What the Flick

Flash forward to today. Jason returns in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, forced back into deadly action when some Russian oligarchs sniff out the romantic hiding place in Goa where he has spent the past few years learning about his past and enjoying his present with Marie (Franka Potente), the gal he met along the way in IDENTITY. Being found means Bourne has to head to the good old EU to regain some peace of mind.

Once back in Europe, Bourne presents a problem for the Russians and the CIA agents who once ran him. In the intervening years, the CIA has shut down the program that was once Bourne’s way of life, and his presence is a reminder of its extralegal machinations and the shady past of some currently active executives. This leaves Bourne having to out the Russian conspiracy and convince the new CIA supervisor (Joan Allen) that he’s not responsible for the murder of her agents.

How does an amnesiac assassin go about doing this? I can tell you it takes guns, a gas explosion, some martial arts, wily manipulation, scribblings in a journal, scenic train travel around Europe, flashbacks, and a lot of determined looks. Meanwhile, the CIA agents have to look out windows, use cell phones that always have a signal (I swear, the federal deficit could be erased if the CIA would just make commercially available the phones they use in ALIAS, 24, and here), issue commands, overcome gender politics, and, in Joan Allen’s case, look tough in a navy blue suit. And Julia Stiles reprises her thankless role from IDENTITY, though here she gets out of the attic and into a hostage situation instead.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, and it has some great music and tight direction, which work together to keep the pulse racing and the plot moving forward. But I found SUPREMACY a little less satisfying than THE BOURNE IDENTITY, mainly because it lacked the human element of the developing relationship between Jason and Marie. The plot of this version doesn’t include Marie for most of the story, and Jason seems less 3 dimensional without her – he seems more like a well-trained man on a mission. Although he’s still damn attractive going about that mission, he’s not quite as appealing as he was before. If you like a twisty thriller, this will fill the bill, but I hope the romance returns when “Bourne Three” arrives someday.

June 2002
Just Call Him Alpha
As in alpha male. At one point during the new film thriller The Bourne Identity—after Matt Damon (as the amnesiac Jason Bourne) had spoken 3 languages, taken a load of money from his numbered Swiss account, dispatched some pesky guards at the US consulate in Zurich, convinced the comely Marie (Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris in her authentic Austin Mini (how totally 2002) for $20K, swiftly and lethally knocked off a professional assassin, and was, at that moment, coloring and washing Marie’s hair—I turned to my friend Sarah and said, “If he can do all that, who cares if he has a name?” I mean, really.

Several of the reviews I’ve seen (but not read) have had headlines or teasers that imply The Bourne Identity is not exciting or challenging. The NY Times online called it a “modest adaptation” that “triumphs through sheer unreflective professionalism.” Slate’s reviewer said it “is a soothingly mundane amnesia thriller.” What these guys (and they are guys) are missing is the sheer WOW factor of Matt Damon as that all-too-rare creature, the can-do, good-looking, strong-but-not steroid, sweet but deadly guy. I can tell you this, I doubt there was a gal in that theater who wasn’t having some heavy breathing just picturing Jason Bourne, memory or no memory, stopping by to change a tire, fix an awning, set up her stereo, chase away assassins—all that great guy stuff.

But to the plot. Our new hero is found drifting in the Mediterranean by some friendly fishermen, who nurse him to health, teach him to fish, and give him $20 for the road, despite the fact that he had 2 bullets in his back, a Swiss bank account number implanted in his hip, and has no idea what his name is or why he was floating in the first place. He makes his way to Zurich, where he cleans out his safe deposit box, puzzled by the amount of cash and several countries’ passports, all with his picture but different names. In a case of what you don’t know can, indeed, hurt you, back home in Washington the astoundingly computer-savvy CIA, for whom it turns out Jason is a wetworks employee, has already located him and intends to bring him in. Unlike Osama bin Laden, the good old USA (as personified by Bourne’s boss at the CIA, Chris Cooper) only wants its agent back one way: dead.

Luckily, Bourne remembers all the important stuff—hand-to-hand combat, superior marksmanship, rock climbing, the deadly uses of household objects, and how to charm a gal. Marie, a down-on-her-luck German, is trapped in the bureaucracy of obtaining an American visa. With nothing to lose, and $20,000 plus a fairly adorable hunk to gain, she agrees to drive Jason to Paris. When they arrive in Paris, complications ensue, including the untimely appearance of a trained killer, a great car chase (those Minis really move), and the sure knowledge that whoever Jason is, someone is out to kill him. Marie and Jason spend the rest of the movie solving the who, what, and why, and finally, the where—as in where they will end up together (you know they will). I wanted Jason to be more gleeful about his identity, like the scene in The Long Kiss Goodnight where Geena Davis remembers she’s a CIA-trained killer while chopping carrots, but alas, Jason is a conflicted hero.

A few weeks back, I asked whether Ben Affleck (as Jack Ryan in The Sum of All Fears) would grow up to be Harrison Ford. I had my doubts. After seeing Matt Damon in this movie, I’m thinking he’s got the Harrison touch: he’s rugged, sensitive, handsome but not perfect, and, most of all, smart and tough. Although the film’s whole premise—amnesia, political assassination, evil-minded and supercompetent CIA—seems so last year, the sheer force of his (and to be honest, his costar Franka Potente’s) charisma and acting make this thriller move. My only question about the cast is why was Julia Stiles holed away in that garret CIA office in Paris? She deserves better than to be stuck at a desk or cowering in a corner. I thought for sure she was going to end up saving Bourne—but she’s really just the desk agent. Weird.

PS: The people in front of me at the theater had 2 kids with them, around 8 to 10 years old. The kids were a little shook by the sheer volume of the film’s way too realistic-sounding scenes of violence—lots of bone cracking, blood squishing, gun shooting mayhem. They aren’t so graphic or inappropriate, but they are plentiful. It has a complex emotional punch: you are, after all, rooting for a formerly very deadly assassin. Thus, despite its upbeat theme of personal growth through amnesia and the love of a good German, this is not a movie for younger kids.