Review(s): DVD The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Identity Value Pack
Bourne away
Robert Ludlum may have passed on, but his work is definitely alive in the cinema. His taut Jason Bourne series has been adapted into two movies (so far), "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremacy," which are action-packed but also brimming with flaws.
"The Bourne Identity" opens with an amnesiac (Matt Damon) being hauled onto a fishing boat, with two bullets in his back. Once he's recovered, he goes in search of his identity -- and finds links to a sinister organization that is out to kill him. And as he goes on the run, Jason Bourne must uncover who he is and why he is a fighting machine.
"The Bourne Supremacy" opens with Bourne tormented by nightmares, even though he's living peacefully in India. But then his enemies are after him again, and even destroy his beloved girlfriend. Now Bourne is out for revenge against the people who won't leave him in peace -- assuming that they don't kill him first.
What can an action movie do that hasn't been done before? That's a hard question to answer, and most efforts (any "XXX" movie, for example) fall horribly flat.
But these two movies attempt to find something unique. And they succeed to some degree: "Bourne Identity" has a stripped-down appeal, complete with down-the-stairs car chases and stark European cities, and although the story seems to meander at times, it isn't peppered with stale witticisms and gadgets.
Unfortunately, the second movie was done by a different director -- a far less talented one. And so the cinematography is downright atrocious, with half the scenes done in a shakycam style. Even on a small screen, it's enough to make you seasick. At least it distracts from the stumbling if tense plot.
Matt Damon obviously threw his all into these films. His acting is made intriguing by its intensity, which keeps him from seeming like yet another James Bond clone, albeit one with amnesia. Much of the film's tension comes from Damon, and he also provides it with some surprisingly realistic-looking fights.
And "Supremacy" is graced with two excellent performances, in the icy, taut Joan Allen and the sinister Karl Urban. Bourne's love interests aren't quite as good: Julia Stiles doesn't have enough screen time to make us like her character, and Franka Potente plays a dizzy, inglorious Bond girl for Damon to bed.
Though "Bourne Supremacy" is a dizzying shakycam trip, the films together are a taut action duology, yet they lack equally taut storylines. Matt Damon's intense performance is what keeps it from being mediocre.
Jason Bourne Rocks
I am very much a fan of this genre' of story (film, book whatever). I think that the "spy thriller" is the most entertaining amusement. I grew up in the early cold war era and much of this was in the news from time to time. The Bourne series has been a DELIGHT , I really like the casting,the direction and the acting. Sometimes it is a little predictable but not so much as to distract. If you like this stuff be careful the rest of the genre' will seem pedestrian for a while after this.
rivetting and original yet again
This is one of the best sequels I have ever seen: not only does it avoid degenerating into a formula - with one of the principal characters killed off at the beginning - but it adds to the characters of all the players. Bourne is still evolving in Damon's hands, becoming a new person from the confused automaton that he was in the first film, someone you can believe in and allow to enter your imagination. Of course, there are great action scenes, filmed in a you-are-there jiggle, that reach new heights of realism. (Interestingly, the director refused to use any computer animation, as he knew the audience would recognise it as such.)
But it is Damon who truly impresses: he adds creative twists to his characters like only a truly great actor can, carrying an entire environment with him, a consciousness that the viewer can envision and empathise with. I would say he is this generation's Gene Hackman, a star who rises not on simple sex appeal but on outstanding acting talent. I will watch any film he is in.
Warmly recommended. Let's hope they stop here, while the quality is maintained.
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