Movie Review: The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Supremacy

The first in what may prove to be a series of movies based on the Robert Ludlum novels was released in the summer of 2002, and The Bourne Identity was a hit with moviegoers including me. This second film, which picks up about two years after the end of the first, is that rare exception in the world of cinema: a sequel that measures up to - and in this case, actually surpasses - the first.

In The Bourne Supremacy, Matt Damon reprises his role as Jason Bourne, a former CIA operative and assassin who is suffering from amnesia. In the first film, Bourne learns enough about himself to know that he's not safe from numerous foes, including the CIA which is still looking for him. After having been in hiding for two years along with his paramour, Marie (Franka Potente), he's still searching for clues as to who he might really be, but he's started to relax just a little in his well justified paranoia. Then he's framed for the murder of two other agents in a Berlin CIA operation, and the heat is back on as Jason Bourne once again tops the CIA's most wanted lists.

Bourne runs from India and through Europe in an effort to learn why it is he's once again being targeted. As he does so, he's taken aback to find that he's also discovering more clues into his own background along the way. CIA Assistant Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) doesn't let up in her attempts to capture Bourne for a moment. Not only is she furious that she's lost the men in Berlin, but she's also astounded at what she's learned about the Treadstone Project - the now defunct program that created Bourne and several other assassins just like him. Along with Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), a high-ranking and longtime CIA man, Landy pulls out all the stops to get her man. Bourne already knows he's the wrong man and struggles to find the right man before the CIA finds him; but with the overwhelming evidence against him and the testimony of those in the CIA who remember him and the incidents from two years past, Landy isn't inclined to consider any other possible scenarios, at least not until Bourne himself has been neutralized. Making matters far worse is the fact that the man who planted the evidence against him (played by Karl Urban) is also hot on Bourne's trail and intent on killing him.

Director Paul Greengrass has a fondness for documentary-style filmmaking, and it serves him very well here. He likes handheld cameras which means that scenes of foot chases are viewed as though the audience is either the runner or the chaser. And the multiple camera angles applied to virtually every scene - and then with those snippets brilliantly edited together - provides for a disconcerting and very tense experience. Filmed largely on location once again, The Bourne Supremacy gets all of the ambiance it needs solely from the background against which all of the action takes place. And yet the foreground action is often so intense that the background is largely forgotten beyond setting the tone, and that's much as it should be to achieve maximum impact. (There is, by the way, a car chase through the streets of Moscow that will likely prove unforgettable in every aspect ranging from the way the filming technique involves the audience, to the editing that adds to the suspense, to the quality of the choreography itself.)

Matt Damon is perfectly cast as Jason Bourne. His innocent look lets him show perfectly the pain, confusion, and melancholy of his character. At the same time, the fact he's muscular and clearly very fit makes him utterly believable each and every time Bourne is forced to take real physical action. Joan Allen, too, proves a real casting coup as she brings to life a woman in a man's world who is clearly at least as tough and often more intelligent than the men she works with. Brian Cox and Karl Urban are also good. And Franka Potente, though her role in this film is not as large as the one she played in The Bourne Identity, will make you understand how it is that Jason loves her. Combine that level of acting with a very smart script, a terrific story, and some superlative direction, editing, and cinemetography, and you have a movie destined not only to do well at the box office this summer, but that will hold up as being a terrific action movie for some time to come.

POLITICAL NOTES: Once again, the methods used by the agents to keep an eye on each other and on the bad guys are all too real and very scary. (Lest you doubt the real world implications, remember that, as views are switched from surveillance camera to camera in the film, the news is filled with stories of the cameras and other security measures being taken in Boston for the Democratic Party convention.) The power wielded by the agencies and other entities struggling for supremacy in the film is also terrifying. But what is perhaps most frightening of all is the fact that intelligence operatives often make decisions in the name of their mission that are difficult or impossible to justify, and that "just following orders" is a reason but not an excuse. Worse yet is the fact that most of the missions are decided by the agencies themselves.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: The Bourne Supremacy is rated PG-13 for "violence, intense action, and some language." It is also exceedingly complex (hit the restroom before the movie - if you miss even one scene, some that follow may not make much sense to you, or at least won't have real rationale behind them). As a result, the PG-13 rating is probably about right as far as the violence and intensity goes, but the storyline will require a degree of maturity and intelligence to appreciate. I'd recommend the film to those about 16 and up (although very intelligent teens younger than that could certainly appreciate the film). And make no mistake: I do recommend The Bourne Supremacy, and I recommend it highly.