| The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Identity |
| Buy the DVD |   |
| Genre: | Action |
| Year: | 2002 |
| Rating: | PG13 |
| Cast: | Doug Liman, Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Clive Owen |
At first glance, boyish Matt Damon might strike you as unsuited to play a formidable secret agent, but he does remarkably well in the role in this intricate, action-packed, and well-crafted spy thriller. Adapted from the bestselling novel by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity opens with the rescue of a badly wounded amnesiac (Damon), who carries beneath his skin a tiny capsule bearing the number of a Swiss bank account. Upon recovering, the befuddled young man claims a veritable fortune -- and passports bearing several different names -- from his safety deposit box. Understandably eager to find out which one of these identities is his real one, he hires a young Gypsy woman (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris. From this point, the script by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron gets incredibly complicated; the Damon character, who uses his "Jason Bourne" identity for the time being, becomes the object of repeated assassination attempts, which he foils by employing skills he never knew he had. Fine character actors Chris Cooper and Brian Cox are chillingly convincing as CIA bigwigs who decide that "Bourne" must be eliminated and assign their top assassin (Clive Owen) to do the job quickly and, if possible, quietly. Doug Liman (Swingers) directs with headlong single-mindedness, hurling his protagonist into one death trap after another and extricating him with dizzying speed. Wintry European exteriors and drab interior settings give the film a grayish cast, but The Bourne Identity isn't about pretty pictures; it's about international intrigue and one man's refusal to be a pawn in some sinister, global chess game. Improbable but engrossing, The Bourne Identity will keep you poised on the edge of your chair. Ed Hulse
|
|
|
|
