Where to watch The Bourne Identity
3 Stars
When a body is recovered at sea still alive, the mystery man (Damon) seems to have forgotten everything in life, including who he was. Eventually he begins to remember smaller details in life and soon finds out that his name was Jason Bourne. What he doesn’t like is the gun and fake passports belonging to him. Now Bourne, and his new friend, Marie Helena Kreutz (Potente) travel from country to country in search of his new identity. But someone is not happy to see him alive, and is frantically trying to track him down.
Audiences didn’t realize that when The Bourne Identity premiered on screens it would be the most influential action franchise of the new millennium. The low-key thrills and practical stunts were a welcomed relief after the high-tech silliness of the late 1990s James Bond films. While The Bourne Identity is an homage to 1970s espionage thrillers, it is also a solid action flick with a lead performance from Matt Damon that would cement his place among the era’s superstars.
The trouble production behind making The Bourne Identity could be a documentary. The fact that turmoil produced a massive global franchise, in which this film’s director had no further involvement, is part of Hollywood lore. I had low expectations for Damon as an actor and Bourne as a film when I walked into a theater during the summer of 2002. My interest developed during the film’s opening passage, a haunting image of a body floating in the Ocean, which pulls you into the story for the duration of the movie’s running time. And by the film’s end, I was a fan of the lead actor and the movie. The Bourne Identity is an iconic franchise, and this first installment is the forgotten entry of the series.
Directed by: Doug Liman
Written by: Tony Gilroy, William Blake Herron, Robert Ludlum
Starring: Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper