The Bourne Identity (2002)
How could I forget you? You’re the only person I know.
THE SUMMARY: An unknown man awakens from a double-tapped grave at sea with no knowledge of who he is, but a lethal set of skills, and a series of assassins trying to finish him. Tracing his prior steps, he learns he was an elite CIA asset sent to assassinate an African dictator, but failed to execute the order when he remembered that black lives matter. Given the praise and longevity of the series, I had high hopes that were unfulfilled by dull characters and a predictable plot. Maybe there’s more in the later movies.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER MATT P: Fun action movie that all modern spy action movies try to copy now.
THE BEST:
The car chase: It’s tense, suspenseful, and skilled - tight spaces, cool setting, and impressive driving performance. The motorcycle cops sliding and front-flipping after crashes are memorable. The beat up old Mini Cooper adds some fun - it’s not your typical high-performing Fast & Furious sports car scene. Plus, it was done for real, with actual crashing cars, and not computer-generated fake explosions at every corner.
The deep state rules all: After all the CIA shenanigans - not just the typical lies, murder, and theft, but the murder of their own to cover up the botched murders they didn’t complete successfully - they send their guy to Congress to testify under oath that Treadstone was all a ‘theoretical exercise’ that was shut down due to simple cost and impracticalities. Kill people, lie about it, and send the US taxpayer the bill. It’s not actually a sinister movie plot. It’s probably much closer to standard operating procedure than we realize, or at least than we see on the news.
Shooting Bourne-style: There’s wild west hammer fanning, there’s gangster sideways-style, and then there’s Jason Bourne shoot-the-gun-upside-down-with-your-pinky. I’ll have to give that one a try. I wouldn’t count on similar accuracy results, even at point-blank range.
The Paris chase
Pinky out like an English tea drinker
THE WORST:
A lot of questions left open: Obviously, this is the debut of a series, so questions are supposed to linger to hold your interest for the next movies. And in general, I like mystery movies where we, the audience, unravel the mystery with the characters themselves, so I remain open to finding satisfaction in the subsequent movies, and I hope I do. Still, several major plot points and themes were left unexplained in Identity - for every mystery solved, there’s another one remaining:
Am I supposed to believe the CIA just gave up, and will just let Bourne walk and become a bike merchant with Maria in Greece? The entire point of the movie is the CIA always cleans up its messes, yet their biggest mess remains.
If Treadstone was supposed to train assassins to be killing machines free from morality or conscience, why did Bourne’s conscience prevent him from assassinating Wombosi? Did Treadstone’s training fail?
Who was Jason Bourne before he became involved in Treadstone? Does he have a family? Is his name even Jason Bourne?
Why does Bourne have such an aversion to guns? I understand guns may not be the ideal assassination tool, since they are loud and conspicuous, but with so many people trying to kill him at all times, why does Bourne frequently leave guns behind? He doesn’t have a moral rejection of his other violent skills.
The premise means Bourne lacks character depth: Or maybe it’s just Matt Damon as an actor, but I don’t think this is strictly a boring performance issue. The central premise of the plot is Bourne has no idea who he is. It’s hard to have a compelling personality if you don’t know who you are. So ‘who is Jason Bourne’ isn’t just the movie’s concept - to me, it’s also the movie’s greatest flaw. Bourne lacks, well - an identity. He’s driven by programming, not personality. He has no charisma. No intrigue. No character. He’s just a guy running around killing to avoid getting killed. He might as well be a robot, and I may have cared more about his character if he was. At least he’d be shinier.
Similarly, I wasn’t impressed with Maria’s character, either. I gather there’s probably supposed to be some meaning behind her being a free traveler with no set obligations, trying to ‘find herself’ like Jason, but that just means she could have been anybody. She’s just the person he happened to run into, not a person of exceptional skill or assets.
And without reasons to care about either of them individually, I certainly don’t care about their romance.
THE RATING: 3/5 Wickies. A decent popcorn action movie, but not much to think about later.
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NEXT WEEK: Pulp Fiction (1994)
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