, however, is shared (if not stolen) by the incredible performance from German actress Franka Potente. If you have never seen the German film Run Lola Run, do so. It is one of those wildly experimental, artistic, thought-provoking films, but it is hardly pretentious. Part of its charm and charisma is its lead actress, Potente. She’s incredible in the film, and the same charm and wit she exudes in Run Lola Run is there in The Bourne Identity. The chemistry between her Marie and Damon’s Jason is neither contrived or trite. It just feels natural because you can’t help but like her! She is hardly an “overnight spy” but very real and sincere in her love-hate relationship with Jason Bourne. She alone is worth watching The Bourne Identity for as she is a part of the depth I mentioned earlier.

This film goes much deeper than you typical spy film or James Bond offering. The Bourne Identity comes across more as a Hitchcock-style thriller, but there is plenty of action to keep the pace quick in between moments of suspense.

And speaking of suspense, if you are still wondering why I’m reviewing this 2002 release, here’s why…

My movie this week was The Bourne Supremacy, the sequel to The Bourne Identity. I didn’t need to get ready for this latest installment of Jason Bourne, because The Bourne Identity gets a lot of airplay on the satellite. As I’m doing a lot of late-night feedings with my new baby girl, I need something to help pass the time in between feedings…and The Bourne Identity helps keep me awake instead of sleeping past bottle time. But even before that, my wife and I will stop surfing if Jason Bourne is on the screen. As I said in my introduction, The Bourne Identity has become the new Die Hard of television. It’s a solid movie that no matter how many times you see it, it never loses its coolness. And as I pieced together my thoughts on The Bourne Supremacy, I thought it would be a good idea to sing the praises of Jason Bourne’s first film, directed by Doug Liman…

…so that my comments for Paul Greengrass’ sequel would be softened up a bit. The Bourne Identity is a great film. And while the sequel was a good idea, there is just no comparison to the original.