Its just one big car chase

Rating: 6/10 (18 August 2007)

I just saw my first Bourne film last night and I was quite impressed by it, but its basically one big car chase in several cities of the world. At the end it made me think of the introduction, "Bond....James Bond" except now I was thinking "Bourne....Jason Bourne". Many comparisons have been made recently but I think this is a superior Bond type film.
It's good because its fast-paced, action-packed, and it's well done. The much mentioned hand held camera, works well in the chase scenes but it is distracting elsewhere in the movie. The acting of Matt Damon and David Strathairn are very good. Damon is in some decent fight scenes and Strathairn is the evil adversary at the CIA. It was funny seeing Paddy Considine playing against type as Guardian journalist with a man bag. I thought much of the other actors were pretty wooden lifeless characters.
I liked the film but would not watch it again hence the six stars (just above average). The main problem is that it is a one dimensional, all action film with not much else to hold the viewer's interest. There are some beautiful locations in the film and the chase scenes are awesome. Although it's well made, there is no depth to the characters in the film.