My name is Bourne, Jason Bourne

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2010)

The Bourne Identity is the first movie of a very successful trilogy. The movie begins with a body floating in water off the coast of France, pulled into a boat. Soon we learn he is not an ordinary person. There is something mysterious about him. He is suffering from memory loss and doesn't remember anything about his own identity. On top of that, there are dark characters lurking at every corner that are chasing after him. As the story unfolds, we get to find out more about him but there is still a good amount of unknown facts that maintain the suspense and mystery. This is a very well-made movie with a very well written screenplay, amazing action scenes (the car chase scene is just amazing) that will keep you at the edge of your seat until the end. Jason Bourne, like James Bond, is a spy and this is a spy movie but in many ways there are major differences which make The Bourne Identity quiet special. Most James Bond movies are one-dimensional in the sense that James Bond is the good guy and everybody he is eliminating are the bad guys. Jason Bourne, on the other hand, is multi-dimensional because he is constantly re-defining himself (and that goes throughout the entire trilogy) and the movie is not really drawing a clear picture if he is the bad guy or the good guy. This ambiguity is possible due to his amnesiac condition. For all we know, he may have been a bad guy before his accident but now he is defining himself with his current actions. This ambiguity creates a mystery around him. And the mystery is thickened through the identity of the people who are trying to eliminate him, mainly Conklin (Chris Cooper) who is running the Treadstone project (more about Treadstone in later movies). The conflict between Jason Bourne and Conklin, and Bourne's turning against the people who gave him the assignment adds a whole another dimension to the movie which is not seen in James Bond movies. I must say that The Bourne Identity is probably the best movie of its kind. It doesn't fall into known clichés, unrealistic action scenes, explosions, hero doesn't display any super powers, no special effects, no silly plot twists and turns or plot holes, all of which we are accustomed to see in average Hollywood production. Highly recommended.