The Bourne Identity

UK Release Date. 6 September 2002
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 1 hour 59 mins
Director. Doug Liman
Cast. Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Matt Damon, Clive Owen, Franka Potente, Julia Stiles.
Rating. 80%

Review.

The Bourne Identity arrived in 2002 with hardly a fanfare. There were rumours of a script redraft and a prolonged two-year shooting schedule, but from the moment Jason Bourne discovers his inherent skill set - taking out, in spectacular style, two Zurich policemen who suspect him of vagrancy - a new action hero is unveiled.

Released four years ahead of Daniel Craig's first outing as James Bond (Casino Royale) and four years ahead of a reinvented Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in Mission: Impossible III, Doug Liman's groundbreaking film is somehow old-fashioned and a new breed of espionage film at the same time. Safe to say, The Bourne Identity redefined the modern action genre and is undoubtedly one of the most influential films of the decade. 

On the run across Europe with Marie (Franka Potente), Jason Bourne's (Matt Damon) quest to find himself becomes ever more compelling, since he is the exact opposite in nature of his college-boy persona. The innocent-looking Bourne wants to be just that, and yet, much to his horror, he can’t help using calculated efficiency to disable anyone who represents a challenge to him. 

In 2002, Matt Damon made for an unlikely action hero, on the back of Gus Van Sant's Gerry (2002), Billy Bob Thornton's All The Pretty Horses (2000) and Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). But Matt Damon, along with Franka Potente, offers an unaffected, natural screen presence. Potente, best known to Western audiences prior to The Bourne Identity as the female lead in Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run [Winner of the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award], gives Marie a wounded yet strong personality. She’s the perfect foil for Matt Damon’s Bourne. Damon's grounded performance, coupled with a raw intensity and wonderful chemistry with Potente, ensures Jason Bourne is an accomplished variant of an all-too-familiar character. His physicality and emotional vulnerability turn the cold-blooded assassin into a deeply sympathetic amnesiac.

The action is intense - crisp, visceral, hand-to-hand combat is married with some of the most realistic car chase sequences since the days of William Friedkin and John Frankenheimer. Saying that, the impressive car chase through the streets of Paris may actually be outdone by the car chase in Moscow in The Bourne Supremacy. 

Doug Liman would have seemed an unlikely choice as director - Liman directed a couple of low-budget alternative comedies, Swingers and Go - but he brings an independent visual style to The Bourne Supremacy. With cinematographer Oliver Wood, he roughs it in the streets of Naples, Zurich and Paris, avoiding the seductive slickness of a Tony Scott or Michael Bay behemoth, which this so easily could have been. 

The wonderful thing about the original trilogy - The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum - is just how well they all wrap into each other. All three films form a perfect circle of character, action and plot. The Bourne Identity sets off a chain of events that covers not only this single film but extends throughout the other two films. It remains a gripping thriller that provides the right balance of character, action and story to not only whet the appetite, but also sate it, and then have you asking for more.