A shaky cam of goons, boring meetings, and saying "Bourne!" a lot

Rating: 2/10 (20 August 2008)

Matt Damon returns as the near mute superspy Jason Bourne in the Bourne Supremacy *Ha!* The only thing this movie is supreme at is making lanky actors look like assassins by shaking the camera so much you can only guess someone is being punched by the sound fx. Every hand to hand melee is filmed like the camera was taped to a motorboat engine and put on full throttle. It's annoying and I'm surprised Greengrass dialed it even higher in the sequel. Seriously the camera even shivers during simple questioning scenes. I can only assume to leave some editing room for the director to put in some punching sounds in case he wanted to turn Bourne's very words into invisible boxing gloves that can take out those over-the-hill interrogators.
Remember those James Bond knockoffs from the 70's that had the main actor go through a series of generic action challenges just to prove to the audience that the character was as good as James Bond? Well, Bourne goes through the same dance steps like a kid doing his dad's dance routine. Except this kid doesn't realize he looks like a dweeb. Supremacy carries the false identity of all those older knockoff films, and expects us to overlook this badly disguised spy movie. Matt Damon barely has to spout out any lines because the movie is on rails. This movie plain old uses the time tested spy checklist for the story. Nameless hit-man with no dramatic arc? Check. Car chase? Check. (With junky Euro go cars nonetheless.) Overly-romantic subplot with cranky girlfriend? Check. Experienced government officials terrified of the ultimate spy who can walk out of any detainment, even police stations? Check. Said spy having amnesia over his mysterious past which he receives in ever-revealing and eye popping flashbacks triggered by infiltrating a network of creeps? Check.
Been there. Done that. Even the ol' snap the gas line in the apartment as the bad guys rush in is used here. You would think that by now movie goons would be careful not to enter into section apartments using natural gas lines. Must be horrible for normal folks who, say, have a gas leak, have lost their sense of smell and burn their toast or something cause the house is bound to explode. The only thing surprising is the new girl brought into the story by way of Julia Stiles, who is a government psych assistant who does nothing but cry because she's still an intern, basically. I think she looks up one file in the whole movie and between the regulatory mumbo jumbo you realize that's her purpose. To kitten talk Bourne and to read a file everyone probably has read in this agency. But even more irritating is the fact that she looks like she could be the sister of Bourne's last girlfriend!
Anyway the cast of government agents chasing Bourne do little more than setup an HQ, kiss Bourne's butt, then move the HQ somewhere else when Bourne evades their grasp. While they're at HQ they spend their time talking about technical procedures and saying the name Bourne every three sentences. The dialogue would go something like this: Joan Allen: "We need to put out a communique to the French consulate for a wire tap. For Bourne." Brian Cox "Bourne is not just another target. Bourne is like a wildcat with claws of fire." The script does disservice to heavy hitters like Brian Cox and Joan Allen when all it gives their characters to do is stand around weaving myths of Jason Bourne like he's freakin' Gilgamesh. I like Joan Allen as an actress. It's sad to see her in a role that basically treats her like a secretary trying to avoid retirement. A little irony in that I'm writing this on Joan Allen's birthday. Oh well, I'm pretty sure I've forgotten major turning points in the plot. I don't really mind though. Between all the editing spasms I barely remember that Matt Damon's in it at all.