What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Rating: 8/10 (20 August 2007)

Yeah, maybe, if it doesn't wear you down so much that you die an old man at 40. Bourne had as much physical activity in this film as a typical person has in a lifetime, so dying at 40 doesn't seem too young for him. No sleep, constant travel, running, fighting, shooting, tension, worry, no love, no sex, etc. ...it made me need a nap just watching it. That said, I enjoyed the totally unrealistic chase throughout, as it was just one long and glorified chase flick, with top non-stop action and technicals...the first non-stop action film I've seen, even though Live Free or Die Hard came close. Bourne had to snuff tough assassins wholesale, avoid supernatural surveillance electronics(no one really thinks that stuff exists, do they? If so, get real. That was the gov't, folks.), resist one potential sexual encounter, and stay on his one-track-mind pursuit all the way to the "end". What a job, and who could ever have the fitness and energy for all that? But, what fun it all was to watch.
Matt Damon was at his stone-faced best, and the great Joan Allen as a CIA sub-boss nearly stole the show and still looks great and so trim. David Strathairn as the evil CIA boss was OK, but no way would the real CIA ever let a HQ headman have hair that long. Why do filmmakers let actors keep their hair the way they have it when they show up for filming when it is not realistic for the role? Details, details.
More detail nitpicks department: why do you think the filmmaker had to tell us(ignorant dopes?)each time in writing when the action went to these cities, that Paris is in France, London is in England, and Madrid is in Spain? Maybe he thought we might mistake unforgettable views of the Paris skyline for that of Paris, Texas? Jeez, even people from Texas know better than that. Maybe.
Entertaining movie overall, even if 99% of it was unreal fantasy. These days, movie cartoons are live action films with real people playing the cartoon parts, but make no mistake, they are still cartoons. Bugs Bunny...eat your heart out!