Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (22 June 2002)

Aside from a good chase scene and some interesting photography, the rest of this Ludlum tale either falls on its face (viz: the superhuman feats of the amnesiac Bourne become rather trite after a while) or flattens out to a rather dull thud (the absence of a strong underlying story). Too bad, as the gimmick in Ludlum's book, i.e., the loose cannon, the injured, traumatized Bourne, who is tied somehow to Carlos the Jackal, is now out of date with the aging Carlos presently behind bars in France. The script lacks an over-arching conspiracy; in spite of an overworked attempt to implicate a conspiracy group within the CIA (who after the recent revelation of debacles show the CIA minions are a parody of themselves), the plot falters. The film really never goes anywhere. It becomes one beat 'em up scene after another, sparked by nearly impossible situations. The scene-shifting, plot inside plot, spy vs. spy model of the Ludlum work is definitely missing. Too bad. Brian Cox, who created the role of Hannibal Lector and Matt Damon are nearly always worth the price of admission. Too, wasted are the talents of character actors Clive Owen and Chris Cooper. Finally, the female interest, German Franka Potente looks lost most of the time. While this is not a bad film, Ludlum fans will be very let down as old Robert really caught our interest with this novel. We would have liked a better script based on a decent novel.