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The
Bourne Supremacy  Jason
Bourne is back!
Back, albeit reluctantly, and as a man still unsure of exactly what he is back from or
what specifically he was doing before he lost his memory a couple movies or at
least moons ago. At the end of the last
film, he warned his former employers in the U.S.
Government not to try to contact him and he has been keeping a low profile in the mean time
while he
sorts it all out. This mental convalescence evidently involves taking refuge
with his girlfriend Marie, played by Franka
Potente, on the coast of India where he squanders his days (and considerable homicidal
talents) running on the beach, and his nights sweating and fretting about
who he really is, what he might have previously done, and to what
purpose he was trained to be such a highly efficient killing machine. Sure
enough however, his past resurfaces when another highly effective killer
(although not as effective as Bourne obviously or there wouldn't be
much of a film) appears on the scene, first framing
him for a double murder in Europe somewhere, and then showing up personally to wreak havoc
on his idyllic Indian life. As a result, Bourne is dragged back into the world of
espionage and intrigue and decides that this time he will take
matters into his own proactive hands. Bourne quickly sets his sights on his former
bosses in the CIA as the only ones who can give him answers
regarding what
happened to him and goes about taking the expert training they bequeathed
him with, and shoving it right up their butts until he finds who was pulling his
puppet strings before he dropped off the grid. Looking like everyman and
walking the streets of the continent anonymously despite massive manhunts
swirling around him, Bourne eventually learns the truth. The movie
ends with him finding out that his real name is David Webb and then disappearing into the crowd of NYC, setting the stage
for another installment, most likely to be called The Bourne Pen Ultimatum, which should be out in a few years.
 The
film is pretty good suspense and Matt
Damon who plays Bourne is not as bad as you might think. Not
that Damon is bad normally. But he is somewhat diminutive, not overly muscle bound or statuesque
certainly, at least in the traditional super spy type way, and some
have expressed skepticism that the Opie like actor could live up to the billing when
asked to play some sort of global ass kicking stud. But if we
remember that the essence of
Bourne the character is that he fits in anywhere, that he blends in
with the masses of great unwashed, that he looks like nobody while
people roil around him looking for someone who looks like somebody,
then Damon does a good job of setting his jaw and making us believe that he is not someone to be
messed with and yet somehow retains just enough likeable innocence
so we don't find him overly cold even though he is basically in
robotic mode most of the time. The fact that he often doesn't know
what to expect but adapts immediately to whatever his enemies throw
at him, even when he doesn't have a clue as to who they are or why they are after
him, is much of the appeal of the character and Damon's Bourne adapts
with such a ruthless efficiency that it is usually entertaining to behold.
The supporting cast is good as well although none of the characters
other than Marie are particularly likeable or stand out much on their
own. Julia Stiles
and Gabriel Mann
are back as young operatives and Brian
Cox reprises his role as a red faced bureaucrat with something
to hide. Joan Allen
is now the woman calling the shots for the Bureau and becomes the
focus of Bourne's interest as he seeks to decipher his past. New Zealander Karl
Urban replaces Clive
Owen as the assassin trying to take Bourne out.
 New
director Paul
Greengrass films The
Bourne Supremacy in a herky jerky, hand held camera,
frenetic pace kind of way that serves to increase the suspense somehow even
though it is a bit disconcerting at times due to the strobing disco
effect to go with Bourne's shaky memory. The action rarely lets up and there
is little or no humor in this film which makes no attempt at those catchy
one liners that all action movies seem to strive for anymore in that
"Make my day!" kind of way. Since few actually succeed
in implanting any one liners into the daily lexicon and the stars
cool statements are more annoying than anything this is actually
refreshing. Bourne doesn't say much at all
as a matter of fact although when he does speak he seems to mean
what he says.
Overall, The
Bourne Supremacy is pretty solid entertainment and we will resist
the urge to comment on the faithfulness to the Ludlum books of the
same name since, other than the appellate of the leading man, there
are few similarities between the books and the films anyway. Jason Bourne,
the character, is developing in film however and we wouldn't be
surprised if he becomes something of a James Bond type fixture before too long.
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