Look, the guy who says this fillm lacks credibility is wrong

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2003)

If you actually read the book by Robert Ludlum, enjoy it, then take a step back from it consider two things.
1) Thia book was written years ago, in 1980
2)Carlos Ilyich Ramirez, aka Carlos the Jackal - was still at large in 1980. He is not now, as he was jailed by French Authorities, once again, many years ago.
You cannot take a theme that was resolved in real life and superimpose it into fiction and expect your audience to respect the work. As Carlos was the central theme of all three books(The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum-all excellent by the way), it is both painfully obvious and decididly necessary to change the central theme of the film to reflect the secondary theme of the book, IE what National Secrets could this Rogue Agent/CIA Assasin impart to the wrong people/Government if coersed, bribed or whatever.
My opinion is aside from the obvious and necessary meandering from the Carlos angle, the film is a decent and effective attempt at bringing the thrust of Bournes struggle to find who and what he is, whilst avoiding shadowy hitmen at every juncture.
You simply cannot take a 500-600 page book written in 1980(as a techno/espionage thriller), leave it entirely intact and have it still appeal to a mass market.
I went into this movie with an open mind, as I usually do, and whilst I would have liked to see more depth to Clive Owens and the other assains characters, and more explaination behind the purpose of 'Treadstone 71', I feel this is still a movie to enjoy, so I recommend you give it a shot.