Good: Car chase Bad: Movie

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2002)

If you're here you already know that the Bourne Identity is a spy thriller starring Matt Damon in the title role and Potente (god, that's a cool last name, unless you're Dutch or Belgian or something and your given name is Wim) as the love interest and France as the background.
What you need to know is this: this movie has maybe the best car chase scene ever. Now I haven't seen that many of them, but for example, it (and I mean the chase, here)'s so much better than recent 'movies about fast-cars' like "Gone in 60 Seconds" (which does have a cool-ish car chase scene but is largely spoiled by the stupid construction-ramp thing and the fact that he's being chased partially by helicopter) and "Fast and the Furious" (which should be burned for the fact that, despite being a fast-car movie it doesn't have a single car chase scene! Like, how stupid is that!). Oh yes, the chase here is excellent. Over the partly-cobbled streets of old-city Paris (where you feel like you're in a car chase even if you're just trying to drive slowly and peacefully - which reminds me - I'd actually watch a movie of 2 straight hours of a driver trying to manoeuvre in Paris traffic). Damon and Potente are in a little red Morris Mini and the Paris police are on (I think) Citroen Saxo's and cheap motorbikes, which just shows you, the greatness of the cars have absolutely nothing to do with the greatness of the car chases. The cinematography/stuntwork/cgi or whatever it is here is awe-inspiring to watch as in perfect co-ordination all the cars in traffic seem to be just about to hit and be hit by the little Mini, but not quite, as it accelerates, swerves, dodges and handbrake-turns. Truly the stuff of movie legend.
As I said, the Mini seems to have a character all its own. Too bad that isn't true for any of its human co-stars. The story here is stupid, the suspense completely lacking (gee, I wonder if Matt Damon is a spy or just some guy who is astonishingly adept at spying behaviour and is chased by the spy agency for no real reason?) and the attention to detail - something that made Spy Game, for example so enjoyable - is completely lacking. For example, in one of the 'climactic' scenes at the end, the time of day switches from total darkness to noon-hour sunshine in a matter of seconds. And 'Bourne' in Cyrillic is apparently L'tsshfum!!? Really, how expensive is it to hire a guy who can read cyrillic? Hell, I would have done it for two bucks.
What else can I tell you? Spy Game is a much superior movie in the same vein. But see this one nevertheless 'cause of the car chase.