So much better than Bond

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2004)

The Bourne Supremacy tells the continuing saga of amnesiac spy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). A highly-trained assassin, Bourne snapped several years ago (as told in the film The Bourne Identity). Since then, he has lived a peaceful life with his girlfriend (the beautiful Franka Potente), away from the CIA and the world of espionage. Until, that is, someone comes after him...
The Bourne Supremacy is a fast-paced, action-packed yet (almost) believable espionage thriller. Damon excels as Bourne, the character not has stoic determination but an emotional core filled with the terrors of his past. This character is so much better than the one-dimensional James Bond ever was: he's human, grim, deep, sad yet dangerous.
This film is so much better than any of the Bond films in terms of human drama. Sure, there are no fabulous weapons, there is no endless stream of shaggadelic babes, there are no cars that turn into para-sailers. But there are the worldly locales, the incredible car chases, the sudden twists, the dangerous assassins (Karl Urban), the double-crossing inside operatives (the omnipresent Brian Cox), and the smart Deputy Director who has to figure it all out (the incredible Joan Allen). And all of it told in under two hours, the perfect length for a film of this type.
I have only two beefs about this film. The director overuses herky-jerky, highly edited photography that is distracting (especially during a fight scene between Damon and a fellow CIA assassin, so hard to watch it may be seizure-inducing) and so over-used in today's cinema it's become a parody. Then there is this highly unbelievable, indestructible Russian-made taxicab tougher than the Humvees used by the Marines Corps. The only comic moments in this film involved this cab careening off SUVs and barriers yet still outrunning cop cars.
These are minor quibbles compared to the rest of the film. 9 out of 10.