Yar, you be here: The Bourne Identity (Widescreen Collector's Edition) > Customer Reviews

The Bourne Identity (Widescreen Collector's Edition) Customer Reviews (52 - 54 of 62 Reviews)

Enthralling
The Bourne Identity is tightly crafted, gripping action-thriller with elements of espionage and fugitive films thrown in. Despite its rather far-flung and somewhat murky plot, it delivers many thrills with intense and exciting action sequences.

The movie opens with Matt Damon's character floating unconscious in the Mediterranean Sea in the middle of the night. He is rescued from the water by a passing fishing vessel. The boat captain, who inexplicably owns a set of surgical tools, finds two bullets lodged in his back and a laser device implanted in his hip. When activated, the laser reveals a Swiss bank account number. However, he has no knowledge of who he is and no memory of how he got there.

Upon reaching land, he takes a train to Zurich and accesses the safe-deposit box which, to his surprise, contains a stash of various currencies, several passports with his picture but different aliases, and a handgun. He discovers that his name is Jason Bourne and that he maintains a residence in Paris. Despite his amnesia, Bourne finds that he possesses superb martial arts skills and many uncanny abilities that would put 007 to shame. Suddenly pursued by the authority, Jason convinces a distraught young woman named Marie to drive him to Paris for a ridiculous sum of money. Marie becomes his reluctant companion after she discovers that her name and picture had become inexplicably linked to him. Together they desperately race to discover his identity while evading mysterious and deadly assassins who hound their tracks. Somehow the key to his mystery is a flamboyant African leader in exile who publicly maintains that he's the target of assassination attempts by the CIA.

Throug most of the movie we witness events as they unfold from Bourne's perspective. From time to time we see glimpses of Bourne's former superiors who try to track him down with high-tech surveillance and spy gadgets. Bourne, in the words of his former boss, is a "malfunctioning 30-million-dollar weapon". He is deadly armed and unarmed, speaks several languages, has superb observation skills and drives a car like a stuntman. However, unlike Bond, his primary role is assassination; he and others like him operate anonymously and without glamor or glory. He doesn't get to save the world; he's just trying to survive. In this day and age, the notion that such superagents exist and are employed by none other than the CIA is intriguing if rather far-fetched.

Matt Damon delivers a subdued performance and is credible in the title role, even though his boyish look belies somewhat his role as a professional killer. Sometimes he appears lost and confused, sometimes he has a dangerous streak, but at all times he exudes cool-headedness and control. He effectively conveys compassion hidden beneath a deadly facade. Franka Potente, in her big-budget debut, is great as the love interest. I've liked her ever since Run Lola Run. Besides being attractive, she has an appealing mix of innocence and edginess to her. As Bourne's former boss, Chris Cooper seems to have nailed down the role of a cocky, authoritative military figure that he portrayed in American Beauty.

The cinematography is excellent. The European locations, primarily Paris, are gorgeous. The actions are fast and furious. In particular, the car chase through the narrow, crowded, maze-like streets of Paris is the most viscerally exciting in recent memory. What's the fun of a car chase if it takes place over straight, wide boulevards with no traffic! No, Paris is the perfect location, with its ancient cobblestoned streets and stately brick buildings; one gets a sort of guilty pleasure at such recklessness and mayhem. There are no eye-popping pyrotechnics or stunt cars flying through the air. Instead, what you get is furious, gut-wrenching twists and turns. They were driving a Mini, and you can almost feel every jaw-rattling bump and jar. In the end, you don't see a car flipping over in slow motion; instead, the fugitives scoot down a tunnel, switch off the engine, and let out a breath. When they do, so would the audience.

The martial art sequences are exciting and highly stylized, with judicious use of fast- and slow-motion. They almost remind me of The Matrix, but then again practically everything resembles The Matrix nowadays. The climactic gun battle features an very cool stunt, one that would take the audience by surprise as much as it does the nemesis.

If you're looking for non-stop, adrenaline-charged thrills, this one won't disappoint.

At least Matt Damon Is Better Than Ben Afleck
At first I couldn't see Matt Damon as an action star, but after watching him in "The Bourne Identity" he passes the test. Matt plays Jason Bourne, a government agent who doesn't know what's going on. After he's found alive by a fishing crew with two bullets in his back, he quickly is on the hunt for his identity. He has skills that everyday people do not, and knows just how to use them. He discovers that he has many passports with many identities, but doesn't know why. He meets up with a gypsy (Franka Potente) who has nothing except a car. A series of near death expierences follow and then Jason saves the day. The way they end it means there will be a sequel, but that doesn't mean there should be one. Overall a decent movie with great action sequences, but not worthy of a second run.

Jason's not paranoid, he's just in a tough spot.
I'll be honest, I haven't read the Robert Ludlum novel, nor do I remember seeing the original film staring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith. So I'm not able to point out differences or inconsistencies, if indeed there are any. Having said that, I can't imagine its predecessor's topping Doug Liman's version of "The Bourne Identity." This is the sort of film I like to watch pretty often and each time I find something new to enjoy.

The plot, while nothing very original, provides a useful framework around which we get to enjoy some of the most believable action sequences I've seen. Let's face it, an assassin suffering from amnesia is not going to lead a dull life, particularly not after his "friends" decide he's gone rogue. There's only so many ways you can film stunts and action sequences like a car chase but Liman has managed to somehow make the many action scenes seem fresh. I particularly liked seeing what looked like a mini-minor out driving the police using skill and good planing, rather than a high-powered engine or death-defying jumps.

Most of the movie follows Jason Bourne, (Matt Damon), as he tries to reclaim his life and survive to see each new day. In this way, the audience is allowed to discover the pieces of the puzzle along with him. On the way he forms an unequal partnership with Marie Kreutz, (Franka Potente). It is good to see a female lead portrayed without either weakness or an unrealistic macho streak. Hopefully, this film will launch Franka's Hollywood career because she has more than earned her stripes in German cinema.

Jason and Marie inevitably bond but despite not taking a major part of the narrative, I felt their stop-start romance suited the film. Perhaps a woman with no home makes a good match for a man with no past. I also liked the several times the couple tried to split up, to get Marie out of Bourne's troubles but I especially liked the realism when they finally managed to part. The plot really doesn't need her but it seems Liman used Marie as a means of reminding Bourne that there is more to life than survival.

To some it would be nice to wake up one day and discover you were a sort of superman; able to speak half a dozen languages, had tens of thousands in a Swiss bank account and could out-fight Bruce Lee. His boss said it best when he described Jason as a $30,000,000 weapon. But more than advanced skills, Jason was gifted with intelligence and the experience of years of spy craft, even if he couldn't remember it. The thoughtful approach taken to achieve each objective, even on the spur of the moment, made the film almost educational. Hey, read a map before running from the police, use distraction and decoys to sidetrack you opponent, use the resources around you and think laterally. It's all good stuff for budding spies.

While Matt Damon played the part with little emotion, deliberately I assume, some of the smaller roles were outstanding. Each seemed to wring so much depth from so few minutes of screen time that I felt like watching a spin-off movie for each of them. Probably the most affecting was the performance of Clive Owen, a fellow assassin who dies describing his constant headaches and bitter loneliness. Also of note is Julia Stiles, the overworked safe-house administrator; she exudes competence while com­plaining of limited resources. All of these perform­ance gems must be a credit to Liman's direction.

It would be easy to dismiss "The Bourne Identity" as just another action flick. The action was great, but the true heart of the film was Jason's odyssey to reclaim his soul from the depths of a CIA black-ops hell. He used to be an amoral machine, doing his job without questioning the rightness of his work, just like the rest of them. But amnesia gave him the chance to step back from the abyss and evaluate his fate, eventually choosing to tear a new path into the future. The moral? Perhaps it's that "freedom" is more important than "patriotism."

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Next Page