A Great Improvement Over Ludlum's McNovel

Rating: Null/10 (4 July 2002)

Yes, this movie's plot doesn't have much in common with the novel from which it takes its name. Is that a bad thing? Not really. It's just a brand identity, an all-too-important reality of today's movie marketplace. This movie takes the basic elements of Ludlum's story - the amnesiac superspy discovering his abilities and his past as he struggles to stay ahead of people trying to kill him - and does something that Ludlum would never have considered in his wildest dreams. It grounds the story in a physical and emotional reality recognizable from the real world. Groundbreaking, really.
For those of you (and there seem to be a lot of you posting reviews here) who have a strong if inexplicable attachment to Ludlum's turgid original and are mystified that this version tosses out Carlos the Jackal entirely: pick up a newspaper sometime. The book was written in the 70s when Carlos -- yes, a real terrorist -- was still at large and his identity uncertain. Ludlum played guessing games about who Carlos really was. Since Carlos - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez - was captured in the mid-90s and is in prison in France, that wouldn't really have flown in this movie.