Doesn't Top the First, But Still Cool

Rating: Null/10 (23 July 2004)

The Bourne Identity is probably my favorite spy movie. Bourne has to use his brains to figure everything out and quickly dispatches his nemesis before moving on. Oh, and here's the best part...THE COPS ACTUALLY SHOWED UP ALMOST Immediately AFTER SOMETHING HAPPENED! That was so shocking and amazing! The police actually doing their jobs! And that film created a real sense of realism (well, except for the end when Bourne jumped down that building, popped a guy in the head, and used that dead body to break his fall, but that was still pretty cool). Doug Liman created something different from all the other spy thrillers and it remains my favorite.
So now, here we have The Bourne Supremacy. A lot of it is a retread of the first one. More things for Bourne to figure out, avoiding the CIA who so desperately wants to kill him, and then just beating up people who try to kill him. Is this bad? No. It's very cool. Like the first one, this movie is a chase thriller, but I don't think it was handled as well as the first.
You know have Brian Cox's character taking over the Chris Cooper character, but now he's using this other team to hunt down Bourne. And then there are some other assassins trying to kill him. And you know how it is.
Much like the first one, this one really strayed away from the book, which I feel is a good thing because now the movie and the book can be judged on their own. The major element lifted from the book still in the movie is that some assassins killed some people and they put the blame on Bourne.
I don't think Paul Greengrass is as good as Doug Liman because I don't think he has the same passion as Liman for Bourne. Listen to commentary on the DVD and you'll see. He uses hand-held cameras, like what Liman did with the first one, but still there is a lack of the energy Liman tried to get with the first film. But the chases are cool, the fighting is awesome, and it still has intelligence.
The two car chases don't hold up to the one in the first film and there is still no scene that comes close to the one in The Bourne Identity where he chases Clive Owen at the Farmhouse. Still, this movie is really cool.