Refreshingly delicious action flick

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2006)

Who knew Matt Damon could be an action hero? He does this quite well in "Bourne Identity". (Granted, at times I was distracted by his Boston accent, but even spies can be from Boston, I guess.) Jason Bourne wakes up on a German ship to discover he does not know who he is or what he was doing. The rest of the film is to determine his identity... and this is the film's strong point. While action films are a dime a dozen, action films with a good mystery are harder to come by and this one delivers.
Fights, romance (but not too much like James Bond) and intrigue... with a bit of "Good Will Hunting" mixed in. What Jason Bourne knows is simply amazing but believable in the context of this film.
One fight scene was strange because it didn't really make a lot of sense... I won't give away the details, but you'd think if you're assassinating someone you'd want to be silent, but this guy makes as much noise as humanly possible. You know what I mean if you've seen it.
Lastly, I want to touch on the women of the film. Choosing the "Run Lola Run" (aka "Lola Rennt") star as Damon's co-star was the perfect choice. She's beautiful in an unconventional way, and you know she can fight and run when she needs to (though this is hardly shown in the film). And giving her more American exposure certainly doesn't hurt. Julia Stiles, on the other hand, was a disappointment. I love her in almost everything she does... but I couldn't take her seriously as a government agent. Her theater training made me think she was overdoing her part and she struck me as being too immature to handle clandestine actions. Maybe that's just me... and maybe she gets better in "Supremacy"... but I'm happy her part was so small.
Verdict: "Bourne Identity" shines.