The name is Bourne, Jason Bourne...

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2005)

Sick of all those recent spy flicks (I don't need to name them, you know what I'm talking about) where plot and characters are buried by hundreds of visual effects and everything is the same movie after movie after movie? Then try The Bourne Identity, which brings new life to the genre. It's got everything you're after: intelligent story, believable and likable characters, and yes, action too, but it's realistic action, not some Matrix-style kicking.
The most intriguing aspect is arguably that the hero is a vulnerable human being. In fact, at the beginning of the movie he is found half-dead in the French sea. Once he recovers, this stranger (Matt Damon) is stunned to realize he can speak five or six languages fluently, but doesn't remember where he learned them, or anything that happened prior to his awakening for that matter. The only clue he has is a bank account number in Switzerland, which reveals his name is Jason Bourne and he 's involved in some kind of classified activity. Unfortunately he doesn't have much time to sort things out, as his superiors (Chris Cooper and Brian Cox) think he has deserted and decide to take him down. With only a German student named Marie (Franka Potente) willing to help him, Bourne must put all the pieces together and find out exactly who he is before it is too late.
Director Doug Liman and screenwriter Tony Gilroy have made their own version of The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum's novel is almost completely different), but who cares, as long as the movie works? It's one of the best spy stories ever made, and it looks like something that could actually happen (all of Bourne's weapons can be purchased by an average citizen). This is the anti-Bond, a man who actually gets hurt and would rather be left alone, and his vulnerability is grippingly conveyed through Damon's powerful performance. If there is a defect, it has to be the fact that the film's focus is almost entirely on the protagonist, overshadowing a fine supporting cast (especially Cooper and Clive Owen, whose turn as the Professor manages to be much more than a stereotyped "silent killer" pantomime).
Probably the most interesting action movie of 2002, with an even better sequel continuing in the same direction.