Bloodless, no sparks

Rating: 6/10 (17 June 2003)

Finally caught up with the "Bourne Identity" tonight - a movie I had somehow missed, despite hitting the cinema like once or twice a week, year in, year out - and had definitely wanted to see in the first place, to boot...

Well in the end, it turned out, I had not missed all that much. The movie does fine in the sheer "craft" department, being edited well, suitably convincing in appearances, scenery, gadgets and secondary cast.
Yet it is also as un-innovative as they come, has less surprising plot-twists than your average Disney cartoon and a hero (Matt Damon), which one finds it hard to sympathize with at all. There is not all that much action (it takes like 30 minutes before the audience gets any sizable fight/chase ), and when it takes place, it looks harmless, artificial and strangely unsanguine. For some reason there is very little blood at all in the movie, even when some guy is shot with a shotgun, twice and is then shown in several close-up shots.... No real kicks for the viewer here - while I am not a gore hound, I found it taking the urgency out of the fights. Regretably, the bad guys are of the "utterly uninteresting" sort as well - soulless one-dimensional killers, arrogant and conceited secret-service bureaucrats and some shadowy political backers. Nothing new, nothing memorable - everything is conventional, fool-proof and has - one begins to feel with regret - been seen a thousand times before - especially the Paris scenes. Why, oh why, does every Europe-based thriller/spy movie coming out of Hollywood these days have to take place in Paris ? Dear directors, please take the hint - this makes for an inevitable comparison between masterworks or scenes at least done very well with mediocre and soulless ones - which may be yours !!!! This severely hurts "The Bourne Identity" - there already are several much better memorable car chases through Paris (e.g. Ronin, Kiss of the Dragon etc. ) and there have been more breath-taking furious fights in Paris houses and staircases, too ! The Pont Noeuf or 19th century French townhouses are not new, innovative, location, and neither are the "Quais" on the banks of the Seine, with Notre Dame in the background. Been there, seen that... a thousand times !
The fight scenes, and Matt Damon's sparring especially, are unremarkable - an utterly _bad_ thing for the main protagonist in an action movie - if we cannot root for him (or at least marvel at his prowess ), who else should catch our interest ? Why even tell his story ? His acting is defintely not going to draw us in - he walks about like some wounded puppy, only to turn into a rabid Rottweiler in the fight scenes... and back again, like a light switch thrown. Really deep acting, there. Makes it hard to sympathize with him - especially, as to the audience, it is quite obvious what he _is_ right from the start, while Mr. Bourne seems to need ages to realize, what sort of life and profession he has forgotten due to the old, trusty plot-saving device of "amnesia". Yawn ! This, and the movie's dominant moody blueish light (but this, too, has been done much more effectively before ) makes for a very cool, frigid and emotionally detached athmosphere - not bad in a spy thriller, but a weakness, if you already have to struggle for the audience's interest, due to a witless plot. Let's not forget the rather weak soundtrack, which, if used properly, might have lent some urgency or drama to the story. Again, a failure. Also, "Bourne" is as free of humour, as it is bloodless - total. Really chilling ! So chilling in fact, that any attempts at character-forming acting by Matt Damon and Franka Potente must find it impossible to involve the audience - because the audience cannot help but not to care for Mr. Bourne. Mrs Potente, btw, is hopelessly overqualified for her role's acting requirements - which makes Matt Damon's "light-switch" acting seem even more wooden and threadbare.
As a resumee - uninspired fights and chases, weak and obvious plot, uninteresting one-dimensional characters, no humour, but at least, well done handiwork on the camera and in editing.....
Well, lets hope there is no sequel to squander money on.