The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

                       THE BOURNE SUPREMACY

                (a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: Robert Ludlum's mysterious United States

government assassin again returns from what some

     assumed and hoped was death.  Again we have a

complex plot with twists and doublecrosses. Again

the infallible and deadly assassin is pitted

     against the agency that made him what he is.  Joan

Allen and Brian Cox play senior intelligence

     officials trying to track down the man most

     dangerous to all sides, the loose cannon agent

     Bourne.  Dizzying editing and camera work will

     bother some, and the sheer complexity of the

     telling will confuse more people.  Rating: low +2

     (-4 to +4) or 7/10

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY is a sequel to THE BOURNE IDENTITY with Matt

Damon again playing Jason Bourne, the enigmatic United States

government assassin whose amnesia makes him as mysterious to

himself as to anyone else. In some senses Jason Bourne is the

thinking man's James Bond. Bourne is very good at what he does

for a living. Unlike James Bond there is no evidence that he is

good at baccarat, skiing, sky diving, skin diving, or skeet

shooting. Beautiful women do not fall at his feet. The skills he

has are those that an assassin really needs. He knows what to do

in a fight.  He is a good driver when he has to be.  His ability

to turn objects around him into weapons is intriguing. And most

important he can think three moves ahead of his opponent. He

makes very few mistakes. But as in the last film his opponents

are frequently those from his own organization who made him the

way he is.

The story is set against the backdrop of several different

countries: the United States, India, Italy, Germany, and Russia.

Jason Bourne has gotten away from his old dirty business and has

gone into mellow retirement in Goa, India. Like Michael Corleone

just when he thought he was out they drag him back in. There is

an attempt to kill Bourne and his girlfriend is killed instead.

Why does his old agency not just let sleeping dogs lie? In turns

out there is a plot against Bourne that will again get him and the

agency stalking each other. The camera seems always anxious to

show us stacks of passports that are part of the standard quick-

change identity kit. Bourne and the story seem to constantly flit

from one country to the next with just the right passport he

needs.

Even more than the last film the torrent of names and plot twists

will be hard to comprehend on a single viewing. Names fly back

and forth at times and plot complications come even faster. Not

that there is much doubt all along as to whom the real villain

will eventually turn out to be. The real mystery is not whodunit

but just what is happening to whom and why. More than once my

audience gasped in awe at the coups Bourne is able to accomplish,

even if he is just a fictional character. Occasionally Bourne

tries things that would seem to be not humanly possible, e.g.,

giving mouth to mouth resuscitation when totally submerged in

water.

Supporting Damon are Joan Allen who so well plays women of iron

will. Also there is Brian Cox who is always watchable is Brian

Cox who generally has a subtle menacing manner. Cox is probably

tired of having people note he was the first Hannibal Lecter. I

will point out how good he was as Hogan in the Sharpe series.

Chris Cooper has an uncredited cameo reprising his role as

Conklin.

What some will find off-putting is the style of the editing and

the camera work. There is frequent use of hand-held camera

combined with a staccato of short jumpy edits that will add to the

dizzying effect of the complex story. Frequently the viewer will

find that it is not clear what some half-second shot is showing.

The effect of the editing and the over-fluidity of the camera for

a moment puts us in the rapid-fire mind of Bourne. The climax of

the film is one of the most exciting car chases we have seen in

quite a while that is done without recourse to computer graphics.

This is a film with fast action and some clever ideas. I rate it

a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.

                                        Mark R. Leeper

                                        mleeper@optonline.net

                                        Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper

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X-RAMR-ID: 38333
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1300807
X-RT-TitleID: 1134105
X-RT-AuthorID: 1309
X-RT-RatingText: 7/10