Great action flick practically ruined by crazy directing/camera-work

Rating: 6/10 (7 January 2008)

The first ten minutes of this movie I practically felt car sick. I kept wondering, "Are they ever going to stop shaking the camera and swish-panning so I can focus on these characters' faces?" Then when Jason Bourne is sitting completely still on a couch opposite another character and the camera is shaking all over the place just for the sake of shaking, I started to laugh out loud.
This is a sad example of a movie that is so stylized that the camera work is distracting. I do like hand-held work when it is done well (i.e. Children of Men). But I do not like it when it is does to the point that: 1) I can't always tell what is going on, 2) I get distracted by it and pulled out of the story because I am well aware a camera is capturing all of it, and 3) Even in still, calm moments the camera is shaking all over the place.
I'm being generous when I give this a 6. I give it a 6 only because Matt Damon is superb as Jason Bourne and the story/writing is good. Also, there are two action sequences that have good suspense and fantastic stunts/fight scenes despite the poor camera work  the train station & the chase involving Julia Stiles. The overall story is good, but the telling of that story is completely hampered by the style of the director.
My favorite of this trilogy was definitely the first, because I could enjoy that one without taking Dramamine.