The Bourne Supremacy Movie Review:


Robert Ludlum’s super-spy Jason Bourne returns after a two-year hiatus. This new cinematic hybrid of the Ludlum series of novels was a surprise box office hit back in 2002 when Matt Damon became the amnesiac assassin in “The Bourne Identity”.

The film was such a success that in some ways it changed the face of spy thrillers for modern audiences. It really is a shame that the James Bond series hasn’t adapted this new way of telling a spy thriller.

The sequel picks up closely to where the first film left off as we find Bourne (Damon) and his lover, Marie (Franka Potente) in Goa, India as they once more try to stay under the CIA’s radar.

Meanwhile in Berlin, CIA ice queen Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) watches as her operation implodes and the only key to its demise is a fingerprint left by the saboteur. The print belongs to Bourne and Landy begins to unravel dark secrets buried within the Treadstone project which created super-assassins like Jason Bourne.

The keys to finding and catching Jason Bourne seem to be two people. One is ruthless Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), former head of the Treadstone project and the other is the last person to see Bourne alive Nicky (Julia Stiles), a CIA analyst posing as French exchange student in Paris.

As Landy unlocks Bourne’s secrets a critical event rocks Bourne to the core and sends the world’s most lethal man after not only the CIA but Landy herself. Now the question isn’t will they find him but will they survive long enough to get what they need.

“The Bourne Supremacy” is sure to wet the appetite and delight fans of the first film. The film marks the return of “Bourne Identity” scribe Tony Gilroy who weaves a very interesting intrigue filled plot. The script is utterly faithful to the first film as it throws back to the first film and continues the story without missing a beat. It is an amazing return for Gilroy and let’s hope they already have him working on the third film.

Matt Damon’s spy portrayal has always been an enigma to casting directors throughout Hollywood. Why did this choice for a spy work so well? The answer probably lies in the strength of the character and Damon’s reserved, tormented and resilient approach to his super-spy on the run. In this sequel, we watch as Damon continues his brilliant work in the role. He is cold, calculated and not for one moment do we believe that he can survive the most harrowing of situations. Damon also does marvelous work with his memory loss scenes and he never misses a beat. He is brilliant.

Another brilliant performance is that of Joan Allen, whose ice-queen of a role becomes the perfect adversary for recurring sleazeball Brian Cox. Their chemistry and shouting matches make for some really interesting and awakening intrigue. Cox was such a success in the first Bourne film, as he squared off against Chris Cooper’s maniacal Conklin, but Allen antes him up in this film.

My problem with this entry in the Bourne series has to do with some of the choices made by director Paul Greengrass, who directed the gripping Irish civil rights massacre drama, “Bloody Sunday”. Greengrass’s approach to Bourne is interesting in a lot darker and his drama filled scenes are his strengths but he seems to be lost in the high-paced action sequences.

When we are thrown into an action situation as Bourne fights for his life, the camera flies all over the place in a nausea-inducing frenzy. All we can make out is two shadows grunting and grimacing as the fight escalades. The same is when Greengrass delivers us into a showdown between Bourne and the psychopath Kirill (Karl Urban) in a harrowing car chase through Moscow. His camera is all over the place which takes away from the impact of the action.

In the first film we felt Bourne’s pain because just like Bourne himself each one of his calculated moves and actions was captured by the camera. The direction does really take away a lot of the power in this spy entry.

“The Bourne Supremacy” is a worthy sequel to its predecessor and carries on the new look of cinematic spies. The film just lacks calculated action sequences to keep audiences glued to the screen.

(3.5 out of 5).

So Says the Soothsayer.

Dean Kish

Based off the popular spy novel by Robert Ludlum and a sequel to the 2002 hit The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy now takes aim as a terrific thriller and one of the better blockbusters of the summer.

The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman (Swingers, Go) takes the backseat this time around as producer and hands the reigns off to indie director Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday). The change of director alters the oriented action sequences and camera choices for the better, even though Greengrass’ obsession with handheld camerawork does become annoying at times.

The story picks up two years after the amnesia plagued ex-CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) ran off into the sunset with his German girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente). Bourne has slowly regained some of his memory back, but there are still numerous questions to who he is. At the conclusion of the first film, an understood deal was made between Bourne and his former agency that he will disappear and remain gone if they just leave him alone.

Now living a peaceful life on a beach in India with Marie, Bourne is having nightmares about his past life. The film gets going when a ruthless Russian assassin (Karl Urban) arrives and Bourne notices his out of place presence. The gears shift into another cat and mouse game, with Bourne setting himself up in situations to be noticed by the CIA, just so he can get some answers. He learns that he was setup in a botched operation where two CIA agents were killed and his fingerprints were found at the crime scene. Leading the operation and now hot on Bourne’s tail is the CIA’s striking Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), who has also brought back Bourne’s old nemesis, Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), for more insight in to the mystery of the ex-CIA assassin.

This film starts out with a bang and never lets up. The raw energy that Greengrass brings to the film and the persuasive nature of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne are engaging. The Bourne character is a complex individual, but he is not the new aged James Bond that blows up an entire mountain or an airplane just for the filmmaker’s pure nature of eye candy. The situations and action-oriented moments in the film are clever, smart, and at times chaotic. Using mostly handheld cameras throughout, Greengrass brings the audience right into the passenger’s seat during the car chases, and let’s the mellow reactions and consistent choices from Bourne reflect his skillful decisions. The concluding car chase sequence in The Bourne Supremacy is an in your face smashfest, and the best car chase sequence to be hit the screen since John Frankenheimer’s work in Ronin. Greengrass maintains continuity with the story of Jason Bourne, the mystery, as well as patiently placing clues, which answer some questions and opens others. As a conceived indie filmmaker, Greengrass loves using handheld cameras. The effect works well for the chase and action sequences, but for tender moments and times when Bourne is struggling with his lost memories, the handheld work at times becomes annoying. Though his work and choices in this film are admirable, Greengrass should still think about doing away with some of his handheld choices.

Writer Tony Gilroy again adapts the screenplay this time around for The Bourne Supremacy maintaining the nature of a spy thriller, as well as balancing action and character complexity. Gilroy gives more depth in this film with the supporting characters than in he did in The Bourne Identity. As mention before, there are more questions with Bourne, but this time around we already know that he is a brilliant hand-to-hand combat fighter, and the focus moves more to his pursuit of why he is being bothered again by the CIA among other things. Ward Abbott and Nicolette’s roles from the first film are expanded more to bring them into full circle, even though Nicolette’s character is sort left out to dry during the final act. If, let’s restate that, “when” the producers decide to make the final book, The Bourne Ultimatum, into a film, it would be wise to once again hire Gilroy to adapt the screenplay.

Not full of muscles or the arrogance of a Hollywood action star, Matt Damon is stellar as Jason Bourne. Damon’s Bourne is not as glamorous or invincible as the genre’s typical spy character, but he is clearly convincing. Brian Cox delivers the usual goods as the CIA’s Abbott and The Chronicles of Riddick’s Karl Urban is solid as a ruthless assassin. As for the female characters, Franka Potene’s role as Marie is minimized, while Julia Stiles’ Nicolette is given a little more screen time. Lastly, Joan Allen is superb as always as the CIA’s Pamela Landy.

Though the overabundance of hand held camera choices and a few predictable cliché secrets cloud The Bourne Supremacy, the film is still an intriguing spy thriller and more than anything a fun ride.

Grade: B

Joseph Tucker

After 2002's classy The Bourne Identity, a new director shifts gears for this sleek, imaginative sequel. The story picks up soon after the first film ends, with ex-superkiller Jason Bourne (Damon) living in idyllic obscurity in Goa with his girlfriend (Potente). But events in Berlin are dragging him back into the fray, as a CIA director (Allen) tries to track Bourne down with the help of his old boss (Cox) and handler (Stiles). But she hasn't a clue what a can of worms she's opening--a Russian hitman (Urban), stolen money, secret assassins, shady government dealings.

This is an even better film, as Greengrass and Gilroy deepen Bourne's personal quest while ratcheting up the action. Even the low-key sequences are unsettling, due to Greengrass' jittering handheld cameras, so when the fighting/chasing starts, it's so gutsy and forceful that it leaves us gasping. Everything feels spontaneous: Sleuthing segments are thrillingly eloquent. The hugely elaborate Alexanderplatz set piece has strong Hitchcock overtones. The crashing race through Moscow actually invents a new film language for car chases. And all of the action meaningfully drives the characters as they seek resolution and/or redemption.

Bourne's quest to piece together his own history is marvellously involving, pitting his newly heroic outlook against his evil assassin past. Damon is exactly the right actor to make him come to life with his nice-guy looks and brooding-child determination. The actors around him are also far better than usual for these kinds of films--much more introspective and engaging, as we see past their role in the game of international intrigue into the real person beneath.

All of this seems like it should be standard stuff in the movies, but so many films get it so wrong that when one like this comes along it makes us want to cheer (as our audience of critics did after the astonishing Moscow car chase). This is brainy, intelligent, emotional filmmaking that just happens to be in the thriller genre. The violence is nasty and brutal without being gratuitous. The drama is authentic and riveting. And it's all so cool that you'll be itching for Part 3.

Rich Cline

Two years later, Jason Bourne (Damon) thought that he had escaped his former life but his nightmares told him otherwise. His memory had still not completely returned but his subconscious revealed more about his past every time slept. Making a life with Marie (Potente) was all he ever wanted but that was about to change when an assassin tracks them down in India. He swore if the CIA ever came after him, he would take the fight to them and he does just that, heading straight to the source, CIA taskforce leader Pamela Lanby (Allen), the woman in change of bringing him in.

The Bourne Identity set a new standard in the spy thriller but can Jason Bourne’s next adventure achieve the same high standards? The answer is an unquestionable yes.

Matt Damon returns as the troubled CIA assassin struggling with memory loss and the realisation of what he has done. The second novel in author Robert Ludlum’s Bourne Trilogy, The Bourne Supremacy takes up the story two years after the events of the first. Here we find Jason still suffering with amnesia but his subconscious is revealing memories while he sleeps, memories that he would rather forget. This is what makes the character so intriguing. You know as much about his past as he does and you the viewer follow him on his journey as he finds out what he has done as more revelations are revealed.

Matt Damon is what makes these movies so watchable. He has crafted a character that is both vulnerable and deadly; as his emotions and mental torment are subdued by the black-ops training he received as part of the CIA’s Treadstone project. This is a character of very few words but Damon can convey much more in just a look or a glance. This is what draws you into the character’s emotional sense of being because you feel what he is going through as the revelations about his past come back to haunt him. This is truly an action hero for the new millennium, one that is real, feels pain and not an indestructible superhero.

Supporting Damon’s excellent portrayal is a fantastic supporting cast. Joan Allen proves again what a great character actress she is as CIA agent Pamela Lanby. This is a strong female role for the actress and she brings her own authority to the part. Karl Urban continues to make a name for himself in Hollywood with another fine performance as the emotionless assassin Kirill. He might not have much dialogue in the piece but it is his actions that make the character such a good nemesis for Bourne.

Most of the surviving cast members from the first also return. Brian Cox gets the chance to expand his role as CIA Special-Ops director Ward Abbott and brings a lot more backstory to the character and the Treadstone programme. Julia Stiles returns as Nicky and the character plays a pivotal part in advancing the storyline. Franka Potente also comes back to play Marie and there is also a cameo that is intrinsic to the plot.

What pushes the Bourne movies above other Hollywood high action thrillers is its believable action intermixed with a riveting plot. Nothing is over the top here. Fights are quick and deadly, car chases are fast and hazardous but both of them have real consequences. When a character is injured they are actually injured, they don’t recover within two minutes and continue fight as nothing has happened. They react as you would in the real world, adding to the believability of the piece.

The Bourne Supremacy is a first rate action thriller. You do have to have seen the first movie to gain full enjoyment of the film but director Paul Greengrass and his cast and crew have done a great job continuing the adventures of Jason Bourne. With its brilliant blend of pulsating action and an ever-twisting plot, this is riveting stuff from start to finish, making it the best espionage franchise currently on the silver screen.

Star Rating = * * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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