A 1970's throwback...well done

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 2003)

For starters, let me say that I have partially read the novel that this movie is based on (published in the 1980's) and found it a sometimes tough, boring slog. The only reason I picked it up to begin with is because I saw the TV Movie in 1988 with Richard Chamberlain. It was the beginning of my understanding that books and movies, by their very natures, are completely different animals. As for this version of "The Bourne Identity"...well, I wasn't expecting much (though I was intrigued by certain ivory-tower critics who gave this film a second look when it hit DVD and decided that maybe it wasn't so bad). If I was moderately entertained, I'd have called it a success. But I was suprised.
For all its occassional hi-tech trappings, this film reminded me, more than anything, of 1975's "Three Days of the Condor" with Robert Redford and Max Von Sydow (anyone who liked "The Bourne Identity" needs to see it immediately if they haven't already). It's geared to entertaining the over-18 crowd as opposed to the usual adolescent thrill-seekers most modern action films pander to. There's gunplay, but nothing so overblown as ten thousand bullets for one shoot-out (the cat-and-mouse game outside the farmhouse comes to mind). There's martial-arts (a lesser-known style called Kali), but no wire-fu for once. And, lest we forget, there's one of the best car-chase sequences in recent memory through Paris (who'd have thunk that a Yugo could make such a good getaway vehicle?).
But these are general elements. Specific details that brought back "Condor" memories are as follows:
--Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Like Redford's low-level researcher, he plays a man stuck in a situation that he has no idea how he got into and even less of an idea of who's aiming the bullets at him. But it's not quite one-for-one. Redford didn't have anything to fall back on aside from his experience in the Army and Ma Bell. His ignorance is based on his rank in the CIA hiearchy. Bourne, on the other hand, speaks multiple languages, has formidible fighting skills, and is one of the brightest tacticians I've ever seen on the silver screen. But he has absolutely no clue as to how he is able to do what he does. It's all just instinct and reaction. The frustrating conundrum for him (a fact that is made very clear in the initial sequences when his skills come into play) is that, in spite of these advantages, the unknown past may have already doomed his future.
--Franka Potente as Marie Kruetz. Potente's role is more of a bohemian version of Faye Dunaway's character in "Condor" than anything else. But again, there are key differences. Redford forced Dunaway to cooperate at gunpoint, only coming over to his side with great reluctance. Kruetz is made of sterner stuff, as one would expect from a lifetime on the road. Bourne uses that other great persuader, money, to get what he needs from Kruetz and actually gives her the option of getting out while the getting is still good. Their eventual sleeping together even feels a bit less forced than the similar setup in "Condor" (a particularly novel touch about the inevitable morning after scene is the fact that Bourne is already up, dressed, and has wiped every surface in the room). The relationship is really the heart of the movie. Without it, most of the story is just not there.
--Clive Owen as the Professor. While I'm a trifle disappointed that Owen didn't get more to do with this role (unlike most folks, who discovered his obvious talent in "Croupier", I first saw him prove his acting chops in the video clips for the old adventure game, "Privateer 2: The Darkening"), his smoky, grey presence brings to mind Max Von Sydow's cultured assasin in "Condor"(even the "Professor" moniker seems to hint at such a connection). Like Bourne, he's a killing machine, as impersonal and scary as a fully loaded AK-47 to the head (the scene where he pops into pick up his info from Julia Stiles illustrates this beautifully). The only real difference between him and Bourne is the fact that he knows the answers to the questions Bourne has been asking. That he doesn't mind answering them after being bested calls to mind Von Sydow's killing of Redford's quarry and then politely suggesting an extended vacation in Europe when they both walk outside. A baddie who isn't really a baddie...what a concept, huh?
Without giving too much away, I thought that the final twist on what put Bourne out in the middle of the Mediterranean to be both logical and even believable, given everything that came before. This would seem to suggest the influence of John Woo (but only in the arena of character development, something particularly stressed in "The Killer" and the "A Better Tomorrow" films). It's basic plot logic: set up the story in such a way that, when the final suprise twist comes through, it doesn't feel like a deus ex machina so much as a reasonable conclusion.
I honestly hope that this film is the start of a trend in the action genre. Just because most action movies are the cinematic equivalent of junk food doesn't mean they have to be. What's wrong with a little fillet mignon?