A great start to a very strong franchise.

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2011)

I love this movie. It delivers everything that a spy chase thriller is supposed to deliver, and does it with exceptional skill and economy of action. Also, Matt Damon is fantastic in the title role of Jason Bourne.
First, a couple of caveats about who might not want to watch this film: it contains some violent fight scenes that are fairly graphic, and there are some shootings that are violent, although not in the graphic "pink mist" gory way. So you really don't want to sit down with the little kids and watch this one and adults who aren't keen on violence in movies may want to give it a miss. And there's some swearing, both in English and in other languages.
The movie starts with Jason Bourne floating unconscious in the ocean, where the crew of a fishing boat sees him and picks him up. While one of the people on the boat administers first aid, Bourne violently regains consciousness, and it becomes apparent that he has no idea who he is, where he is, how he got there. He has been shot twice, with superficial wounds; more strangely still, he had embedded in his hip a device that upon activation reveals a number that is apparently a bank account or code of some kind for a bank in Zurich.
The fishermen let Bourne off when they reach their port in Marseilles, and with the money they give him for the work he did while on their boat, he makes his way to Zurich and the bank.
Once there, he finds that he apparently has access to a safe-deposit box that is filled with currency, a variety of passports in different names but with his picture, and a gun. And now the chase is on.
Bourne's accessing the safe deposit box triggers the start of a CIA hunt for him. It's apparent that he's some kind of "black ops" assassin for the CIA, but he himself doesn't yet know that or really understand who he is and what he's been doing.
The rest of the movie consists of Bourne, who joins up with a somewhat flaky young woman who we know only as Marie (played superbly by Franka Potente) who he meets in the American embassy where she is trying unsuccessfully to get a visa.
"The Bourne Identity" is a very straightforward chase movie, with Bourne running away from people bent on killing him while trying to find out who he really is.
What raises it well above the average for this genre are two things: first, the way Matt Damon becomes Jason Bourne and makes him a thoroughly believable character who is likable in spite of having apparently been a bona fide assassin. Second, the quality of the writing, the stunts/action, and the general high level of the acting throughout.
I don't want to give too much of this movie away, but I do have to mention the car chase scene in this movie. The car chase has become such a staple of the action chase movie genre that it's very, very hard for anyone making this kind of movie to do something that doesn't seem mundane. The car chase scene in "The Bourne Identity" is exceptional in the way it is choreographed, the way it is photographed, and the unique twists it has. One of the better car chases of recent years, although when the movie is over and you start thinking about it, you have to wonder if Marie's decrepit little car really would have held together through what Bourne put it through in the chase! This is a superb action spy movie with Matt Damon truly exceptional as Bourne. You're on the edge of your seat rooting for him to evade the people who want to kill him and to find out who he is. A very enjoyable action/spy movie, one of the best of recent years.