Natural "Bourne" Killers!

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2009)

The Matt Damon international spy thriller "The Bourne Identity" qualifies as an entertaining, European-lensed, cloak & dagger epic that relies on hair-raising heroics rather than in-depth characterization. Based ostensibly on the 1980 bestseller by bestselling author Robert Ludlum, this spirited but spartan saga about an amnesia-ailing C.I.A. assassin left for dead in the stormy Mediterranean Sea on a dark night after he takes two bullets in the back amounts to a surprise and a guilty pleasure from journeyman director Doug Liman of "Swingers" and "Go." Little did Liman know when he made "The Bourne Identity" that he would exert an impact on the most famous espionage franchise in the world, the James Bond series, and that Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli would alter 007 so that he resembled Jason Bourne more than Ian Fleming's protagonist. The deja-vu, derring-do screenplay by veteran Hollywood hack Tony Gilroy of "Duplicity" and "Proof of Life" and newcomer William Blake Herron delivers everything that fans of spy thriller treasure most: a laconic but likable hero, a nasty nemesis, a harrowing car chase, snappy bone-crackling martial arts fights, and gritty gunfights galore. Indeed, despite its far-fetched plot, most of "The Bourne Identity" looks as realistic as most Hollywood movies allow themselves to be.
The film unfolds as the crew of a small Italian fishing vessel bound for Marseille pulls an unconscious man in a scuba suit out of the sea. Not only does the ship's captain does two slugs out of our anonymous protagonist, but he also removes a capsule from his hip which contains an encoded Swiss bank account. Eventually, this rugged survivor (Matt Damon of "Dogma") recuperates, and he remembers neither his identity nor his past. Off he heads to Zurich where he finds a safe deposit box stuffed with dozens of passports, wads of cash, and an automatic pistol. No sooner has he set foot outside the bank than an informant alerts the C.I.A. in Langley, Virginia,. Bourne's ruthless, amoral C.I.A. superior Ted Cronklin (Chris Cooper of "Money Train") has dispatched him to assassinate a South African politician, but Bourne vanished without a trace. Now, Cronklin sends out more heavily-armed assassin and snarls: "I want Bourne in a body bag by sundown!" Back in Zurich, Bourne eludes the authorities, bribes a young Swiss woman, innocent bystander Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente of "Run, Lola, Run"), to drive him to Paris, France. As Marie and he are getting acquainted, a hit man interrupts their romance and riddles everything in sight. Suddenly, Bourne finds himself fighting for his life with martial arts skills that he never knew he possessed. An inventive, off-beat, evasive auto chase that careens through packed Parisian streets, sidewalks, and stairways ranks as the liveliest since John Glen's "For Your Eyes Only," with our leads crammed into a vehicle the size of an apple cart with hordes of cops on their heels.
Director Doug Liman paces the action for maximum suspense and keeps our resilient hero on his toes throughout this whirlwind thriller. Although "The Bourne Identity" winds up just as predictable and preposterous as any scenic James Bond spectacle, this lean, mean, PG-13-rated opus is nevertheless a resourceful and ingenious potboiler worth watching at least twice. Moreover, Matt Damon proves that eh can make the grade as a tough-as-nails action-hero, more so than his ill-fated Oscar winning "Good Will Hunting" co-scenarist Ben Affleck who whined his way through the woebegone "Sum of All Fears." The scene where the assassin shatters the window to enter the premises and surprise Bourne is a jolt to the system. Liman co-produced the two sequels that followed. A top-flight supporting cast is fleshed out my Brian Cox and Clive Owen.