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The Bourne Supremacy
Story: A sequel to The Bourne Identity. Ex-CIA dude Jason Bourne still doesn't remember much about his past and needs to find out quick-smart why the CIA are trying to bump him off. Running Time: 120 minutes.
The Bourne Identity was pretty darn cool. A guy with amnesia who slowly discovers that he's trained like a secret agent and needs to find out why, with an epic car chase in crappy old beaten up cars. Tasty. The Bourne Supremacy takes over where the first film left off, with the hero living in an Indian beach house close to nature (Bourne under a wandering star) and follows fairly closely to the original's plan. Matt Damon, Bourne again (sorry), still doesn't remember his CIA life but it's not long before he's embroiled in it once more. Cue loads of thinking on his feet, cool secret agent stuff and of course another manic car chase in beaten-up heaps that cost less than their insurance premium.
I've usually started banging on about the acting by now, as that's usually a major factor of my enjoyment of a movie. With The Bourne Supremacy, the talent of the stars has somehow been pushed aside by the slick cinematography. In the well-trodden Bourne-in-the-USA style seen in NYPD Blue and more recently 24, the camera darts and weaves in an exaggerated fly-on-the-wall mimicry. In a less plot-rich environment, or watching on a small screen, this may have become intrusive, but for me it added to the sense of immediacy. I should add though, out of a sense of public service, that many viewers have complained of nausea caused by this technique. However, I rate my readers as being somewhat smarter than the average dullard who doesn't think to close their eyes rather than submitting to the chunder (hey - there's my chance to use "Bourne stupid") so I think you guys will cope just fine.
I touched on the car chase back there before I lapsed into punnery again. The Bourne Identity had a cracking car chase sequence and any sequel would not have been complete without another one. The Bourne Supremacy's contribution sits snugly between the cushions of realism and adrenaline and is a wonderful new take on the discipline. Jason's Lancia Thema (I think!) barely gets along a street without being clouted by something. He goes for car-sized gaps - sometimes he makes them, sometimes he doesn't. He struggles with the street map in the car to try and find out where he's going. He gets side-swiped by a car coming out of a side street that he didn't see because he was looking the other way. This is a car chase for the real world - this is what would happen if you actually tried to drive at 80mph through a city. Even the dramatic denouement was plausible, the hero manipulates the scene in a way that would actually work - I loved it and I hope that the trend catches on. Maybe next year we'll see James Bond rolling a Reliant Robin because he trail-braked into a corner. And maybe I will win the next Booker prize (!)
In case it wasn't evident, I think The Bourne Supremacy is a peach of a movie. It fills a niche of espionage for the hoi-polloi. Be sure to concentrate though - the plot hammers on apace and it won't wait for you. I only have one proviso - I can't see any woman enjoying this. It's a V8 engine, it's a La-Z-Boy chair, it's a 50-inch plasma screen. It's unashamedly a blokes' film, but fortunately that means it works for me. I just hope that when The Bourne Ultimatum is eventually committed to celluloid, the franchise doesn't do a Matrix Revolutions and turn into Bourne Sloppy. I enjoyed this film: I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: Espionage, car chase, fights and killing, just what the testosterone doctor ordered. To enjoy this film you should be: Male
N.B. The puns of this review do not necessarily reflect the puns of the management. Any similarity between the puns of this review and any actual puns, living or dead, are entirely coincidental. And I'm sorry, I honestly couldn't resist. Count yourself lucky I didn't review Finding Nemo. That review would've been a pile of carp. To buy The Bourne Supremacy, use the link below: The Bourne Identity (Special Edition) [DVD] You can buy all three books in the Bourne series for less than a tenner from Amazon - click the picture below:
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Your commentsThe comments printed here are not necessarily the views of Forwardcharm!
You missed the suggestion for the next film - Bourne Free
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Cast: Matt Damon, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Joan Allen. 
Despite superficial similarities, stories such as The Bourne Supremacy lie in a
very different arena to the James Bond series. Bond is all about flamboyance, big budgets and
inventive gadgets. Films "to the manner Bourne", in contrast, live and die on their believability,
using simple little spy tricks that make you chuckle and think, "that's clever."
The story needs to hang together and not rely on luck for the survival of the hero.
The plot needs to keep us on our toes whilst never bemusing us. The two hours need to fly past
and leave us wanting a third instalment that would culminate in the CIA finally leaving poor old
Jason to his own devices (Bourne free - sorry, I just can't help myself). I'm happy to report that
The Bourne Supremacy scores heavily on all counts. Robert Ludlum's carefully-constructed yarn
deftly sidesteps any chance of my using the phrase "Bourne stupid" by maintaining a foot on the
floor at all times. This is a spy saga for the real world - we identify with Jason and wonder
at how cool it would be to have CIA skills in everyday life. Though we may not be natural
Bourne killers, the ease with which Jason finds the name and telephone number of the CIA agent
who pursues him is the envy of all of us Bourne losers.
So it's the realism that makes the movie then? Yes it is. I've never bought
Matt Damon as an action hero, I've never even seen him as a convincing Hollywood star, but this
works in his favour here just as it did in Good Will Hunting. He's not a Pierce Brosnan, he's
not even a Bruce Willis - he's a regular guy who's lived and trained for an extraordinary life.
Matt Damon epitomises the character as if he was Bourne to play the part. He makes mistakes,
he does good things and bad things, he crashes into things during his car chase. He's the hero
for the common man, we feel for him and we aspire to be like him. A star is Bourne.
So much to praise and I haven't even mentioned Brian Cox yet. Whether it's
a meaty role in Troy or Manhunter, a manipulative role in X-Men 2 or even a comedy role in
Super Troopers, Brian Cox never fails to deliver. For the viewers' benefit though, he really
should do some serious goodie roles once in a while. We love to see him dripping venom, but
we weren't Bourne yesterday - we know it's only a matter of time before he tops someone!
