I never cared who he was

Rating: 4/10 (8 August 2004)

When I saw theatrical trailers for this movie, I thought, WOW, I've got to see this. I didn't get a chance to see it until it was on cable. I found it so boring, it took 4 viewings for me to finish. My only incentive to finish was when I saw the announcement for the sequel being released. Unfortunately, this movie never improved.
Supposedly there is mystery, intrigue, action, and suspense. But not much in my opinion, and I appreciate other movies that are action packed and suspenseful and I really love an intricate mystery. But as the story unfolds it never gets any more interesting. The woman who drives him to Paris and becomes a sidekick of sorts adds very little to the story except for someone to react to him and a reason for him to talk out loud. I was hoping for intricacy with her in the storyline, some backstabbing, some former knowledge of him, something of depth, but no.
What I thought was weakest was the characterizations and bordered on laughable was that of the African minister and that played by Julia Stiles. A teen movie princess turned into some threatening head of secret ops? Completely unbelievable. They both seemed comical and you knew they were supposed to be serious. All they served to do was to make Matt Damon slightly greater in stature in his role.
Even the car chase scene was silly. A Mini Cooper? Come on, it wasn't a goofy golf course. It was Paris for goodness sake. And they chose to feature a Mini!!!
*** Spoilers in the next paragraph ***
Suspense? Even I expected someone to be in his apartment, I knew the was outside the window, the apartment manager would be dead, and a dead dog meant danger to the family. And so what he was good at wiping down fingerprints. Whoop dee doo. Were these supposed to be surprises?
The whole movie was like a long boring car trip I didn't want to take. I ranked it a 4 out of 10 on the IMDb scale.