INFERIOR sequel to THE BOURNE IDENTITY...And that's a FACT!

Rating: 4/10 (19 October 2009)

What is this current obsession that sequels are automatically superior to the originals nowadays? If film history has shown us ONE thing, this is RARELY the case! When THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004) first came out, I kept reading and hearing how it surpassed its exciting, vivid predecessor THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002). Frankly, it does not. The biggest complaint...SHAKY CAM! With all the constant hand-held camera-motion, the viewer can't discern any of the action or acting for that matter! Films now think they have to resort to gimmickry and overcomplicated storytelling to even be considered great.
THE BOURNE IDENTITY kept the plot beautifully simple: likable amnesiac protagonist (brought to life by Matt Damon, here again playing Jason Bourne) found by Greek fisherman goes on a quest to find out who he is and what he does; and even though his story was convoluted, the filmmaker (Doug Liman) kept it to the basics: love interest, lean action sequences, pulse-pounding music, minimal number of key characters, totally satisfying ending!
What does the director (Paul Greengrass) of this sequel do? What every sequel TRIES to do:
1) Up the ante by exponentially increasing the cast! In BI, we had one main "villain" brilliantly driving the action, Chris Cooper's cold, action-oriented determined CIA boss; in BS (perfect initials!), we are forced to watch a poorly cast Joan Allen as stagnant Pamela Landy, who just stands in a computer room barking at her superiors and inferiors and patsy Brian Cox (CIA Chief Abbott back from the original) with an expanded role here to just meat up the story and provide a fall guy.
2) Overcomplicating the plot! Get all extra serious with Bourne recalling some random empty backstory where he killed this girl's parents. They explored this already in BI when Bourne recalled his aborted attempt on Wombosi's life because his children were in the room! And that ending between Bourne and the girl was just another manipulative ending. The guy's probably killed hundreds of people. Why does he HAVE to go to this one kid? Just because he remembers. It was his job!
3) This shaky cam nonsense! It is totally distracting and drained the film of any excitement, fun, suspense, AND entertainment value.
4) No payoff! I wanted Bourne to kill that assassin (Karl Urban) who killed Marie (Franka Potente back in an early, quick cameo). He deserved it! I know why he didn't do it...Marie wouldn't have wanted him to...YAWN!
I first saw this movie on a FULL airline flight and there was not one single OOH or AAH during the runtime and after it was over, NO ONE applauded. Shouldn't essentially an action movie have those moments of pleasure and excitement? I think mostly everyone fell asleep on it. Glad the IMDb rating for BS is now lower than the rating for BI...As it should be!