Monday, June 17, 2002

Review of The Bourne Identity Mat Damon is the man who has a load of special skills, but can’t even remember his own name.  He has no memory of what happened before some fishermen found him floating in the ocean with two bullets in the back.  He knows that bad men are after him, though, and the only clue he has to his identity is a name in Paris, Jason Bourne.  He must try and figure out who he is and why people are trying to kill him.     Bourne Identity is a classic spy thriller (based on the famous book trilogy) with the whole classic super agent thrown in.  Bourne can climb walls with his bare hands, knows several languages, is quickly able to assess how to get in and out of any situation he is in, and knows enough martial arts to put the most highly trained assassin down.  But he doesn’t know why he knows these things.      The action scenes are really slick, with fast cuts to make the fights real intense.  There is a really great car chase, probably the best I’ve seen in a few years, and there are plenty of good gunfights as well.  Damon plays the role well, really bringing across the idea of a guy who’s just trying to figure out who he is.  My only real problem with the movie is that it’s fairly predictable.  Even though they are well done, there isn’t a trick or plot twist you haven’t seen in a billion other spy thrillers.  But like any good spy thriller, you are definitely willing to take the ride one more time. Final Grade: B+ 6:11:36 AM    comment []