The Bourne Identity

First off, I really want to apologize for not posting this yesterday. I had completely forgotten, and hopefully that will never happen again. With that out of the way, I feel so bad, but I don’t want to leave my online readers wondering where my review is this week. That’s why I am going to post it today and announce what this month will be.

For the month of September, I will be looking at one of my all-time favorite action series, the Jason Bourne series, a novel adaptation that I have never read but heard of the series through the movies. Today, let’s take a look at the 2002 first entry in the series, “The Bourne Identity,” another one of my all time favorites.

This movie is a clever action movie about a story that exists only to help a clever action movie. The entire story sets up the kung-fu and chases. Because they are well executed, because the movie is well done and acted, we enjoy it. The one drawback is that it’s not about something.

Actually, it might be. It might be about the unethical climate in spy agencies like the CIA. There are no protagonists – definitely not the main character, played by Matt Damon, who is a trained killer – and not even antagonists. Even the ones who want to kill Damon are only doing their jobs. Roger Ebert mentioned in his review, “Just as the guardians of the Navajo "Windtalkers" in another new movie are told to kill their charges rather than let them fall into enemy hands, so is Bourne, or whatever his name is, targeted for death after he fails to assassinate an African leader. (There's a good possibility he would also be targeted if he had succeeded.)” As the movie starts, a fisherman on a boat out of Marseilles, played by Roberto Bestazzoni, sees a body floating in what is, as Ebert puts it, “obviously a studio back-lot tank.” Brought on the ship, the man turns out to be living, has two bullet wounds and has a capsule sealed under his skin, which has the code to a Swiss bank account The friendly fisherman gives the man he saved (who doesn’t remember his name) money to take the train to Switzerland, and he is welcomed in the country and withdraws so much cash from a bank even though he doesn’t know his name or having any sort of identification.

Certainly, he finds out who he may be by going through a red bag from the bank, where he finds a handful of passports, one say his name is Jason Bourne. With his mind set on finding out his real name, and why he was in the Mediterranean Sea, Bourne pays $10,000 to a gypsy named Marie, played by Franka Potente, to drive him to Paris. Meanwhile, the movie goes to CIA headquarters in Virginia, where we meet Bourne’s supervisor Conklin, (Chris Cooper) and his boss Abbot (Brian Cox). Bourne was through to be dead. Now that he is alive, he must be murdered, and the assignment goes to a team of CIA murderers, especially the Professor, played by Clive Owen, who is as highly trained as Bourne.

Ebert notes, “I forgot to say that Bourne is trained. Is he ever.” He speaks a handful of languages, is a master martial artist, has strong training powers in observation and memory, knows every spy tricks and is a difficult driver. We see that during a edge-of-your-seat chase sequence through the streets of Paris, much of it through tight alleys, down flights of steps, and against traffic.

There comes a part where we realize there will be no higher level to the screenplay, no greater purpose than to use this motive energy. The movie’s violently sarcastic happy ending reveals that it doesn’t take itself seriously. We do get this (sooner than Marie) that the love interest stays in the movie only because – there has to be a love interest, to give false suspense and give the lonely hero someone to talk to.

Ebert admitted, “I kind of enjoyed "The Bourne Identity." I had to put my mind on hold, but I was able to. I am less disturbed by action movies like this, which are frankly about nothing, than by action movies like "Windtalkers," which pretend to be about something and then cop out. Doug Liman, the director of "Bourne," directs the traffic well, gets a nice wintry look from his locations, absorbs us with the movie's spycraft and uses Damon's ability to be focused and sincere. The movie is unnecessary, but not unskilled.”

I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie, you will enjoy it. There’s no question that people will get into this, it’s one of those adrenaline-rushing, nerve-shooting movies. One of my complaints is the overuse of shaky camera during the action scenes because you can’t really see what’s going on. That’s my only gripe with the movie, but other than that, it doesn’t take away too much from the movie since I still enjoyed it, and I believe everyone else will.

How did the sequels turn out? Find out next Friday (and it will be posted than. I won’t forget this time) on the next installment of “Jason Bourne Month.”