Summer's happiest surprise

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2002)

Given the bounty of production troubles with this thing -- reshoots, rewrites, reported director-studio spats -- who would have guessed it? But, lo and behold, Robert Ludlum's amnesiac assassin is, eh hm, born again. Casting Damon proves a stroke of genius: Just like Bourne himself, we're downright stunned to see this slight, cerebral guy's smooth, killer moves. Ditto for work from Liman, whose "Swingers" and "Go" only hinted at what he can do with a camera. BELIEVE all those comparisons to "The French Connection"; the car-chase sequence here is nearly as crafty. This is a thinking man's (and woman's) delight, too. Watching, you just keep asking: Just HOW is Bourne gonna get out of this pickle? Leaving the theater, another question: When are they gonna give us a sequel?