A revolution for the espionage thriller.

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2008)

It really takes the espionage thriller to a new, and much superior level. Instead of ridiculously over the top action with whatever the highest form of special effects are available at the time, Bourne is very low-key with natural and realistic action, and no visual effects. That's one of the main reasons why I love it so much. It feels authentic. Sure the backplot is a little far-fetched, but the way everything plays out from it is so natural and realistic that I'm just blown away. Damon is brilliant, as usual, and plays the most convincing amnesiac I've ever seen on film (eat it Memento fanboys). Franka Potente is gorgeous and also very natural. Chris Cooper and Brian Cox are easily two of the best and possibly the two most commanding actors working right now, and putting them together on screen was just an explosion waiting to happen. The casting of this film was brilliant. The car chase is possibly the greatest of all time (only Supremacy's can top it) and I always admire the use of Paul Oakenfold's "Ready, Steady, Go" in a film, although Collateral did use it better. My only big complaint about the film is the complete change in the story from the novel, although I do understand why it was done. They had to translate the Cold War era of the novel to modern times, and it loses a lot of it's details in the process but they replaced them nice and neatly. They keep the central plot the same, just change around a bulk of the details. If you hadn't read the novels, you wouldn't notice the flaw at all and think that it was very properly handled. Very entertaining and very authentic. One of the best films of the weak 2002 for sure.