Really good action film, Damon makes a good secret agent.

Rating: Null/10 (1 March 2003)

I'm one of those lucky ones who don't read the book before I see the film, so I can take it on its own merits. I found it to be very good, and better than such recent high profile thrillers as "Minority Report" and the like. Matt Damon is good as the secret agent found floating in the Mediterranian Sea south of Marseilles and picked up for dead by fishermen. Poor guy, couldn't remember anything about who he was, but quickly figured out he must have had lots of training because his awareness and defense skills were second to none.
SPOILERS - READ FURTHER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
As everything unfolds we find out he was a highly trained assassin with a place in Paris and many different passports under many names. He had been sent by a highly covert operation to snuff an exiled former African leader who was threatening to expose things if he were not reinstated. But, an assassin with a conscience is a handicap and, when he saw the children with his target, could not do it and instead was shot and dumped. So the whole film is his trying to find out who he really is, while his covert organization thinks he has snapped so are trying to kill him. But he is too good, he always gets the upper hand, and there is a great chase scene through the streets of Paris, him driving a red Mini, police chasing in cars and on motorcycles. With Marie (Franka Potente) at his side. About halfway into the film they are alone, she begins to kiss him, and in his memory loss had a moment to try and figure out if he liked girls! He figured it out...
In the end, he is presumed dead, the covert operation disbanded, Marie ends up with a cafe and motorbike rental on a small Greek island, and he finds her. Good movie, good ending. I suppose the reason I liked it so much is the way we pull for the underdog, here both Bourne and Marie, who only want to have a safe, normal life. The DVD picture is excellent and the surround sound is very dynamic and aggressive. Very high entertainment value.
Sept 2017 edit: Just watched it again, still a nicely entertaining movie.