Delivers the goods without being the least bit surprising or suspenseful...

Rating: 5/10 (17 February 2011)

Robert Ludlum's novel, previously the source of a 1988 mini-series for television, gets a slick, hyped-up, big-budget theatrical treatment here, with Matt Damon agreeably cast in the lead as an amnesiac with ties to the CIA who discovers to his amazement he is skilled in combat defense; he'll need to be once the CIA operative learns of Bourne's whereabouts and sets out to have him eliminated for foiling an assassination. For audiences weened on spy-thrillers, this is a highly acceptable piece of escapism. However, amnesia as a plot-point in movies goes a long way back...and was never an exciting angle anyway. Director Doug Liman doesn't bother toying seductively with the audience; we never have to guess what's around the next corner because Liman is mostly interested in noisy bursts violence accompanied by shattering glass, and in keeping wiry Damon constantly on the verge of extinction. These kinds of movies will never become extinct, simply because each new generation that comes along is led to believe they are seeing something new. ** from ****