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What is it about Matt Damon and his zany penchant for finding himself cast in film franchise wannabes based on a popular series of novels? He just shrugged off the whole Patricia Highsmith-Tom Ripley thing (John Malkovich is taking over the role in Ripley's Game, while Adrian Grenier will don the suit in Ripley Under Ground). Now he's starring in The Bourne Identity, the first in a series of three Robert Ludlum novels. The film carries a lot of baggage (it was shot way back in 2000 and culminated in costly reshoots and numerous high-profile fights between the studio and director Doug Liman, who at one point considered selling his directorial credit on eBay).
Like Damon's oft-delayed All the Pretty Horses and its well-documented pre-release problems, I expected Identity to be a bit sloppy and somewhat disjointed. To my surprise and delight, it is instead the slickest, coolest assassin flick since The Professional (or maybe Assassins, but Reno and Portman trump Stallone and Banderas any day of the week). Liman, who also directed the drastically different Swingers and Go, proves he can still be a master craftsman even if you take him out of his familiar Southern California setting.
We're first introduced to Damon's character as he's found floating in the Mediterranean by a fishing ship. He is scooped up out of the drink and two slugs (as well as something else quite odd) are dug out of his back before he gains consciousness. Suffering from amnesia, he doesn't have any idea who he is, but once he hits land, he is surprised to discover two things: He is almost instantly pursued by people who want to kill him and, even more shocking, he seems to have a preternatural knowledge of how to evade and disarm his hunters. The secret thing dug out of his back leads him to a Zurich bank, where he discovers a cache of cash, fake passports and guns in his safety deposit box. He determines he is an American and that his name is Jason Bourne, but he still doesn't have a clue about who he really is or why he is being chased.
While attempting to explain his situation at the U.S. embassy, Jason hooks up with Marie (Franka Potente, Storytelling), a cute young Swiss thing trying to get a student visa to enter the States. There is a big commotion, but Jason escapes and offers Marie $20,000 for a ride to Paris (And what's she going to say? He's Matt freaking Damon!). As Jason slowly begins to figure out who he is, we do, too. Somehow, his pursuit has something to do with the botched assassination of an ex-African leader (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Oz) and a CIA cover-up involving bigwigs played by two great character actors - Chris Cooper (The Patriot) and Brian Cox (The Rookie).
We've already seen some pretty stellar films about protagonists with memory problems (Memento and Wintersleepers, which was helmed by Potente's Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer), and we've certainly seen car chases, gunplay, hand-to-hand combat and on-the-run romance before, but there's something about Identity that manages to keep it all fresh. It reminded me a lot of John Frankeheimer's Ronin, which also featured an international cast and European setting. Credit Liman for the much-better-than-average action scenes (he out-Woos John Woo), interesting camera angles and a steady pace that allows time for both comedy and a bit of the lovey-dovey stuff (but, thankfully, not too much). He knows how to keep it real and makes sure things don't turn into a hyper-edited mess like so many other summer action flicks.
Filmed in Greece, Italy, France and, of course, Prague - which has become the place to shoot cool Hollywood films - Identity was adapted from Ludlum's 1980 novel by Tony Gilroy (Proof of Life) and William Blake Herron, who, ironically, also penned the upcoming Ripley Under Ground. If the story sounds familiar but you don't remember reading the book, you must have seen the 1988 made-for-TV movie with (gasp!) Richard Chamberlain. Damon is a noticeable improvement who capably handles the very physical role (he did a lot of his own stunts, too), and it's really refreshing to see Potente (a real, honest-to-goodness European) cast instead of a young American chippy trying to sound European. Clive Owen (Gosford Park) has a brief role that may have been bigger at one point, but one has to wonder how Julia Stiles (O) ended up here, though - not only is her role unnecessary, but she also plays what must be the youngest agent in the history of the CIA.
1:52 - PG-13 for violence and some language
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