Film Review: The Bourne Identity

Director: Doug Liman

An action-spy film which is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum. Despite Ludlum's death in 2001 he is still credited as one of the producers for the movie and his books continued to be the basis for the other films in the franchise.

It felt necessary to watch these films to get me back into the mood before The Bourne Trilogy is released in the very near future; my enjoyment of this film has only raised my expectations though.

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon)

A man (Matt Damon) is plucked from the sea in the Mediterranean having been shot in the back twice and is suffering from amnesia as he has no idea who he is. The only clue is a safe deposit box that is stored at a bank in Zurich but as the man goes the property from the box he realises that he is being chased by people for reasons he doesn't know. He pays a local woman named Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris to the address on his passport that says he is Jason Bourne amongst other fake passports.

The second asset, The Professor (Clive Owen)

The mystery surrounding what happened to Jason Bourne and why he is inexplicably able to speak different languages that he didn't know about and is an expert in hand-to-hand combat is intriguing as the film plays out. We see the battle from both sides as we watch Chris Cooper and Brian Cox plan to bring down Bourne from within the CIA to cover up their tracks. Naturally with action films of this type the film becomes a bit slow and uninteresting in the middle after the fascinating start and explosive ending.

Matt Damon is excellent as Bourne whilst Franka Potente is decent as the love interest who becomes wrapped up in the hunt. Chris Cooper also stands out as the man ruthlessly trying to capture and/or kill Bourne to cover up his tracks from a previous CIA operation. The whole film is about being one step ahead of your opponents and has some interesting twists before concluding.

3/4 intriguing and fresh take on the spy drama