Review of The Bourne Identity (2002) by Rachel H — 16 Aug 2012

I had been meaning to explore this series for quite some time, and what time more appropriate than before the release of the newest film? Anyways, Identity is a supreme start to the series, a complex, intelligent, and thoroughly entertaining thriller which has easily earned a place amongst my favourite action films.

Matt Damon gives a commanding lead performance as Jason Bourne, the amnesiac black-ops agent trying to find out who he is, and he is backed up by solid turns from Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, and Brian Cox.

The action scenes are among the best I've ever seen, and the editing and choreography on said scenes are just perfect. One thing I especially liked about the action scenes was the fact that the camera mostly stayed still, as opposed to bouncing around and generally distracting the audience from seeing the action at hand.

Personal favourite action scenes would include the embassy escape and the first big car chase, though they were all excellently staged. This also means that the film is visually stunning on all accounts, especially Oliver Wood's cinematography, which takes full advantage of the wonderful locations and which stays mostly still during the action scenes, as I priorly mentioned.

However, the film is not all action. The film's story is interesting and its characters are well-developed and the protagonists (Bourne himself and poor, poor Marie) are reasonably likable. A couple of other things that stood out to me as well were the musical score, and the beginning (one of my favourite beginnings in any action movie).

My only real complaint was the rather....abrupt establishment of a romantic relationship between Jason and Marie. Her motivation for staying with Bourne was rather unclear, and the attempts at romantic writing between the two were occasionally awkward, which was quite jarring in an otherwise solid screenplay.

There was also an alternate ending presented on the DVD that I didn't particularly like, but I suppose that's not really a complaint seeing as the film's theatrical ending was solid. All in all, I recommend this film highly, and I cannot wait to see the other three films, though this is fine as a stand-alone feature.