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After years of increasingly farcical action movies, the old-school of espionage thriller makes a welcome return in The Bourne Identity, director Doug Liman's take on Robert Ludlum's bestseller. Though this story of a US government assassin with amnesia on the run across Europe has previously been filmed as a Richard Chamberlain mini-series, this version is much more in the spirit of John Frankenheimer's ice cool nail-bitters (indeed, Frankenheimer made the previous Ludlum cinema adaptation, The Holocroft Covenant back in 1985). The plot here more reflects Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate (1962), while the Paris setting and superb car chase evoke, though not quite surpass, Ronin (1998).

It's a great pleasure to find a blockbuster that's intent on real suspense; and while The Bourne Identity has plentiful action, the set-pieces are played straight to tellingly tense effect. Damon is compelling and there's excellent support from Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox and Clive Owen. If a couple of questions are left unanswered, there are no gaping plot holes to destroy credibility, and the merciless, cold-blooded battle for survival delivers a chilling, gripping two-hour ride. Oddly enough, Damon's buddy, Ben Affleck, simultaneously starred in The Sum of All Fears, a virtual remake of Frankenheimer's electrifying Black Sunday (1977).

On the DVD: The Bourne Identity is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 in a near flawless transfer that perfectly captures the bleak, wintry look of Oliver Wood's cinematography and there are DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. Extras include an alternative ending and one extended scene, all in poor non-anamorphic 2.35:1, which add little or nothing. A Moby video is strictly for fans, and a 14-minute featurette is a shallow MTV-style promotional piece. Also included is the theatrical trailer and sneaks for The Hulk and Johnny English, as well as a section of DVD-ROM material. The only extra of substance is Doug Liman's commentary; fortunately the director proves a great host, packing his track with fascinating information. --Gary S Dalkin

Release Date: Mar 10, 2003

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Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, The Bourne Identity starts fast and never slows down. The twisting plot revs up in Zurich, where amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), with no memory of his name, profession, or recent activities, recruits a penniless German traveler (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to assist in solving the puzzle of his missing identity. While his CIA superior (Chris Cooper) dispatches assassins to kill Bourne and thus cover up his failed mission, Bourne exercises his lethal training to leave a trail of bodies from Switzerland to Paris. Director Doug Liman (Go) infuses Ludlum's intricate plotting with a maverick's eye for character detail, matching breathtaking action with the humorous, thrill-seeking chemistry of Damon and Potente. Previously made as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain, The Bourne Identity benefits from the sharp talent of rising stars, offering intelligent, crowd-pleasing excitement from start to finish. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD:
Created to take advantage of the sequel playing in cinemas at the same time as this release, the "Explosive Extended" edition of The Bourne Identity is neither. Unlike many special editions, this is a still a single disc and several of the original DVD features--like the DTS and commentary tracks--are jettisoned for more extras, most of which are lightweight 3- to 6-minute featurettes. The new beginning and ending is incorrectly advertised as an extended edition--the feature is the same as the theatrical, and the new footage is seen à la carte, with explanations. These "bookend scenes" were shot after 9/11, an insurance policy for the filmmakers who were unsure how a spy film would play. Fortunately, the scenes were dropped and the results here are more a curio than anything else. The new featurettes are ordinary filler, pumped up with film clips and hooks for the sequel. A nice exception is a sound-mix segment and an all-too-quick recollection of author Robert Ludlum. Funny that "explosive" would be word chosen to represent a film that was quite proud of going out of its way not to be just a dumb, explosion-filled action film. --Doug Thomas

Release Date: Aug 9, 2004
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