Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban
Director: Paul Greengrass
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY picks up where THE BOURNE IDENTITY left off. Two years have passed and Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is still with Marie (Franka Potente) moving from place to place and now in Goa, India. While Bourne has done his best to stay out of the way someone has set him up and made it look like he has once again turned assassin. Constantly checking the shadows they now find themselves the target of an assassin’s gun.
I loved THE BOURNE IDENTITY and I’m please to say that the sequel completely lives up to the first movie. This is not your usual action, adventure picture. Yes there is plenty on action on screen with excellent fight sequences and car chases that could easily be quoted in the same breathe as BULLITT but there is also a fairly complex storyline that needs to be carefully followed with relationships, trauma and even regrets laid out on screen looking for the audiences understanding. While THE BOURNE SUPREMACY can easily be watched and enjoyed on a superficial level by simply sitting back, watching the action and soaking up the mood-setting, mostly European locations, to truly be appreciated this is a film that needs some concentration and multiple viewings. I have to admit that I’ve already watched it twice and I’m looking forward to repeating the experience.
For years studios have been looking for a franchise that could run and run and captivate the audience’s imagination in the way Bond has done so well and so successfully. Bourne has finally found that foothold without being a clone because while it’s filled like Bond with action, adventure and international intrigue its main character and plot is far more complicated than most films in the genre and the story pulls no punches and you’ll see what I mean after the shock towards the beginning of the movie.
This has to be one of my all time favourite movies.
