Doug Liman’s rendition of Robert Ludlum’s novel and a long-forgotten 1988 TV version of The Bourne Identity (with Richard Chamberline) is a kinetic construction of conspiracy thrillers, a hyperactive display of fantastic action heightened by superb realism. That’s not to say it really comprehends or enforces the reality of the true laws of nature but through Liman’s detached yet intense style there’s an evocation of a sense of visceral and enthralling realism. The quick-paced hand action gestures are amazing but also less than realistic, and the street-streaking car chases are a particular highlight in the tradition of Bullitt, although that exercise is better exemplified in John Frankenheimer’s Ronin. The story and well-propelled plot is rather tried and done but through some sheer acting appeal, nice direction, beautiful locations and realistic tension, the remake is quite a success. This just may be Matt Damon’s answer to his old buddy’s (Ben Affleck) taunting gibe that he’s now a superstar while Damon’s fallen a little behind, but nonetheless Damon pulls slightly ahead, in their race to be the next Harrison Ford, after Affleck’s befuddled The Sum of All Fears.
Retreating to a typical and classifiable blend of film genres bearing the usual resemblance to atmospheric but tired Euro-American thrillers The Bourne Identity is stunning in that it surprises with its atypical presence and unusual flair for style and entertainment. Despite the anti-original premise and concrete-lacking purpose this subtle little adventure is a rousing and joyously dark ride, firm in its disposable foundation, providing some great fun for the action set. But it’s a little more than merely disposable; Liman, whose Swingers is a cult classic and whose Go is a fun ride in Tarantino Land, brings the height of merely passable thrillers like The Saint and Mission: Impossible into a low-decibel, action concentration. Though doubly perplexing is its switching between ill-framing and fantastic framing, The Bourne Identity may be an uneven conundrum with an occasional streak of schizophrenia, but it has a certain innocent quality secretly attributed to it.
One dark and stormy night, a man is found by a fishing boat to be floating in the Mediterranean Sea, less than reassuring are the bullets imbedded in his back along with an odd object that appears to be laser pointer with a numerical bank code in the beam. After some quick mending and Wolverine-like healing, the man (Matt Damon) realizes he has no idea who he is or why he was bullet-riddled in the sea. The amnesiac soon arrives on the French coast where he discovers he may not be someone too popular as the authorities begin to eye him suspiciously. Eventually strange feelings of unconscious strength and a keen ability for increased senses spring out of the young man as he finds himself pummeling people left and right. And as he investigates his origin and life further, all throughout Europe, he meets up with troubled but helpful European maiden Marie (international sensation, Franka Potente). The investigation leads him to a dangerous discovery that he may be a man named Jason Bourne and even further, that he may have been a secret CIA experimental assassin.
The retread of discovering an identity takes a left, giving room for the broader and more personal idea of a loneliness and betraying feeling in the dangerous discovery, post amnesia shocks. It doesn’t quite capture a breathtaking excavation of the human soul during this identity crisis but then again that’s not its point. It serves as a nice retreat from slothful and brainless mainstream outings with a well-stocked set of visual tricks, excellent pacing and eurhythmic action numbers. Although, The Bourne Identity sacrifices some action scenes of potential by taking a few easy ways out, but nonetheless it’s redeemed by tight, if fairly predictable, twists. Liman saturates this refurbished material with the common porcelain but welcomed atmosphere of Prague, medieval architecture and other snowy European locations, again working with the best elements of our last century’s spy and espionage thrillers. This rather light but intense and highly enjoyable revision is a techno remix of Orwellian views and Ian Fleming style that switches the rules, pitting an über-James Bond against his own people, sleepless operatives. This is the movie Bad Company wanted to be but instead fell hard and short.
Detailing its enjoyably conventional story with a vague reminiscence of things long lost or justly forgotten, The Bourne Identity is quite appropriately vague in its layered and occasionally confusing style and broad sweeping over of themes and genres. Its gratuitous moments (such as a brief Julia Stiles) become not problematic concerns but more like pieces of shattered memories as well, or perhaps this was an effect of the disposability of the material. Yet continually The Bourne Identity is a success and fortunately is often enough to be worth a look. As a manic study of a blind man wandering the snow surrounded by vultures the film presents the unlikely and implausible with ease and accessibility, in a way that for once is intelligent. The ambience isn’t particularly enthralling nor is the overall feeling anywhere near being a grand, hallucinatory journey through a disjointed mind, but it’s like a well-made video game that lets the viewer take a crack at being an amnesiac unraveling a web of dangerous mysteries that once populated your forgotten life. It’s true that a few of the film’s aspects may be underdeveloped and unexplained, but all is forgiven when the importance of being vague sets in, as the experience is most definitely Bourne-esque.