The Bourne Series-Part 2:Supremacy.

Rating: 9/10 (11 August 2016)

Reading up about the Bourne movies,the era which I found to receive the most praise was when director Paul Greengrass took over the series. Finding the first one to be a brilliant mix of blockbuster thrills and Spiv espionage,I decided to cut into the supreme second offering in the series.
The plot:
Living in India with his girlfriend Marie,Jason Bourne begins to hope that he has finally left his past life of being a CIA super assassin behind.Unknown to Bourne, Russian agent (the dirty reds!) Kirill puts Bourne's fingerprints all over a murder scene where he has stolen CIA cash and files.Wanting to keep his lie safe, Kirill tracks Bourne down and tries to kill him,but accidentally murders Marie instead. Barely escape with his life,Bourne begins to suspect that the CIA have revived their secret training program.
View on the film:
Taking over after the studio skipped giving "difficult" Identity director Doug Liman a chance to return,director Paul Greengrass grabs the flick with an urgent atmosphere.Retaining his documentary/investigative journalism roots, (Greengrass co-wrote the tell-all book Spycatcher,with former MI5 officer and Assistant Director Peter Wright) Greengrass and cinematographer Oliver Wood crank up the suspense with blistering hand held cameras that place the viewer right beside Bourne. Striking the action scenes with a real crunch,Greengrass keeps the adrenaline running high via splashing lightning fast edits and jagged camera moves across the screen,which drink up Bourne's anxiety.
Deciding to do a "re-imagination framework" of Robert Ludum's book,the screenplay by Tony Gilroy and un-credited Brian Helgeland (who got rid of Gilroy's idea for the movie to take place in the USSR!) keeps the action rolling at a fantastic pace bringing in shady double dealings,tense chases with deadly assassins and "grounded" spy action. Arriving as an unplanned sequel,the writers do very well at linking the film to the after effects of the psychological disturbances Bourne suffered in the first movie.
Joined by a hissing Karl Urban as Kirill and a sweet Michelle Monaghan as CIA worker Kim, Joan Allen gives a wonderfully stern performance as CIA Director Pamela Landy,whilst Brian Cox gives the flick a great sinister edge as CIA worker Ward Abbott.Taking Bourne on again,Matt Damon gives an excellent performance as Bourne,whose silent killer skills of the past are given a regretful,raw gravitas by Damon,as Jason is bourne again.