Review of The Bourne Identity (2002) by Garrett R — 09 Aug 2012

THE BOURNE IDENTITY is a maverick action movie with two aces up its slick sleeve: Matt Damon and first-rate action-packed storytelling. Matt Damon made a big departure from his past roles, GOOD WILL HUNTING and DOGMA among them, by becoming the titular action hero of Robert Ludlum's acclaimed thriller novels. His magnetism, director Doug Liman's directorial eye and the source material was more than enough to make THE BOURNE IDENTITY one of the best action films of the 2000's (and the third-best in the trilogy from a critical standpoint). In 2002, IDENTITY establshed Robert Ludlum's amnesiac super-spy in modern popular culture to be a deadly force of nature, whose tale of espionage is character-driven and also complex in good and evil motifs established the Bourne trilogy's identity with cutting-edge action sequences, first-rate acting and taut storytelling tactics.

The Bourne trilogy first ruled the New York Times bestselling list in the late 1980's with Bourne as a new kind of spy hero outside of Ian Fleming's Bond world. Bourne is nothing like Bond. While Bond is a womanizer, Bourne is a man with a case of existential identity loss. While Bond likes to make a scene, Bourne avoids making one. The most important difference is that while Bond is a secret agent by choice, Bourne is a secret agent robbed of his identity and left without a choice to run and fight his way for survival. That what distinguishes him from James Bond (it's funny because James Bond and Jason Bourne have their first and last names begin with a J and then a B).

When THE BOURNE IDENTITY hit theaters in the spring of 2002, the audiences and critics were expecting an action film that they've seen plenty of times before, like Harrison Ford's THE FUGITIVE or Will Smith's ENEMY OF THE STATE. No, not exactly. This is a first-rate thriller with mystery and intrigue topped off with espionage elements and hard betrayals.

Matt Damon was made an action star by THE BOURNE IDENTITY and wanted to finish out the trilogy through and through. He did, with THE BOURNE SUPREMACY in 2004 and the ever-popular THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM in 2007. What set this one apart from the second two is that it didn't heavily depend on its frenetic action to move the story and the audience's attention forward, it balanced its frenetic action with the origins of Jason Bourne and his existential crisis, along with his reluctant companion Marie (Franka Potente).

In all, the setup for the trilogy is here, and the threads of mystery and intrigue for our hero Jason Bourne is laid out and temporarily closed at this film's end. That's why there's two more novels and two more cinematic installments to continue and finish Jason Bourne's riveting, deadly and revelatory journey as a super-spy searching for his identity, purpose and surviving everything and everyone his foes send at him. Matt Damon, to his fullest capacity, created a convincing and enthralling action hero who has memory but no character flaws. Flaws in THE BOURNE IDENTITY can be attributed to the first installment in any action franchise...the story isn't as exciting as the other two, the star's charisma isn't as bright, etc. Every other aspect mentioned above, however, is accurately reported and reviewed.

* This is a re-worked review from a few years back, and the next two installments will be up by the end of this weekend.*.