Exciting But Not Particularly Original Who Am I Spy Thriller

Rating: 5/10 (7 August 2005)

A man found floating in the Mediterranean Sea is rescued by a fishing trawler but when he recovers he cannot remember who he is. A clue leads him to a safety deposit box in a Swiss bank but he soon falls foul of the authorities until he hitches a lift with a girl called Marie. They travel to Paris and try to unravel his mystery identity, but the answers are not to his liking and sinister agents are quickly on their trail ...
This is a handsome spy-drama based on a book by Robert Ludlum, which deserves kudos for being a traditional, no-jokes, European action thriller in the vein of The Ipcress File or Day Of The Jackal. It has terrific art direction, some fine set-pieces (the escape from the Zurich embassy, the Paris car chase), some excellent locations and features a great percussive score by John Powell. For me though, the plot is just a bit too familiar and clichéd; the big bad CIA have computers that can show them what's happening on any street-corner in the world but can't find one guy even when they know what he looks like, where he lives and how he operates. The amnesia shtick is good (though a bit derivative of The Long Kiss Goodnight, where Cox plays a similar role) and the first half of the movie is very enjoyable but the resolution sucks - Bourne turns out to be a badass assassin who gets all maudlin at the sight of his victim's kids ? Gimme a break - did he flunk Objectivity 101 at hit-man college ? As a grownup spy thriller though this is fine entertainment, and zips along at a terrific pace. Shot in France, Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic.