Bourne Superior

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2007)

First things first: "The Bourne Supremacy" film is almost nothing like the book. Ludlum die-hards should not expect a faithful adaptation. Most notably, a main character from the novel and its sequel "The Bourne Ultimatum" (I will resist saying whom) dies within the first fifteen minutes of this film. The geographical locations in the movie are far apart from those in the book, and the general plot is vastly different.
However, as a standalone bearing only the Bourne name, this is a thrilling and competent espionage action movie. The original may have been more "classy" but this is more fun and more visceral - director Paul Greengrass' sickeningly chaotic hand-cam captures the fractured mentality of Bourne, as well as his physical spontaneity. This is a very different film from its predecessor, but in many respects, it's also very much a superior one.
Allowing the first film to establish the character, Matt Damon takes Bourne in new directions here - still running away from his past while trying to simultaneously figure out who he actually was.
The plot goes something like this: an assassin tries to kill Bourne at his home in a small African village, and instead murders Marie. Bourne retaliates by trying to find out why Project Treadstone is still active, and soon realizes that he has been linked to two murders in Berlin that he didn't have any part of. With the CIA under the impression that Bourne has re-emerged as an assassin-for-hire, and unaware that he has actually been framed by the same person who tried to kill him in Africa, Bourne goes international - revisiting locales from his past while dealing with haunting memories and the pain of losing his lover.
Damon's great here - physical, intense, deliberate. Everything the character calls for. The plot moves at a fast pace and isn't nearly as confusing as the first film's storyline was. (The fact that the basis for the character has already been established is probably part of the reason for this.) Greengrass' direction turned me off a bit at first, but once the film settled in to a rhythm it definitely worked to the film's advantage. He's kind of like Michael Bay if Michael Bay woke up one day and learned how to competently stage action sequences.
"Supremacy" is indeed a supreme film of its genre - it balances plot and action while introducing another element that was noticeably absent in the first film: a human soul. The movie veers down the "revenge thriller" route towards its finale, but it contains an emotional twist that not many revenge-thrillers are mature enough to carry out. "Identity" was a solid spy thriller but "Supremacy" just improves on every aspect of the previous film, and ends enticingly.