The Bourne Supremacy

I quite enjoyed The Bourne Identity when I first watched it, and so I decided that buying the next two films would be a worthwhile investment. Having now watched The Bourne Supremacy I can say that it was a good buy. It follows on from The Bourne Identity, and yet feels like a much more modern and gritty film, which is to its benefit.

Following the death of Marie (the girl who helped Bourne in the first film), Jason Bourne seeks revenge and tries to follow a trail from his past which leads him to the death of a diplomat and his wife in Berlin. In much the same way as The Bourne Identity, the plot unfolds in a very engaging way and has intricate little twists and turns to keep you interested. With a couple of exciting car chases thrown into the mix as well, The Bourne Supremacy is a very entertaining action movie.

However you do have to keep your eyes trained to the screen. The first time I saw The Bourne Supremacy, I made the mistake of trying to dip in and out of it. This didn’t really go very well for me. There’s quite a lot going on and so I would advise making sure that you know what is going on most of the time. There are several plots within the main plot and quite a few characters to keep track of, so it is quite advantageous to know who is who and what is going on.

Matt Damon reprises his role as Jason Bourne from the first film, and is every bit as well cast as before. The character of Bourne appears to perfectly suit Matt Damon and he does as well in this film as he did in the previous film. While I don’t think Jason Bourne will ever be as iconic as, say, James Bond, Matt Damon’s performance in both The Bourne Identity and Supremacy have ensured that the Bourne films are a modern action favourite.

While Matt Damon is very impressive in The Bourne Supremacy, the supporting cast is fairly anonymous. This makes it rather difficult to follow who is who and it is quite easy to get lost. Despite being rather critical of her in my review of Identity, it was good to see Franka Potente back as Marie, albeit briefly. A couple more flashbacks would have made it easier for me to remember who Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), but this was not a major problem. I did like Karl Urban as Kirill and was quite surprised to learn when researching this post that he played Eomer in The Lord of the Rings. In The Bourne Supremacy he is quite a background villain, and is as memorable as the secondary villain in many of the James Bond films. However, he is very good in his role and the character he plays is a fitting target for Bourne’s revenge. I particularly liked Joan Allen as Pamela Landy and thought that she was quite dislikable early on as she played the typical American intelligence officer who is seeking her target. However, throughout the film she becomes slightly more likable for me. By the end of the film I was quite sympathetic with her, and looked forward to the next installment to see how her relationship with Bourne played out.

There’s not much that marks out The Bourne Supremacy as an incredible film. It is a suitable follow up to The Bourne Identity and nicely sets up The Bourne Ultimatum. It is a modern action film that fits the mould perfectly. It isn’t necessary to have seen the first film in order to understand the second, but it can’t hurt to get a bit of background can it? Overall, it is probably one to watch, but I don’t think it is essential.

The Bourne Identity

After I watched The Bourne Identity I immediately wished that I have watched when I was a few years younger. In my teenage years I know I would have absolutely loved it. It is an action packed film about a man who is on the hunt to find out exactly who he is. The combination of intrigue, mystery and action all combine to create a film that should appeal to the kind of person who likes James Bond and other similar movies.

The plot is very clever. To start with, a man is pulled out of the sea with two gunshots in his back. This is Jason Bourne, but he doesn't know this, as he has no memory of anything that has happened to put him in this situation. What follows is a desperate attempt to discover who he is and how he got there. What he doesn't realise is that the CIA are tracking him as well because of his involvement in an attempt of the life of an exiled African dictator. The twists and turns in the plot make this a very worthwhile watch and definitely made me want to watch the rest of the ‘Bourne’ films.

Matt Damon stars in the role of Jason Bourne, and puts in a good performance. He does a good job of creating a character who desperately wants to know who he is and what he has done, and creates an air of two separate characters. There is the pre-memory loss Bourne and the post-memory loss Bourne, and for Matt Damon to make these two characters so distinct is quite an achievement. It’s very difficult to be ‘incredible’ in this kind of role, and as a result I will settle for ‘convincing’. Matt Damon is very convincing as Bourne, and the success of the subsequent films must indicate that he is doing something right.

As with every film of this kind there is always a girl. The Bourne Identity manages quite well not to fall into the typical ‘Bond girl’ trap though. Throughout the course of his journey of self-discovery, Bourne is assisted by Marie, played by Franka Potente. Now it’s nothing to do with her acting, and is probably more to do with the nature of the film, but absolutely nothing jumped out at me about her role in this. I feel that you could have replaced her with any other female actor and she would have done an equally good job. In this kind of film, there is a lot less of a focus on the acting in general. It says a lot that despite its huge success across the world, the James Bond films have never won an Academy Award. They’re just not that kind of film. However, despite being quite anonymous, Potente does a good job of being ‘the girl’ in the film.

Throughout the film, Jason Bourne is being followed by Conklin from the CIA. Played by Chris Cooper, he is a difficult character to work out as you start to watch the film. This is where the twists and turns come in because I wasn't sure whether he was a good guy or a bad guy, and this makes the big twist at the end (about Bourne’s identity) quite interesting. Cooper does a very good job of playing Conklin, but I found it quite difficult to ‘believe’ in him. It may be that I’m trying too hard to analyse what is basically an action film, but I thought the character was just a bit fake. He seemed too artificial, and while this may have been the point, I couldn't help but notice it.

Overall though, The Bourne Identity is a very good film, and it is part of a series which I’m going to have to invest a bit more time and money in. In many ways it is similar to James Bond, in that it probably appeals more to men than to women, but I think it has a more engaging plot. If you sit down and get into it, you’ll find yourself enjoying it, and that can be no bad thing surely?