Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (19 June 2002)

It's the script. Nothing of any merit can be accomplished in film without a decent screenplay, and The Bourne Identity suffers accordingly. A majority of the dialogue is muddled, seemingly adlibbed in parts, and fails to advance the story properly or provide its characters with substantial material for which to base a decent performance. To Doug Liman's credit, the fight scenes are outstanding, but are not enough to save the plodding and lifeless storyline. What is tragic here is that there was so much to work with. The Bourne Identity has been begging to be made into a motion picture for years, and I'm baffled at how something with such promise could be done such a disservice. First, the motivations of the characters are underdeveloped and misplaced, which is a script problem. Second, the emotional gravity that Liman tries so desperately to build is undercut by uneven performances, and what amounts to some terrible editing, but which, in the end, is a product of the awful script. Damon never seems to establish the proper tone for an intercontinental, cold-blooded, super assassin, and poor Franka Potente (awesome in Run Lola Run) struggles to lend believability to a ridiculously half-baked character-(She may be a flighty vagabond, but, please, where's her motivation?). Chris Cooper is adequate, but a little unkempt and anxious for a self-righteous, cool-headed CIA program director. However, any flaws in the performances can again all be attributed to the script. I imagine the pressure of making your first big-budget studio pic can cloud judgment and strain your patience, but I hope Liman has learned from his mistakes here and chooses, in the future, to demand more from those drafting the content on which he is working.