Disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (23 January 2005)

I thought the first "Bourne Identity" with Matt Damon was a good agent thriller. Both when it came to acting and action. But this second installment fails to deliver, mostly because of clumsy action sequences.
Agent Jason Bourne tried to hide from the agency he worked for. But now they have found him and framed him for murder. He has to use his skills to survive and clear his name.
The set-up here is pretty much as it was in the first movie. We have our hero and we have the mystical government agency hunting him. But several things are missing that made the first movie great. First of all the story feels uninteresting here. We have seen it all before, and seeing Bourne run around the same way (for the same reasons) as in the first movie holds a limited appeal. Also Bourne never feels out-gunned the way he does in the first movie. Here it feels like he is the one running the show, while he tried desperately to stay alive and mostly had to run in the first movie.
But the main drawback is without doubt the action sequences. When is Hollywood going to learn not to let a spastic handle the camera?! As soon as something happens (a fight, a car chase, someone shooting) the camera starts shaking uncontrollably. This is a popular Hollywood-technique. Especially when using actors who can't fight properly, because when you shake the camera like this it's impossible to see what's going on. Unfortunately this also rather limits the entertainment value to say the least.
So, with a more interesting story and camera work worth the name this could have been great. Matt Damon is still good, Karl Urban is vicious as his opponent and Brian Cox has long since perfected his "evil-agency-boss". This experience is sad, not just because of what it is, but also because of what it COULD have been. I rate it 5/10.