The Bourne Identity (2002)
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Franka Potente, Clive Owen, and Brian Cox
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 119 min.
by Brian Eggert
Reviewed:
8/3/2007
Original Release Date:
6/14/2002
Though based on the novel by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity doesn’t epitomize the spy genre, even though you might expect that from the author. In fact, you might just want to tell your brain to sit this one out, since the movie doesn’t attempt anything beyond entertaining you with impressive car chases and brutal hand-to-hand combat (done quite well). There’s nothing wrong with such basic goals, particularly when that’s the extent of your aspirations.
The main character, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), doesn’t realize he’s a super-trained, super-secret government assassin. He wakes up with a fishing boat’s doctor removing bullets from his back; they found him floating somewhere in the Mediterranean, unconscious, with two gunshot wounds. When he recovers, he doesn’t remember his name, where he’s from, but somehow he can speak numerous languages, he’s got a laser pointer in his hip with a German bank account number encoded inside, and he can take out two armed cops without breaking a sweat.
It’s almost as if an Average Joe everyman was thrust into the role of superspy hero, and now has to deal with it. As a result, versatile actor Matt Damon underplays his role; simply looking the part is enough. Bourne is virtually emotionless save for his frustration with his amnesia. Damon’s ridiculously skinny face and lean physique makes him an emblem of violence and youth—perfectly suited to engage in martial arts-laded fights with other super-spies, all set to an ever-present stream of techno music.
The Bourne Identity is not romanticized; this is not James Bond. It takes place in a world where the bad guys are the ones you should’ve been able to trust. And they’re not really bad guys, since they’re just protecting their investment. All of the CIA’s corrupt black ops characters (Chris Cooper, Brian Cox) are the seedy types that probably went in with good intentions, but came out stained by their own abuse of power. Bourne isn’t fighting terrorists or a gang of high IQed thieves; he’s fighting what he once was.
Bourne is not innocent, so he is neither a hero nor wholly sympathetic. He’s our protagonist, but also an anti-hero, since it’s made clear he has killed innocent people in the past. We do get an inkling that Bourne might have a heart, which caused his predicament to begin with. The movie doesn’t really elaborate on this; it’s more preoccupied with the constant chase. Identifying with Bourne remains easy, unless you brood on the fact that when he kills the spies sent after him, he’s essentially committing suicide.
I can help but tumble over when Bourne is in Paris and an assassin crashes through the window. Bourne attacks, and the two engage in a drawn-out sparring match that ends with the other one jumping out the window, killing himself after realizing he can’t defeat our hero. If Bourne hadn’t been stricken with amnesia, who's to say he wouldn’t be “the other super-spy” at some point, killing one of his own? Perhaps it was fate or destiny or whatever that allowed Bourne (a name clearly referencing some kind of “born again” moral rebirth) to unconsciously bury his memories, which permits his awakening that life as a gun-for-hire isn’t all that peachy.
The Bourne Identity forgoes cheeky Bond moments where he seduces the girl; he does that naturally via his sympathetic condition. There’s no chemistry between Bourne and his tag-along Marie (Run Lola Run’s Franka Potente); the love scene seems forced and unemotional. But after a moment, Bourne is back out among the wolves, now with something to fight for (other than his own introspectiveness), making his final showdown seem all the more significant.
The aforementioned techno music keeps the film’s tempo pumping, and boy does it pump with a constant barrage of impressive chase scenes, which is why we keep watching. Though the movie runs rampant with spy formula (corrupt intelligence people; cover-ups by government officials; brainwashed assassins; and so on), all recedes into the film’s always-entertaining action sequences, which are for the most part CGI free. Watching Damon climb down a building’s flat wall, or miraculously out-drive French police in a Mini-Cooper, certainly don’t develop the actor’s talent (Jason Bourne isn’t Tom Ripley, after all), but it does make for satisfying summer entertainment.
More from this series:
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
