Summer Cinema: ‘The Bourne Identity’
Hollywood is getting old, literally. The action heroes of yesteryear are no longer the draw they used to be. Sylvester Stallone, Jean Claude van Dam, Steven Seagal, and even Arnold Schwartzeneger can?t draw viewers to the theaters. So where will Hollywood find its next big action hero?
One of the biggest candidates is Van Diesel (?The Fast and the Furious?), whose turn as a secret agent in August?s ?XXX? could cement his hold on the title of the Gen X action hero. But others are trying to get a foot in the door like Ben Affleck (?Sum of All Fears?). He failed miserably, but his lifetime friend Matt Damon may have a chance after his role as Jason Bourne in ?The Bourne Identity.?
The film is about a man rescued by fisherman from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea who has no recollection of who he is. All he has is an account number and the name of a bank Switzerland. At the bank he finds money, a slew of passports (each with a different name) and a gun.
Bourne eventually meets up with a German-born gypsy named Marie (played by Franka Potente) and offers her $20,000 for a ride to Paris where he hopes to find the answers to who and what he is. He spends the rest of the movie unraveling the clues he finds to his identity while trying to avoid being killed by the very people he worked for.
Beyond this simple sketch of plot, the film really had no story line. It was an action movie with lots of fighting, explosions and gun fire with a bit of dialogue mixed in for variety.
The characters were underdeveloped and you don?t really identify with or care about them at all. Julia Stiles practically disappeared. She was there for no reason then to lend her name to the project. That and to smile at the camera. They must have had no faith in Potente?s ability to draw in an audience.
Hollywood is getting old, literally. The action heroes of yesteryear are no longer the draw they used to be. Sylvester Stallone, Jean Claude van Dam, Steven Seagal, and even Arnold Schwartzeneger can?t draw viewers to the theaters. So where will Hollywood find its next big action hero?
One of the biggest candidates is Van Diesel (?The Fast and the Furious?), whose turn as a secret agent in August?s ?XXX? could cement his hold on the title of the Gen X action hero. But others are trying to get a foot in the door like Ben Affleck (?Sum of All Fears?). He failed miserably, but his lifetime friend Matt Damon may have a chance after his role as Jason Bourne in ?The Bourne Identity.?
The film is about a man rescued by fisherman from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea who has no recollection of who he is. All he has is an account number and the name of a bank Switzerland. At the bank he finds money, a slew of passports (each with a different name) and a gun.
Bourne eventually meets up with a German-born gypsy named Marie (played by Franka Potente) and offers her $20,000 for a ride to Paris where he hopes to find the answers to who and what he is. He spends the rest of the movie unraveling the clues he finds to his identity while trying to avoid being killed by the very people he worked for.
Beyond this simple sketch of plot, the film really had no story line. It was an action movie with lots of fighting, explosions and gun fire with a bit of dialogue mixed in for variety.
The characters were underdeveloped and you don?t really identify with or care about them at all. Julia Stiles practically disappeared. She was there for no reason then to lend her name to the project. That and to smile at the camera. They must have had no faith in Potente?s ability to draw in an audience.
But there is something about this movie that captivated me.
Maybe it was the gritty directing and film editing. Maybe it was the brilliant car chase sequence that got my adrenaline pumping with the sheer thrill of the chase. Or maybe it was the idea that a man with so much power and knowledge could forget everything. Maybe it was the moral dilemma that gave Bourne his amnesia in the first place.
Whatever the reason, ?The Bourne Identity? intrigued and delighted me. It was an action movie that was thoughtful and exciting, and it didn?t resort to shock tactics to try and make its mark. It made no apologies for what it was, and reveled in its extremes.
?The Bourne Identity? is the epitome of the majority of this summer?s film faire. It is a film that is fun to watch but is nothing special. It is mediocrity. A fun, exhilarating mediocrity, but mediocrity nonetheless. It had the potential to be more, but was to wrapped up in Matt Damon?s smile.
Perhaps it will make him the next action star. We all know you don?t really need to know how to act to deliver the one-liners between the punches and explosions. Congrats Matt, you?ll fit right in.
Grade: B-