Entertaining but misses the point of why Identity was so good

Rating: 6/10 (26 January 2005)

While definitely an engaging film that had me enthralled, The Bourne Supremacy is missing a key element that made The Bourne Identity such a great action film. That element was the bold decision to kill Franka Potentate's character in the first Act of the film. In Identity, Potentate gave a nice balance of humanity to Jason Bourne's character. The contrast between the cold blooded killing tactics and the warmth and awkwardness that Damon shows in his scenes with Potentate lent great sympathy and likability to him. By eliminating Potentate, Bourne loses that important balance that instead leans towards his brutal side. To make up for it, the Director decides to add on a cheesy ending with Bourne and the daughter of his victims.
Also, by eliminating an essential character for Bourne to play against, Damon has very few lines of actual dialog. I bet if you counted the words spoken, that both Joan Allen or Brian Cox had more lines spoken than Matt Damon. It's a shame because Damon is a fine actor who shows great vulnerability despite being a stone cold killer.
Lastly, Hollywood must stop the cliché use of hand-held cameras for action films. Designed to give the audience a feeling of chaos, hand-held cameras have instead become lazy film-making. A great director doesn't need to shake the camera to create scenes of chaos. Rather, the great ones create chaos on the screen all with a stationary cameras and tracking shots without leaving the audience nauseous.