Better if you're NOT a Robert Ludlum fan

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2003)

This taut, thoughtful-at-times actioner works a lot better if you haven't read Robert Ludlum's book, or its two sequels, The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Supremacy. If you have read them, you've probably developed an emotional attachment to David Webb (the real name of the man whose cover identity was Jason Bourne) and his wife, Marie--thus, you'll be offended by the characters played by Matt Damon and Frank Potente resemble the Ludlum players in name only. Indie director Doug Liman has thrown away most of the book save the title and the basic situation of the main character being an amnesiac who is dismayed at the talents he discovers in himself, talents which point toward his bring an assassin (which David Webb, in the book, is NOT--the reputation of "Jason Bourne" as a hit man is a plant.)
The new film sports some good acting from Damon, who is not yet a great or accomplished actor--but may very well be a great actor IN THE MAKING. From the time of Good Will Hunting and Dogma, he has shown enormous promise and still does. Franka Portente is a strange mixture (at least to American audiences) of strength alternating with vulnerability; the fact that she's quite good-looking but not a Pepsodent-smile model-type is rather refreshing. Good support from Brian Cox and Chris Cooper, who seems to be a dead ringer for Lloyd Bochner--remember his legendary line from the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man?" "It's a cookbook," he screams--and hilariously, his character, apropos of nothing, repeats the line in Naked Gun II.
Back to Bourne Identity: if you've not read the book, you'll probably like it. If you are a Ludlum fan, look for the VHS of the 1988 TV version with Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith: not a perfect adaptation by a long stretch, but at least an honest attempt to be faithful to the original.