Bourne Identity (2002)

  There are few movies that just entertain me every time I see it and this is one of them. To me, this movie has a lot going on for it. Action, mystery, great acting, well done action scenes, and appropriate casting that feeds off each others performances.


The story basically is of a man that was found by a fishing boat with some bullet holes in him. He is basically patched up with a single clue of what to do next. The problem here is that this man played by Matt Damon has no memory of who he is or why he was shot. A case of amnesia. This is a multi-threaded story but the basic story is of this man trying to find out who (and what) he is. To tell you any more of the story will ruin the experience for you.

When I first saw this I was captivated by the story. It was like a parfait....I mean onion. It revealed itself in layers. And you never knew what was behind each layer. Sometimes it was excitement, other times it just made you go hum. Ultimately what you have here is a well written and well told story. Bourne Identity keeps your interest from the beginning and never lets go of you until the very end.


Out of the three movies I definitely say this is the best. That doesn't mean the others aren't great, they are, I just prefer this one over the others. It has the advantage of having a blank canvas and you can develop it in any number of ways. It also does not have all of the bouncy camera work that makes one sea sick.


The acting by Matt Damon is great. I didn't really respect him as an actor until this movie. Yes he did a good job in his previous roles, and there wasn't anything I disliked about him. I just felt he really proved his acting skills in this film. You felt the frustration that the character felt. You saw it in his face and the way he handled himself. He brought a strange sense of emotion for the character that is hard to describe. It is like "I like this guy but for some stranger reason I don't trust him" kind of feeling. He pulls this off beautifully


His co-star Franka Potente was absolutely wonderful. Them together was like an apple and orange caught in the same trap. She expressed all the emotion and confusion that the audience needed to feel, the same emotions Matt Damon's character was unable to feel or express. She wasn't the moral compass, she was the common sense part of the two. The problem with her in this position is that nothing makes sense. It was one weird twist after another and she is just along for the ride (like the audience). And she was the emotional anchor for the audience, problem is the anchor isn't working so the ship keeps drifting.


The pacing is done in a suspenseful manner instead of an action flick. So with that in mind, I think the pacing is perfect. Don't come into this movie with the idea that it is nonstop action, it isn't. It slows down quite a few times to tell the story or to develop the characters. I can't sit here and say that any of these slow moments was unnecessary nor could I edit down this movie either. When I think about it this really isn't a pure action movie. There is an element of mystery, suspense, and escape aspects to this film. The "pure" action is only in isolated spots and it's not all that graphic. You see some people die, some blood, no real cussing, just an implied sex scene; so nothing too over the top hence the PG-13 rating.


The photography was fascinating. It was either my imagination or they used colors to highlight certain things at the beginning of the movie. The red bag being one. I don't know if the red bag was a metaphor for him being a stranger in a strange land, or just a way of singling him out, or what. But I was perplexed at the usage of contrasting colors, and loved it at the same time.


The audience is viewing the film as a third party. Someone along for the ride. It isn't as "in your face" as the other films, but you definitely felt like you were there. And I like it better than the style of the second film that made me feel like I was at sea.


The car chase....wow. This is one of my favorite car chase scenes ever. Why? It was just fun. Fun to watch a little car move the way it did and go where it shouldn't have gone. If you see nothing else, at least see the car chase.


The fight scenes were raw and ugly. There were no fancy moves, no awesome weapons, no cleaver moves; just raw (yet disciplined) fighting. There is blood and everybody get theirs. It feels like a fight that would really occur when life is on the line and they use anything they have around them as a weapon, including pens.


I also want to warn you, this movie does not end. You get a majority of your questions answered, but not all of them. So the other two movies have something more to add to the overall story. If you see this one I guarantee you'll want to see the others.




The key players
Director: Doug Liman
Screenplay: Tony Gilroy, William Blake Herron & David Self
Music: Pete Anthony


Ratings
Yahoo users: B+
Yahoo critics: B
Metacritics users: 8.0
Metacritics critics: 68
Rotten Tomato community:94%
Rotten Tomato critics: 83%
My score: 4.84


MPAA rating: PG-13


Running time: 96 minutes


My recommendation.
If you are into action movies that make you think then this is perfect for you. I doesn't blow everything up and it isn't a non-stop roller coaster either, but that's just fine. What it does is tell a story brilliantly with some fun scenes added in for good measure.


Other action movies I recommend
Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Die Hard
Blade 2
My 50 favorite movies reviewed