Dir. Paul Greengrass, 2004, US
Cast:
Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Gabriel Mann
At the end of The Bourne Identity, amnesiac and government killer Jason Bourne (Damon) vowed that if anyone from his past came looking for him then he wouldn't be best pleased, and coming from the CIA's top assassin you'd better heed the warning. Of course, as the story comes from the pen of author Robert Ludlum who has penned three Bourne spy books, you know there's no such a thing as a happy ending. So when Russian agents start poking around Bourne and girlfriend Marie's hideaway in Goa with an eye to framing the poor guy, it's inevitable that the shady past he's tried so hard to avoid soon pulls him back into the murky depths. With Bourne's memory still fractured he must once again go on the run and unravel the plot that he desperately doesn't want to be a part of.
With a lot of unanswered questions from the first movie, Bourne is still a developing character with flashbacks of past horrors constantly coming back to haunt him. While he's now more assured, more adult, he seems inexplicably cursed with the profession of an old life he still doesn't fully understand. The Supremacy story retreads some old themes in terms of plot devices, the mechanics of which are determined by constantly warring CIA heads; old hand Ward Abbott (Cox) returns to ensure the mysterious operation Treadstone is never uncovered while newcomer Pamela Landy (Allen) tries to work out why a sting was foiled by Russian businessmen with Bourne as her prime suspect. It seems to be a Bourne trait to have the uncontrollable machinations of the story itself merely a backdrop, where it remains realistically played out by the protagonists but often confusing and secondary to the blistering pace. Once again it's down to Bourne to remain one step ahead of the game but also to risk capture to find the real him. Rather than just the cold facts of who he is this time, the character has to face the awful truth that he is a murderer. Government sponsorship makes the arc more a samurai's journey of atonement and a quest to rid himself of the guilt of his old life forever, rather than anything noble or heroic.
As the cast returns for the sequel, one notable absentee is previous director Doug Liman who has passed the reigns to British helmer Paul Greengrass, who has the acclaimed IRA drama Bloody Sunday already behind him. Here he employs the same immediacy, frantically shifting between exotic locales of a modern world shrunk by the mobile phone and internet. Each new location is attacked with aplomb by Greengrass's constantly roving camera, and in keeping with such fast paced TV shows as 24, the director maintains the urgency even when it is just a bunch of suits talking in a dim office. Cutting to a passport checking office in London has never been so exciting.
Apart from the films spectacular, tire squealing car chase, the set pieces this time remain decidedly low-key as if to steer the franchise to more realistic waters. While Bourne is decidedly more a James Bond character, a cold-blooded killer with a life blackened by tragedy, the filmmakers are conscious of not spilling over into the ridiculous and much prefer to keep the Bourne reality as recognisable as possible. In fact there are no real villains here, the film's climax instead focusing on Bourne's painful journey where he must face himself rather than some cackling madman holding the world to ransom.
There's no question that Damon has grown into the role and very much looks the brooding loner that Bourne has become. It's interesting that the screenwriters have gone down this path and made the character less family man and more hit man. This can only be a devilish set-up for a more thrilling final instalment, The Bourne Ultimatum , which has often been criticised as the weakest book of the series with the protagonist accused of having lost his edge.
More grown-up with gritty realism, The Bourne Supremacy takes the best from its predecessor, the bone-crunching fights and thrilling spy capering, and manages to still infuse it with something fresh. In many ways it's a rehash and we're still left wanting more from the Bourne character, but it still shows there's a need for something more than a simple Mission: Impossible genre piece. With the producers employing intriguing choices of director, a more cynical audience is left believing that Hollywood still has a few brain cells left after years of relying on pyrotechnics.
Richard Badley
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