great casting and superb direction

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2003)

I enjoyed 'The Bourne Identity' rather more than I expected. Reviews in the UK had been generally positive, but I expected something pretty formulaic and predictable.
What made the film was the eccentric casting and clever direction. Casting director Joseph Middleton must have had a brief to undermine expectations in the casting of the female lead, as 'Run Lola Run's Franke Potente is a very un- Holywood choice. She convinces me rather more than Matt Damon as Bourne,
which is odd because the part should suit the robotic style of acting he favours. Perhaps the problem is that he wasn't believable when struggling to assert the human being over the programmed killing machine as he struggled to remember who he was. What was funny was glamour girl Julia Stiles relegated to the second division role as agent controller in a dingy hotel room surrounded by monitors. Didn't the producers think to switch around their female leads to improve the audience demographic? Or is there the delicious possibility that
they were duped into approving the casting without realizing which actress had the lead role? Good support from Chris Cooper, a dependable Brian Cox, a
near silent Clive Owen and nice to see Walt Goggins from 'The Shield' in a small role.
On the direction front, I was surprised by how confident Doug Liman was with
the action sequences. These could have been terribly predictable or derivative, but instead he showed real flair - a great Paris car chase led by a battered Mini, some vicious hand-to-hand fighting - and he handled the pleasing European
locations with flair. It had a similar feel to Luc Besson's underrated 'The
Transporter'.
So, in summary this is above-average fare.