Unconventional, Immensely Dizzying Action Flick

Rating: 10/10 (23 September 2004)

"The Bourne Supremacy" is a super-charged, nonstop thrill ride, featuring the all-too-familiar "wronged man with a short fuse", in this case an amnesiac former CIA agent, being beleaguered and hunted by deadly assassins. The film is comprised of fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping, gritty action sequences, which seem starkly unconventional, if immensely dizzying and disjointed, to one following everything that is happening. This is decent action entertainment which could have been executed much more effectively if the editing technique had been more focused and general, rather than hurried and fragmented. There are many instances in the film where this disjointed editing technique "spoils the ride" and leaves us desperate for the train to come to a halt. Talk about an expedited and confusing execution from your standard "getaway chase" actioner. Damon is totally low-key, serving as merely a subject for the rage, a target for the action: we are hardly concerned about what happens to him, but rather, what happens to them, the aggressors who seem to have awakened a sleeping giant in Bourne. Other characters are insignificant, I don't care what their involvement in the plot, because with a premise such as this, the audience is merely concerned with "who's next on (Bourne's) list", rather than, "Oh, no, not that guy", and everyone is subservient to the relentless action. There are many pleasant elements here, such as the heart-pounding, adrenaline-pumping music which provides some coherence to the confusing action design, but the gritty, fragmented direction is cloying and sometimes intolerable for the action to be seriously engaging or satisfying. Otherwise, this film could have been entirely entertaining, yet as it is executed, "Supremacy" is notes shy of worthy recommendation. **1/2 out of ****