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The
Bourne Identity
Starring: Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Franka Potente, Brain Cox
and Julia Stiles.
Directed by: Doug Liman (directed Swingers)
Rated: PG-13
The
Bourne Identity is an amazing intelligent knock-you-off-your-seat
thriller! Wow! Matt Damon is impeccable as the confused
yet deadly Jason Bourne. The script is flawless and riveting.
It feels nice to use those words in one sentence when discribing
an action film!
The
Bourne Identity will have Robert Ludlum fans giddy with its
infalible detail and streamline congruency. No short cuts here
like with that piece of celluloid poo the Clancy Camp created
in Sum Of All Fears.
Story
goes…a man is found floating, half dead, in the sea off Marseille.
Some heroic fishermen scoop him out and save him. He has a bad
case of "who-the-fu**- am I." Al the poor guy's got
to go on is two nasty bullet holes in his manly buff back, and
a multi-digit number for some Swiss bank account sewn into his
hip. This is no frat boy who got drunk and fell of the catamaran
folks.
The
mansteak-with-no-name exits stage left and heads to Switzerland
to discover his identity.
When
he opens the case within the bank's vault more mystery and intrigue
awaits him. He finds an American passport with the name Jason
Bourne (Matt - apparently my friend Ben doesn't know how to
read scripts, poor schmuck- Damon) complete with a nifty official
passport photo. Relief at last; he's Jason.
Not
so fast their Beantown Boy! There's a whole heap of other things
to sort through in this Pandora's Box of Doom. There's heaps of
money, eye lenses, ominous spy-like materials, oh and a gun.....
As he leaves the bank and heads to the consulate he notices a
couple of police that seem to be following him. With cat like
reflexes he springs into action. He bounces around, fights, escapes
and all like some sort of professional spy or something.
He's
assisted by a wild and beautiful Swiss gal, Marie (Franka Potente),
whom he pays to drive him to France. France it seems is where
this "Jason" fellow holds an apartment.
Who
is this Bourne fellow? If that is indeed his real name.
Why is the government after him? Who shot him? What's this fast
talkin' exiled leader, Nykwana Wombosi (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
) got to do with this mess? And why does Jason know how to fight
like a Green Beret?
EXCITING Huh? Sure is!
Matt
Damon's a talented Mr. Ripley! He did an excellent job as, Jason
Bourne, a guy who doesn't know who he is but he's gonna stay cool
and get to the bottom of it somehow. Matt also seems to be extremely
buff in this….I mean carved like an Adonis of pristine proportions.
He had my eyebrow erect with attention as he —- often —-
disclothed. Good boy.
Franka
Potente was completely believable as, Marie, the damsel not in
distress but along for the ride. Keep your eyes out for this young
and capable actress.
Chris
Cooper, a wonderful and diverse actor, plays a lead here as
Bourne's possible link to his past. What a piece of work his character,
Ted Conklin, is. Ted's mean, sneaky and ruthless. Natch, he's
in our government.
Clive
Owen, who is pure uncut man heroin, makes a small visit upon
the screen as a man who's also looking for Jason Bourne. Though
his character was the weakest of the story, he was a necessary
one to "move" the story along. Hey, I'm not complaining!
Owen is simply scrumptious in a double banana split with extra
hot fudge drizzled atop way. Slurp! He's just evil sexy.
Julia
Stiles has a surprisingly small role as an operative in a safe
house. Bravo to her for taking the role, she shines in it.
Brian
Cox, who plays Ward Abott another fella concerned about Jason's
where abouts, had only a few scenes but they were powerful. Watching
he and Cooper together was a thrill.
It's not often that one is unable to pick apart a script…there's
always a bad reference there, continuity mess up here.
The Bourne Identity , however, it seems they took a few
minutes and perused the script, went through it with a fine-toothed
comb. Seamless and suspenseful…you know like this genre is
supposed to be!
The director, Doug Liman, really captured the energy of the characters
and placed us on a visual Mr. Toad's Wild Ride quite a few times!
I can not remember the last time I jumped from the suspense!
The film also took some actors you expect to see in leads, or
at least with a heck more to do, and gave them smaller
even close to 'bit' parts. This confused you and threw
you off track when they were not, as expected, showing up later
on in more pivotal positions. Brilliant! Get out and see
this one folks it is incredible. Enjoy!
Snack Recommendation:
Power bars and Red Bull (in
moderation please)
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