The Bourne Identity

Bourne Again

The Bourne Identity
USA/Germany/Czech Republic 2002
Directed by Doug Liman
Universal Films Blu Ray Zone B

What a great film. 

It’s been around 15 years since I last revisited this version of The Bourne Identity but I remember still the very first time I saw it at my local multiplex back in September 2002. I wasn’t expecting much from the film and I hadn’t at that time read Robert Ludlum’s original novel (which probably helps... it’s a loose adaptation at best) and I also hadn’t seen the original version starring Richard Chamberlain in the title role. This one, co-produced by Ludlum himself, who died before post-production was finished, was something Liman had wanted to make and I think Ludlum was not happy with the Chamberlain version. Whether he would have been happy with this version is anybody’s guess but... I’m pretty sure he would have hated the sequels, which have almost nothing in common with the novels on which they purport to be based.

All I can say is, I remember being overwhelmed when, quite against my expectations, this first movie in the series turned out to be incredibly good cinema. The hand held responsive camera work, the standout performances by Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Clive Owen and Julia Stiles, plus the somewhat aggressive editing style which, no matter how choppy it gets in certain sequences, doesn’t confuse the viewer as much as the sequels would later (I’ll get into that when I review those films for this blog... coming soon)... they all add up to a pacey film which doesn’t let huge action sequences get in the way of both the story and some incredibly good character work from the performers.

One reservation I had is Matt Damon. He’s always been a great actor but he seems somewhat too young for the role. Or rather, he actually isn’t too young for the part... he just looks it. However, he does such a credible job and handles himself so well during the fight scenes (some of which were apparently done without a stuntman), that he totally manages to sell the movie. And, of course, the always marvellous Franka Potente, star of the phenomenal Run Lola Run, is so much more an interesting version of the character she plays and seems to bring more depth to the role than what a cookie cutter American actress might have done with it, it seems to me.

About that camerawork, some of it was handled by Liman himself (and I really wish this director had stayed around for the sequels) and some of it was by Oliver Wood, who was deliberately left out of some of the rehearsals so he could actually respond with the camera to where the action goes, rather than know where he was going. It’s an interesting idea and, since the camera is sometimes late to make a movement because of this, it does give the film a certain feeling which puts the audience right there in the events, as if they were responding to what was going on around them, in a different way to how some other films manage it.

The way the story is handled is great too... although it could have done with more of Marie (Franka Potente) in it, in terms of the importance of her character in the books. We start off totally in the dark as to who or what Bourne is, just like the character... although Liman does put in the odd scene or two early on of the CIA who are trying to track and kill their own operative, not knowing why Bourne has ‘gone rogue’. In the early appearances of the CIA manhunt scenes, they’re literally there to keep the audience warm as to the fact that something ‘fighty-punchy’ will eventually happen. Another scene early on where Bourne casually takes down two policeman, not knowing how he’s doing it, serves as a similar reminder to the audience that the slower pacing (for an American film) is going to get more action oriented as the movie progresses.

Lastly, I should probably mention John Powell’s absolutely brilliant score. The main title music and it’s use in the film plus other wonderful themes including the Treadstone theme (sadly and mysteriously absent from Powell’s own revisiting of the score in a composer’s cut, decades later) are absolutely top notch and the modern, almost techno style orchestrations really help carry the load, especially the strings section going into overdrive with repeat motifs to build suspense in certain scenes. Actually, that’s the one constant in four of the five films starring Matt Damon’s interpretation of Jason Bourne (both the character and actor are absent for the fourth off the five movies which, ironically, seems to me to be the best of the sequels)... no matter what you may think of those sequels, Powell’s scores for these are a powerhouse and also a great listen away from the images they were written to accompany. I’ve had the CDs for these movies on many spins over the years.

And that’s my take on this version of The Bourne Identity (and I will get around to the Chamberlain version, which I bought over twelve years ago but still haven’t reached that point where I need to watch it as yet). Despite the seeming age of the lead actor, this is truly one of the great modern spy films... normally I’d stick to the sixties classics in terms of that genre but, yeah, this one is a great movie and it certainly deserved the success it got. If you’ve never seen this one, seek it out and give it a go.