Short Take: The Bourne Identity (2002)

In The Bourne Identity, director Doug Liman achieves a near-perfect synthesis of the fanciful espionage adventures of James Bond with the more grounded spy novels of John le Carré. Liman’s starting point was the Cold War pulp spy novel by Robert Ludlum. But he told screenwriter Tony Gilroy not to read it. He instead gave Gilroy a brief description of the material and told him to present it in a way that fit a post-Cold War setting. The two subverted the novel into something far more resonant. The premise is much the same. The main character (Matt Damon) is an amnesiac gunshot victim fished out of the ocean near Marseilles. The only clue to his identity is a Swiss bank account number implanted in his hip. At the bank in Switzerland, he learns his name is Jason Bourne. He also discovers he has an amazing array of skills, including knowledge of multiple languages and a near-superhuman level of combat acumen. He then finds himself on the run from pursuers out to capture or kill him, with only Marie (Franka Potente), a young woman he just met, for help. His goals are to elude his pursuers as long as possible, and to hopefully learn the full truth of who he is. (He's a CIA assassin.) But the premise is where the similarities between the novel and the film end. Ludlum just offered a standard pulp adventure in which the amnesiac hero has to prove himself innocent of wrongdoing. The film is an existential journey of moral awakening. It also indicts covert intelligence work as a corrupt ends-justifies-the-means cesspool. Liman and Gilroy accomplish all this in the context of a thrilling adventure movie. The action sequences are first-rate. Part of the excitement comes from Liman keeping them models of clarity, and all are rooted in dramatizing Bourne’s resourcefulness. They sometimes get a little too fanciful for the gritty tone Liman strives for, but he generally keeps the action grounded in realism. Matt Damon is superb in the lead. The brawny physique and the deliberate, assured movements leave no doubt about Bourne’s efficiency when it comes to violence. One sees the boyish features that alternate between child-like innocence and a battle-hardened determination, and one knows Bourne became an assassin without ever understanding quite what happened. One also sees his expressive eyes, which Damon uses to evoke the moral intelligence starting to break through. The supporting cast, which includes Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje, and Julia Stiles, is uniformly excellent. The standout is probably Clive Owen, whose character questions a little too late if the sacrifices of espionage work are worth it. The cinematography is by Oliver Wood, and Saar Klein provided the terrific editing. William Blake Herron collaborated with Tony Gilroy on the screenplay.