Bourne again

Rating: 6/10 (16 March 2011)

There's not a lot one can say about this without giving away the plot surprises. It started out reminding me of other Hitchcock 'hommages' like FRANTIC or Liam Neeson's own TAKEN. The fact that Neeson's character here loses his memory in a near-drowning inevitably recalls THE BOURNE IDENTITY, and the parallels with the Bourne movies were soon coming thick and fast: urban car chases (good stunt work or CGI?), the girl (Diane Kruger) who saves our hero more than once, the treacherous people supposedly on Neeson's side. And Neeson's character develops along similar lines to Jason B.
This is one of those films that you find yourself picking holes in as soon as you're out of the cinema. "Why didn't he/she do/say that?" The answer tends to be: "Because the movie would have only lasted 10/20/30 minutes." So: pacey and twisting, yes. But also, contrived and derivative. Entertaining enough while you're watching it, but really no more "meat content" than a Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle. Not in the same class as the Bourne Trilogy: Matt Damon retains his title.