It’s crazy to imagine that my look into action films end on Friday. This week has been just a breeze through on action films from the 90s to now. The Bourne Identity is in my opinion the one to really change the action film and espionage film. Even solidifying Matt Damon’s role as an action star in the subsequent sequels.
1. Jason Bourne
Based on the novels by Robert Ludlum, the first film on what was the trilogy has Damon portraying the amnesiac Jason Bourne. We see him adrift in the Mediterranean and picked up by fisherman. The captain cuts his gear and sees Bourne with bullets on him. He wakes up and goes into Switzerland to the bank. What he finds is numerous amounts of cash and various passports under assumed aliases.
Among the items he finds a pistol. As he leaves, Jason feels he is being followed. We then cut to shots from his perspective by seeing two cops look at him and hearing sounds of police sirens getting louder. To avoid any measure of being followed, Bourne goes into the American Consulate. And, he gets accosted and escapes. The whole film is mostly about trying to figure out who he is, while avoiding execution from the people who hired him.
I will say that since I have a vague understanding for espionage films, The Bourne Identity feels unique. It gives Jason his understanding for defensive measures without the need of any high-tech equipment. Later on I will discuss how the Bourne franchise changed the James Bond franchise. Jason also brings along a woman to help him named Marie. She is his co-conspirator when they try to find out who one of the operatives he is listed as.
What makes him more than a super-agent of sorts is that he doesn’t want Marie to be involved when the situation is becoming more severe. There is one moment that proves she is just more of an asset than liability. When they are investigating hotel records, Bourne thought of a really elaborate way of retrieving it. Marie goes to Jason, and saying that she just lied to get a copy that they need to look over.
2. The CIA
Again, far from the typical evil organization such as James Bond’s Spectre, the CIA is our main antagonist group. It’s an odd choice since it’s a respected US government agency. Now, I haven’t read Ludlum’s Bourne books and I’ve wondered if it was to veer from a fanatical group to something of a corrupt agency. Regardless, the moments where we see the CIA is chock full of rudimentary display of info.
I mean, they have the old beige Microsoft computers and a paper map to show where both Jason and Marie have been in France. I would expect to have everything be high-tech with everything being digital including the map. We do see why exactly he is being hunted. Bourne was supposed to assassinate an exiled African dictator. He didn’t comply with the order and was shot in the Mediterranean. As a result, the director of the program Conklin calls other agents in various parts of Europe to kill Jason.
They have eyes and ears in Paris that updates them where Jason is going. Honestly, I was not expecting actress Julia Stiles to appear since she is in 10 Things I Hate About You. It makes you think that there are probably more agents across the globe to find and contribute to the killings of specially trained agents who failed their missions. More so is that it makes me want to see the subsequent sequels to see if the CIA are corrupt or they have justifiable reasons to find Jason Bourne.
3. How Bourne Changed Bond
During the time Bourne films were coming out, the James Bond films had to be reworked as a way to revitalize the franchise. The last one with Peirce Brosnan was when the series was at its low point. With the release of the Daniel Craig Bond films, there appeared to be an effort to slowly steer away from the fanatical to a more grounded approach.
As was the case with Skyfall, that film put James Bond in a situation where to outsmart the villain was to not use any specialize weapons, but to use his own instincts and training. For one thing, it’s incredible to show an American film franchise change a British film franchise. Not only that, but it didn’t help that the Austin Powers films poking fun at the ridiculousness of the James Bond franchise.
4. Overall
Now I want to see the rest of what was the Bourne trilogy. The Bourne Identity is one of the best action films of the early 2000s. Setting the stage for a trilogy and giving a spotlight to the Bourne books.
The Bourne Identity gets a four out of five.
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