For fans of the original. Literally.

Rating: 4/10 (16 May 2005)

STAR RATING: ***** Unmissable **** Very Good *** Okay ** You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead * Avoid At All Costs
Having ceased his services to the CIA, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is now living a life shrouded in secrecy where every stranger's funny glance and every wrong number he receives on the phone is cause for alarm. All he wanted was to be left alone, but a mysterious faction of the CIA still seems intent on hunting him down, in the shape of expert assassin Kirill (Karl Urban) and agency figure-head Pamela Landey (Joan Allen.) Aside from this, he also seems to be suffering from amnesia in the shape of the killings he may or may not have committed for his former employers. When his girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente) is killed, the stakes are upped and he becomes more forth-right in his efforts to come out on top.
The follow-up to The Bourne Identity hits you straight-on like a bolt from the blue, hitting straight off from where the original left off (which might be a bit bewildering for anyone who never saw the original.) I enjoyed the first movie, I thought it was good, okay, if no great shakes, so I didn't rush out to see the follow-up. Strangely, Damon makes a more credible action hero here, though whether I've just warmed to him I don't know and there's a fairly neat car-chase at the end. But the sheer lack of emotional attachment to the characters, made even worse by all the funny editing and flash-cut scenes going on, makes all that's going on a bit over-whelming.
I guess, much like The Lord of the Rings series, you may have enjoyed the films better if you'd read the books first, but I just don't think the Bourne series is translating as well to the screen as other spy thrillers of it's ilk, i.e. the Jack Ryan series or the James Bond novels. With another one on the way, that's a little worrying. **