Action with all the elements, but the feeling's never quite there

Rating: Null/10 (15 June 2002)

The Bourne Identity was an average movie. It really wanted to be a Ronin-style movie, or something perhaps from Luc Besson, but the feeling wasn't quite there. It's quite obvious that the makers of the film were going for the exotic flavour, as we are shown shots of European landmarks many times throughout the movie.
Matt Damon was great, as usual, and Franka Potente was also very good (it's funny, again, we can see that she was cast for that "European touch"). My problem with the movie, however, was that it couldn't "plot" enough. There weren't enough tense moments for Damon's character. There wasn't enough done on the amnesia subplot. In the end, the movie seemed like a movie to show friends to prove you have a wicked home theater system, instead of the intellectual and twisty spy thriller it could have been. Another thing...the film really never stops moving, especially the camera work in the CIA shots...maybe they should've stopped and added more mystique, intrigue, suspense. That's what spy thrillers are about...and this film didn't have too much "spy" going for it.
Still, I wasn't bored watching it, and there are a whole bunch of movies that are gonna be coming out that are a LOT worse (blue crush, anyone?).