THE BOURNE IDENTITY (Doug Liman, 2002)

Reviewed: June 18, 2002

I hereby present the following challenge to American filmmakers who wish to make an action film:

1) You may not include title cards.
2) You may not include the CIA.
3) You may not include rogue USA government operatives.
4) You may not include grainy flashbacks.
5) You may not include another country's leader in any major plot turns (minus extra points if you break this rule with a plot turn that involves said leader in a political assassination).

Suffice to say, The Bourne Identity violates every tenant of my challenge. Director Doug Liman and star Matt Damon try with steely determination to rise above stale genre roots; too bad, then, they're in the unfortunate position of working from a resolutely ascension-hampering script. It's a massive credit to Damon and especially Liman the working parts of The Bourne Identity (almost the whole first half, come to think), chug along as well as they do. Say what you will about Good Will Hunting, but if nothing else it proved Matt Damon's ability to seamlessly meld easygoing subtlety with powerhouse emoting and in Bourne Identity both these qualities are on ample display (Bourne's an amnesiac who often surprises the hell outta himself). Damon proves his ability to carry an action film with the most ineffable of movie star qualities: strong screen presence.

Liman (past credits: tiny indie gems Swingers and Go!) took a fat plunge into the unknown with his decision to helm Bourne (and his subsequent production problems have been touted endlessly in the press). They couldn't have been too unexpected, though. On Liman's Go! DVD commentary, the director speaks of his difficulty shooting a simple roundtable dinner conversation between four characters, unsure how to properly cover the scene (meaning unsure which actors to film from what distances). How you go from that extreme level of inexperience to shooting complex, compelling action setpieces with a great balance of length and clarity (is it just me or did Liman wisely instruct his sound crew to amp up the volume whenever combat's involved?), I dunno (the Movie Gods must like Liman's haircut or something).

Liman's European location-shooting and knack for naturalistic, quiet, character-driven scenes lend Bourne Identity a helpful verisimilitude. The Damon/love-interest-played-by-Franka Potente sequences are executed with aplomb, particularly commendable since any halfway decent action movie scene spanning more than a page of dialogue is a rarity nowadays. In other hands Damon and Potente's relationship would eventually become tenuous (we are asked to stomach a huge leap), but Liman and the actors manage to bridge the gap. If only not for the big, clunky plot twist at Bourne Identity's halfway mark which essentially (a) informs us the forthcoming eponymous answer will not be satisfying*, and (b) triggers a domino derailing effect that'll extend into every other aspect of the picture. Simple mathematical correlation: time Bourne Identity devotes to rogue government operatives > time Bourne Identity devotes to Damon and Potente's relationship = worse Bourne Identity becomes. By a half hour prior to the end -- at which point Liman &c. denigrate into genre-motions autopilot mode -- all the steam has run out of the train (wreck). By the time the grainy flashback hits (Action Challenge, Tenet 4), I couldn't believe how such a promising first half had been so thoroughly spoiled. A final minor error, but worth mentioning: Liman must be taken to task for casting two big talents (Brian Cox and Julia Stiles), then completely wasting them. Both are given absolutely nothing to do, begging the question why the production didn't just save some dough and replace 'em with SAG wanna-bes. I find star cameo-ing extremely distracting (ref: The Thin Red Line as a particularly egregious example). If a celebrity is never given a chance to break into character, a celebrity playing themselves they remain.

* [Begin Spoilers]

The explanation for Jason Bourne's identity is not only massively dissatisfying, it's horseshit. Enough of the brainwashed assassin networks, already. Just last night I watched Zoolander, yet another in the brainwashed assassin assembly line. Filmmakers at large shoulda death-knelled B.A.N. after The Manchurian Candidate and The Parallax View. Once you have Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory over thirty years later joining the B.A.N. ranks, you know it's time to call it quits.

(Note: Having now read other reviews, it appears no one else is mentioning that The Bourne Identity's assassins were brainwashed. The movie is admittedly cagey about providing a definite answer, but I maintain some form of brainwashing is the only plausible explanation for the events we see.)

Proposed in B.A.N.'s place is a stronger focus on Bourne's grappling with the implications of his past life. A past life that for some reason he originally chose. 'Why?' is far more interesting than the increasingly banal cat and mouse game Bourne Identity ultimately stoops to.

[End Spoilers]

Return home.